United Ukrainian Ballet: Giselle

Image found here

I decided not to buy a ballet subscription from the Kennedy Center this year, hoping I could get discounted tickets throughout the season. That has not happened, so I haven't been able to see many ballets (I didn't even get to see the Nutcracker at Christmas time!). But my friend was able to get some tickets during a Black Friday sale (I didn't even know the Kennedy Center did that!), so we went to see the United Ukrainian Ballet perform Giselle. 

Cristina Shevchenko (not to be confused with Christine Shevchenko from ABT) played Giselle, and Oleksei Tiutiunnyk played Count Albert. She was beautiful, but Tiutiunnyk's massive curly hair was distracting... Image found here

I think Giselle is a pretty well-known ballet, perhaps just a step below something like Swan Lake. I had certainly heard of it before, but I didn't really know the story (other than assuming the main character is a woman named Giselle). There was a lot of pantomiming that was a bit over-the-top, but I guess it has to be since there's no talking; I was able to figure out that two different men were in love with Giselle, but I wasn't able to figure out that her mother was trying to dissuade Giselle from dancing because her daughter had a weak heart... After the first act, my friend and I looked it up on Wikipedia so we'd know what to expect for the second act (since the Kennedy Center still does not offer paper programs since COVID, we weren't able to read what the show was about; I HATE the digital programs, particularly since I can't take notes to look at later when I'm writing blog posts like this!). I'm glad we looked the synopsis up, since I'm not sure I would have 100% understood what was going on. 

The second act features ghosts of women who were wronged by men. I wouldn't have known they were ghosts with their pretty dresses and graceful movements. That's perhaps one area where modern dance is better than ballet: there's more room for creativity! Although at one point some of them looked like they were floating, which was cool! Giselle's ghost also "magically" disappears into her grave at the end, which was kind of an interesting effect, too. Image found here.

I was excited to see this particular company perform, firstly since I had never seen them before, but mostly because of the conflict happening between Ukraine and Russia for the last year. The company was actually formed after these dancers had fled Ukraine due to the violence. Their choreographer is Alexei Ratmansky, who has worked for the Bolshoi and Mariinsky ballet companies (arguably the best in the world) and ABT in New York (and soon to be with the New York City Ballet), so it is amazing that he is involved with this group. I think the dancers and others in the company are very brave, and it was moving to see the dancers hold up the Ukrainian flag and sing the Ukrainian national anthem at the end of the show. Even people from the audience were singing along!

The show is sold out, but here's a video clip you can watch of the performance:

Now that I know the story of Giselle, I would certainly see it again. It would be fun to compare this particular performance with that of another ballet/dance company.