On February 23, 2022, Ukraine Kyiv City Ballet arrives in Paris to begin a two-week national tour Nutcracker. Russia invaded Ukraine the next day, blocking the venture in the French city indefinitely. Since then, the troupe has relied on the generosity of others while organizing short tours in Europe and actively fundraising to sustain itself.
Today, the Kyiv City Ballet prepares to cross the Atlantic for its first-ever US tour. From September 16 to October 26, the 38-member company will perform in 15 cities across the country, including a stop at the famous Autumn Dance Festival In downtown New-York. “I’m looking forward to showing good performances, making the audience happy and starting a good relationship with the United States,” artistic director Ivan Kozlov said in a video interview in early August. Kozlov founded the Kyiv City Ballet in 2012.
Rhizome Arts Consulting founder Kristopher McDowell, who is producing the US tour, highlighted the efforts made by US broadcasters to help the company. For example, New York City Center provides an additional contribution to KCB’s international travel costs, and the University of Tennessee hosts a week-long residency for the company with Chattanooga Ballet. “Every day we experience the tenderness of the human condition,” says McDowell, who hopes the tour will attract new audiences to dance and ballet. He also wants a financial stopgap to support the company’s future tours and provide some stability until they can return home.
The Endless Tour
When the dancers left for Paris in February, they were unprepared for an extended stay. But the company members who weren’t on tour had a bigger problem in Ukraine. As the violence spread across the country, they had to make the heartbreaking decision to escape for safety reasons and join their colleagues abroad.
Main dancer Oksana Bondarenko was at home in Kyiv with her family when the shelling began in February. “I was scared,” she said point via Zoom, with Kozlov performing for her. Her young son ran in and out of sight, and she gently scolded him in Ukrainian before kissing him with a smile. ” You do not know what to do. You’re helpless… You just grab your kids and run as far as you can.
Bondarenko and his family fled to Lviv in western Ukraine before leaving for Germany when explosions hit the city. She tried to keep fit until she could finally join KCB in Paris weeks later. Although Bondarenko returned to Kyiv for a brief visit, Kozlov noted that other dancers think it’s too risky to return.
Fortunately, the business found a warm welcome and overwhelming support in France, said Kozlov, who shared stories of generosity and support from strangers around the world. The Théâtre du Châtelet, Palais Garnier and other Parisian venues offered their rehearsal spaces and support to the stranded company, while ballet companies donated dancewear, pointe shoes and other supplies to the KCB dancers, who had only been packing for two weeks.
play for peace
Unable to return home, the company instead scheduled intermittent tours across Europe to raise funds for Ukrainian humanitarian efforts and secure employment for its dancers. On June 14, they took part in a charity concert at England’s York Theater Royal, raising nearly £27,000 for UNICEF. The following day, they performed in Biarritz, France, to raise funds for Aid to refugees from the Fondation de France.
“You think artists are used to traveling, to touring,” Kozlov says, “but now it feels like endless touring.” While grateful for the work and support in the meantime, says Kozlov, “everyone [in the company has] hope for the best, and we hope that everything will end and life will return.
For its debut in the United States, KCB offers a feature film Swan Lake and some mixed repertoire programs. Included among the representative is Tribute to peace, a neoclassical work choreographed by Kozlov and his wife, associate director Ekaterina Kozlova; The contemporary ballet of Vladyslav Dobshynskyi Thoughts; and Pavlo Virsky’s Ukrainian folk dance Kyiv men. The KCB will also present classical suites of pas de deux selected from Don Quixote, La Bayadere, paquita and more.
“It’s so nice, so good to hear about people’s hearts and openness and souls,” Kozlov says of those who made the US tour possible. “We’re really grateful and can’t wait to see them.”
Kyiv City Ballet US Tour Dates
- September 16, Wilmington, North Carolina: The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College
- September 18, Charlotte, North Carolina: Davidson College
- September 19-22, Suffolk, Virginia: Suffolk Arts Center
- September 24-25, Chicago, IL: The Auditorium Theater at Roosevelt University
- September 27, Detroit, Michigan: The music room
- September 29-30, New York, New York: downtown new york
- October 3, Fort Worth, Texas: Lower performance hall
- October 5-7, Chattanooga, TN: University of Tennessee Chattanooga Center for Fine Arts
- October 9, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Community College Visual and Performing Arts Center
- October 11, Mountain Home, Arkansas: vada Arkansas State University Sheid Community Development Center – Mountain Home
- October 18, Montgomery, Alabama: Montgomery Center for the Performing Arts
- October 20, Opelika, Alabama: Opelika Center for Performing Arts
- October 22, New Orleans, Louisiana: Mahalia Jackson Theater
- October 23, Lafayette, Louisiana: Heymann Center for the Performing Arts
- October 26, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota
