Kyiv City Ballet comes to Chattanooga Oct. 5-7
UTC is one of 15 stops on the upcoming U.S. tour of the Kyiv City Ballet from Ukraine.
The tour marks the first time the Kyiv City Ballet has ever performed in the U.S.
The company is scheduled for three Chattanooga performances in the newly renovated Roland Hayes Auditorium in the UTC Fine Arts Center Oct. 5-7. Ticket prices and purchase locations are not yet finalized and will be announced at a later date.
The Chattanooga Ballet is co-sponsor of the Kyiv City Ballet performances in Chattanooga and will perform on Oct. 6-7.
"This will be a major cultural event in the city and provides an opportunity for the city of Chattanooga to support these Ukrainian artists who are unable to return to their home," said Pam Riggs-Gelasco, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The U.S. tour’s first stop is Wilmington, N.C. on Sept. 16. Other locations on the tour include major cities such as New York, Chicago, Charlotte and Detroit and smaller cities such as Opelika, Alabama; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
The tour will include a full-length performance of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake,” and a second, mixed repertory program of three ballets:
"Thoughts,” a contemporary ballet
“Tribute to Peace,” a neo-classical work
“Men of Kyiv,” a Ukranian folk dance
With no knowledge that Russia would invade Ukraine the next day, the Kyiv City Ballet took one of the last flights out of the country on Feb. 23. The company traveled to Paris to begin a long-planned European tour. It has not returned home since.
“We are honored to share the beauty of ballet with U.S. audiences through Ukrainian artists,” said the company’s Artistic Director Ivan Kozlov. “Touring the States for the first time with a range of ballets makes an important global statement. It demonstrates the resilience of the Ukrainian people.”
The company’s principal dancer is Vsevolod Maevskiy, a former student of Mr. Kozlov’s. Two of Ukraine’s prima ballerinas, Krystina Kadashevych and Oksana Bondarenko, will perform with the company on its U.S. tour.