On the eve of International Dance Day, annually celebrated on April 29, and shortly before celebrating the 175th anniversary of the first production of the classic ballet masterpiece Giselle, Radu Poklitaru put on a show of the same name. It is the troupe’s new sponsor Liudmyla Rusalina who funded the premiere staged by the re-staffed Kyiv Modern Ballet on the stage of the International Culture and Arts Center (a.k.a. October Palace). What aroused interest in the production was a desire to know what Poklitaru, a Shevchenko Prize winner now, will show this time.
It turned out that, as expected, Poklitaru continued his radical experiments in the genre of contemporary choreography. It was difficult to expect something else from a ballet master, each of whose productions had stirred up bitter disputes. As a rule, the response was at first mostly negative, only to be followed by a rapturous approval. This can only mean that Poklitaru is several steps ahead of shortsighted critics and fuddy-duddy audiences who feel nostalgic for erstwhile harmony and beauty. Radu also loathes hidebound social standards – above all, when a person is forced to look like others, follow the existing dogmas, and indulge in wishful thinking. His Giselle is one of such “unsuitable” productions.
When we could finally see Swede Mats Ek’s Giselle with an awkward and unattractive Ana Laguna (her heroine ends up at a madhouse, not a cemetery), Poklitaru was reproached for imitating Ek’s brutal dance language which sometimes gives you an esthetic shock. But, as time went by, Poklitaru turned out to be no less topical in art than the Swedish genius. Radu went still further than the 20th-century ageing classic. Poklitaru’s 21st-century Giselle ends up in a… brothel – not because the girl is debauched but because there is no place for her to go to, when mother turns her out of the house.
Curiously, although all the ballet’s characters bear the same old names in the choreographer’s version, they belong to present-day society. Count Albrecht and his fiancee Bathilde found themselves in the same company of bikers, the vindictive Myrtha from the cemetery scene in the 19th-century ballet became… a brothel madam, and the Wilis (shadows of the romantic brides who died before marriage) turned into… prostitutes. If you begin to retell this version, somebody is sure to twist their finger near temple, but Poklitaru turns a dubious plot into a socio-psychological drama. For Giselle finds the fall of illusions not when her lover betrays her but when he pays her with banknotes for love. This not only hurts, but also kills the girl in love. Hans, who is in love with Giselle (brilliantly played by Illia Miroshnychenko), comes a few minutes late with money to buy the heroine out of the predicament. This becomes a fatal circumstance in the new plot Poklitaru has invented. The ballet master and stage director (Radu luckily combines the two qualities) impresses the audience with his own concept, where the dance supports the spectacle’s dramaturgic basis.
The choreography also includes some erotic duets, such as the last meeting of Giselle (Anna Herus) and Albrecht (Andrii Chaplyk), the scenes that amusingly parody the Wilis’ dances from the classical ballet Giselle, and ingeniously-staged scenes of bikers on wheel-free motorcycles that resemble hobbyhorses. All this is done with a typical Poklitary-style drive and synchronous movements in crowd scenes.
The sound score complements the music of Adolphe Adam: it includes the popping of bicycle motors and the lapping of surfs, where Giselle dreams of an idyllic life with her beloved one. The scene painting and costumes (artists Andrii Zlobin and Anna Ipatieva) are in the style of a bleak and aggressive environment that surrounds the characters. What further emphasizes their portrait features in this production is visage and wig-making (Viktor Zadvorny). Owing to this, we, for example, cannot possibly recognize Artem Shoshyn in the role of… Myrtha.
The next shows in Kyiv will be held on April 16, 20, and 24.
