Coral Springs: Coral Springs Center for the Arts- Swan Lake (January 1).King Center for the Performing Arts- Sleeping Beauty (December 30) Fort Pierce: Sunrise Theatre- Swan Lake (December 28, 2022). Montgomery: Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts- Swan Lake (January 13).Birmingham: Alabama Theatre- Sleeping Beauty (January 12, 2023).State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine Tour Locations And we’re hopeful that with love and faith, these crazy times will end soon.” “We are so very appreciative and excited to bring the holiday spirit to these audiences. The main thing she wishes for North American audiences? To come and see the dancers live. But now in the U.S., they’re able to live in some sort of normality they don’t have to wake up to the sound of sirens.” “These dancers were forced to leave their homes, and even their families,” says Vaganova-Yachmennikova, “and we have to keep our location in Ukraine undisclosed. The task of covertly rehearsing in Ukraine and transporting company members, sets and costumes out of the country was not an easy one-and it was risky. Photo by Joe Marino, courtesy NJPAC.īut the company’s success this year was not met without difficulty. Artem Yachmennikoff,Įkaterina Vaganova-Yachmennikova, members of State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine and local ballet students. So the fact that they are able to continue to do their job is priceless given the surrounding circumstances.” Hundreds of people have also shown their support through donations on the Classical Arts website, which goes toward funding SBTU productions and helping the displaced artists and their families. “Dancers already have a very short artistic life,” she says. Vaganova-Yachmennikova explains that this year’s tour is particularly special to SBTU and is thrilled that several theaters have sold out their performances through February. NJPAC executive vice president and executive producer David Rodriguez notes that the Center’s relationship with SBTU goes back several years the company’s performances, he says, “creates an opportunity to view a single seminal work in a variety of cultural contexts not available elsewhere.” And for the theaters involved, the company’s annual tours have generated a strong connection over the years. “It’s a unique cultural exchange they get a global experience and appreciation for working with artists from different backgrounds,” she says, emphasizing that observing how professionals work onstage and performing alongside them is critical for students who want to dance professionally themselves. Vaganova-Yachmennikova (who traces her ancestry back to the legendary Agrippina Vaganova) notes the significance of the performance opportunities for young dancers in the U.S. There are over 100 total dancers onstage!” “At New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), we have a school that last year got 20 dancers to participate, and this year there are 45. “The auditions are open for the entire community,” she says, explaining that she and Yachmennikoff work with local host studios to audition area dancers ages 3 and up, including adult ballet students. State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine in Sleeping Beauty with local ballet students. And while the program has always experienced consistent participation, Vaganova-Yachmennikova was blown away by the number of auditioning students for the 2022–23 season. The two got involved with Classical Arts in 2018 with the creation of the organization’s “We Dance” program, which facilitates the local student involvement with SBTU at each touring location. In addition to their positions as co-artistic directors of the company, they also own and direct their own studio, We Dance Academy, in Melbourne, Florida and Viera, Florida. audiences, but also from local ballet students who are invited to join the company onstage each year.įormer ballroom dancer Ekaterina Vaganova-Yachmennikova heads SBTU student engagement alongside her husband, Artem Yachmennikoff, a former San Francisco Ballet and Dutch National Ballet principal, Mariinsky Ballet soloist and Bolshoi Ballet first soloist. For SBTU, that meant a sudden increase in attention-not only from U.S. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, eyes have turned toward the Eastern European nation and its displaced people, including its dancers. In what has become an annual tradition, the company has toured its productions of The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and other classics throughout the U.S. State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine, founded in 2018 and hosted by Classical Arts in Brooklyn, New York, is a 55-member troupe of Ukrainian dancers who come together each year to perform in North America.
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