In February 2022, Kyiv City Ballet embarked upon a three week tour of France having finally recovered from scheduling disruption due to COVID. Things seemed to be settling back into normality. However, that flight out of the city turned out to be one of the last to leave before war broke out. That was over 18 months ago and they have not been back since. So here they are in London, striving for peace through their heartfelt performances which they bring to the Peacock Theatre for the first time.
They feature an assortment of crowd pleasing classics that will appeal to connoisseurs of the art and the casual viewer wanting to support their cause. The pieces are performed simply as one might expect, there is some basic back projection to denote setting and the bright, often cheerful costuming does look a little dated at times, but it’s not a distraction. The Peacock provides ample space for the cast to dazzle with their various party pieces, most notably in the finale, Men of Kyiv where eight men including three principals exchange bravado and squat kicks, much to the audience’s delight.
Quality over the course of the 15 short excerpts varies but there was plenty to commend amongst this resilient and committed demonstration. Kristina Kadashevych was the pick of the female principals. She is elegant and refined but still with warp speed footwork, with posé turns and pirouettes that float dreamily with the capable Vladyslav Bosenko in the Talisman pas de deux that opens Act II. They reunite for a serene duet to Elgar’s Nimrod, the gracefulness is intact but the moving score highlights a lack of chemistry too.
Kateryna Floria is another of the female principals populating the programme, with her star moment coming in The Dying Swan, the penultimate performance of the evening. The dual meaning of the struggle of the swan and of the company's own challenges is not subtle but no less profound and Floria inhibits the half-woman, half-swan role with raw emotion. It’s unlike anything else on offer here with a tangible poignancy.
The Le Corsaire pas de deux provides a glittering ending to Act I, this time Bosenko partners the most experienced principal here, Oksana Bondarenko. Bosenko steals the show however with his punchy solos, his jumps hitting the greatest and prolonged heights and his endless tours en l'air with sustained energy, while Bondarenko is elegant in the complicated lifts and balances.
A number of the selection includes a small corps de ballet comprised of young Ukrainian ballet school members who are impressively polished and provide the feeling of something grander in the big classical ballet moments. The Giselle pas de deux is one of them, however it pops up too early in the evening and does not work so well. The drama cannot build effectively and it feels a little lost and clunky on the stage despite Kadashevych’s delicate and ethereal qualities in the title role.
It’s an evening not without humour too. Sirtaki is a slapstick offering with Kadashevych and soloist, Yevheniy Sheremet pairing up to music best known as Zorba’s Dance, for high jinks dressed as Greek statues. They flirt and jump and pose, Sheremet is funny and delivers the strong man lifts with ease along with abundant ego and charisma.
Despite some unevenness, the achievement and dedication of these dancers and what they have overcome, to remain on stage tempers any faltering of technique. Their programme is packed with short bursts of greatest hits from the classical repertoire, which should see them supported by audiences old and new.
