Our interview with Myroslav Vantukh began with the novelties which the dancers are to show at the concerts at Palace Ukraina on October 14 and November 24.
“THE UKRAINIAN PUBLIC THAT IS OUR TUNING FORK”
“It has already grown into a tradition that our band gives one or two performances a year on the country’s main stage, and I have never ever seen empty seats. We always receive a very warm welcome, and it is a great stimulus for our work. The highest grade an artist can get is the spectators’ applause,” told Myroslav VANTUKH in his interview with The Day. “We have in fact toured the entire world! We have performed on 5 continents in 80 countries, and in some we have been 20 or 30 times already. Even in Africa, where the mentality and culture are quite different from ours, our concerts were enormous success. You know, after each tour of Europe, the US, or Japan it is so nice to read rave reviews in foreign mass media, which write that ‘as of today, the Pavlo Virsky ensemble is the world’s number one!’ By the way, we have performed 11 times in the US, and each time to the full house. Next fall we are again planning a tour in America. We also have invitations for tours in France, Poland, and Scandinavia. The reaction of our public is very important for us as well, because each concert is like an exam. Our repertoire is huge, and we keep expanding and renewing it.
“The concert on October 14 will be devoted to Ukrainian Cossacks Day. We are going to show our best numbers. Thus, we have restored the beautiful number from Pavlo Virsky’s artistic heritage ‘Pro shcho verba plache’ (‘Why Is the Willow Weeping’) which is very topical today. This 16 minute long performance will leave no one indifferent. Besides, there will also be the beautiful ‘Dance with Bells,’ which we produced a year ago; and there will also be some new pieces. In November we are going to present ‘The Ukrainian Suite,’ new costumes are already made, the orchestration is also done. The number consists of three parts, it is a grand show.
“We have lots of various plans for the future. It is a shame that we could not show our impressive program ‘Ode to Ukraine,’ which we created to the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence and in which the entire complement of our ensemble was involved. We were supposed to dance it at the parade on Independence Day, but on the very last moment the concert part was called off. It is a great piece of work, we have rehearsed it a whole month, and I think we are going to show it at Palace Ukraine on November 24. Now we are also restoring ‘The Dolls,’ another production by Virsky.
“After the concert in Kyiv, we are setting on a tour via Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Dnipro, Kamenske, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Ternopil. Our ensemble has a private impresario who helps with financing and organizing tours in Ukraine. It is the Ukrainian public that is our tuning fork, and it is very important for us to keep contact with our countrymen.”
“IT TAKES 15 YEARS TO TRAIN A DANCER!”
“Nowadays our band consists of 180 persons, including 115 ballet dancers and 30 orchestra musicians. Also we have the Children’s Choreography School, founded by my wife Valentyna Vantukh and myself in 1992, where gifted kids study to become high-class professional artists and potentially to join our band or other professional or amateur dancing groups in our country. The foundation of the school was prompted by life itself: when the ‘iron curtain’ fell, two complements of our artists went to work abroad! I thought I would not get over that. How could we keep working further? It takes 15 years to train a dancer!
“We admit children aged six and older to our choreography school. They study there for 10 years, and then compete for admittance to the choreography studio which was created back in 1961. The idea of opening our own school occurred to the founder and director of our ensemble, Pavlo Virsky. He realized that without training our own performers our band would be stranded both artistically and professionally (even back then it was already a big problem to find highly qualified folk dancers). Today the studio offers academic education in classical ballet and its history, folk stage dance, production, and technique. After finishing the studio we hold castings for talented young men and women, who then can join our ensemble. Thus we have three-tier education, which is unique, and we are very proud of it. The tuition fee in the choreography school is paid by parents, but the students of our studio get scholarships from us.”
“Unfortunately, besides glory and recognition, we also have loads of problems. It is very hard to keep working and try to explain to the artists why past year the state withheld three million hryvnias from our artists’ salaries. In May it was announced that salaries would grow, and a new staffing list was endorsed, but the money was never allocated (and it is another 1.5 million hryvnias). We had to send people on unpaid leave for three days. Now we are trying to pay extras to our artists from our proceeds. You know, when we perform abroad, queens and presidents applaud and thank us, but as soon as we come home we feel that we are unwanted and unloved. Governments come and go, but the attitude to culture remains the same: it is always at the very bottom of the list.
“Meanwhile, I realize that the east of our country has been in war for more than two years now, Crimea is annexed, there are loads of problems – yet it is not good to forget artists, who help keep the morale high. Our ensemble has performed twice before the ATO troops, we have given concerts in Mariupol, and we feel that such meetings are like a breath of fresh air, and people need them very much. In the east, after each performance spectators come backstage, kneel before the artists, cry and thank them… But I believe that despite all trouble the dark days will be over, Ukraine will become a strong, powerful state, and peace and quiet will reign in our land.”
