Kyiv City Ballet left Ukraine for its first US tour earlier this year.
The company did not know that Russia would invade its country, making it impossible to return production to it.
Thus, the Kyiv Ballet will continue its tour, bringing its show to the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans on Saturday October 22 and to the Heymann Performing Arts Center in Lafayette on Sunday October 23, eight months to the day that the company left. Ukraine.
The curtain for both shows opens at 7:30 p.m. The New Orleans Ballet Association hosts the New Orleans show, while the Lafayette show is presented by Performing Arts Serving Acadiana.
The company was first protected by France, performing throughout that country and in other European countries. Then he traveled to the United States in September to kick off his tour in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Under the direction of former Mariinsky Theater artist Ivan Kozlov, the company’s 35 dancers will present a program entitled “Tribute to Peace”, which includes works by Ukrainian choreographers.
Two of Ukraine’s premier ballerinas, Krystina Kadashevych and Oksana Bondarenko, perform with the company on this tour. Also, the ballet’s principal dancer, Vsevolod Maevskiy, is a former soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet and a former pupil of Kozlov.
The “Tribute to Peace” program presents three powerful dances: “Pensées”, a contemporary ballet; “Tribute to Peace”, a neoclassical work; and “Men of Kyiv”, a Ukrainian folk dance.
“Touring in the United States for the first time, with this line of ballets, makes an important global statement,” Kozlov said. “This demonstrates the resilience of the Ukrainian people.”
In addition to the performance for the general public, Kyiv City Ballet will also perform for sixth-grade students of Lafayette Parish Public Schools on Monday, October 24, as part of PASA’s Student Day Performance Program. .
Later today, Kozlov will teach a master class for ballet dancers at 4 p.m. at the University of Louisiana’s McLaurin Hall on the Lafayette campus. Dancers wishing to participate in the masterclass should send their name, postal address, telephone number and e-mail address to assistant@pasaonline.org. Prior registration is required. Call (337) 769-3231 for more information.
“The PASA Board immediately understood the value of hosting this great company,” said PASA Board Chairman Tim Basden. “We are honored to be able to help these world-class artists continue to share their talent.”
“PASA is known for local access to great entertainment, especially dance,” said PASA Executive Director Jackie Lyle. “We are delighted to be able to welcome the Kyiv City Ballet, especially in this time of global conflict which has endangered Ukraine, decimated its infrastructure, turned millions of Ukrainian citizens into refugees, destroyed thousands of lives and demolished good many of them cultural symbols of the nation.
“For us, it’s important because we can continue to represent our country in this way; the resilience, the strength, the power of our country, that nothing can break us,” Kozlov said. “The show must continue.”
Tickets to New Orleans cost between $25 and $79 and tickets to Lafayette between $25 and $50. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.
