It was good to see dancers from around the world coming together at the London Palladium in Dance for Ukraine, in a varied programme. The fact that it was necessary to present this for a second time (the first was in 2022) may be tragic, but there was a palpable sense of occasion and genuine hope. It is produced by UK-based Ukrainian, and former Royal Ballet principal, Ivan Putrov, for whom I have the greatest admiration, as it is a mammoth task to pull such an event together. It was a long evening with some minor hitches but there was much to relish. There were also opportunities for some younger dancers to participate alongside some of the world’s greatest international ballet stars.
Opening with a moving rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem and Prayer for Ukraine by mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva, this was followed by a sweet if somewhat inconsequential performance by Ukrainian dancers Olga Golytsia and Volodymyr Kutuzov of Vakhtang Vronsky’s Forest Song. He fared better in the second half with an explosive Gopak, Taras Bulba solo – a party piece that tends to garner thunderous applause because of the sheer height and angle of the jumps. He executed a series of barrel turns that defied belief.
The Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball delivered a first class Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux without said balcony and fellow RB dancers Marianna Tsembenhoi (who is Ukrainian) and Luca Acri, along with Vladyslav Bosenko (Ukrainian-born but currently dancing with Slovak National Ballet) gave a brave account of the famous Le Corsaire pas de trois. Tsembenhoi, who is still in the corps de ballet, has much potential which will hopefully be realised with careful nurturing. Denys Cherevychko did the mazurka from Suite en Blanc which showed off his exquisite feet but was rather an odd choice of solo for a gala.
Olga Smirnova, who left Russia in protest against the war and is currently with Dutch National Ballet, was very beautiful as The Dying Swan but she was more appealing in the second half dancing Carmen Suite with Denis Matvienko. They were both delectably sultry but Alberto Alonso’s 1967 choreography does look a bit dated now.
There were three main highlights in the first half, English National Ballet’s Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw were extraordinary in an excerpt from David Dawson’s Metamorphosis and inhabit his vocabulary with remarkable authenticity and ease. Putrov and Grace Jabbari blazed their way through Russell Maliphant’s Two by Two. This was one of the cleverest pieces of choreography on offer and in spite of having seen it on numerous occasions, it never fails to thrill. I was also beyond thrilled with William Bracewell’s (RB) performance of a world premiere by Andrew McNicol. In Preliwd to Rachmaninov's Prelude in C sharp minor, beautifully played on stage by Sasha Grynyuk, Bracewell delivered an elegant and intensely moving solo. No one embodies grace and lyricism like he does and combined with McNicol’s instinctive musicality and expressive movement, it was a winner.
The RB’s Marianela Nuñez and Lukas B. Brændsrod gave an emotional, affecting and near perfect account of Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain, followed by Yuuri Hidaka and Tomoharu Yonekura from the Asami Maki Ballet in Tokyo dancing a pas de deux from Maki’s Asuka. Without understanding the context, this was perhaps less impactful than it should have been.
We had two versions of pas de deux from La Fille mal gardée, the first of which was from Gorsky’s 1903 production. ENB’s Francesca Velicu and Dmitri Zagrebin (Royal Swedish Ballet) were effervescent, rising to all the challenges with panache. The second was Ashton’s Ribbon pas de deux from his 1960 production. Sabīne Strokša and Philip Fedulov from the Latvian National Ballet were charming and although they had some initial ribbon trouble, they succeeded in creating the famous cat’s cradle. It seemed really appropriate to be giving a taste of Ashton’s version since the Ukrainian National Ballet have been gifted the rights to the production and proceeds of the gala will help produce it.
The evening closed fittingly with an excerpt from MacMillan’s powerful Gloria. ENB’s Minju Kang and Lorenzo Trossello and Northern Ballet’s Joseph Taylor did justice to this emotive work. While the house was not fully sold out, one sincerely hopes that the benefits will be wholeheartedly felt from this supreme effort.
