Unbowed by war, United Ballet of Ukraine performs in Taipei

2024-01-05

The United Ballet of Ukraine debuted at Taipei’s National Theater Friday evening, performing the classic ballet "Giselle." It’s a story about a peasant girl’s doomed love affair with a prince. Just before the performance, the dancers told reporters that despite the ongoing war in their home country, they had remained committed to rehearsing for the performance. They said they hoped to honor Ukraine’s army through dance.

The United Ballet of Ukraine performs “Giselle,” a classic Romantic ballet. Before its debut at Taipei’s National Theater, the company had rehearsed intensely in Ukraine. Undeterred by the ongoing war, the dancers remained committed to their art.

Arsen Marusenko
Dancer, United Ballet of Ukraine
There was a lot of noise as we had daytime rehearsals at the theater, and there would be daily air raid sirens. Recently, the Russians began another massive attack on us. That’s the reason some of our rehearsals were disrupted. We would go to air raid shelters and wait until we got the all clear. We were praying they would not get to Lviv. They flew in several times, but thanks to our armed forces, we were able to get through it safely. We were really lucky. That’s the reason why we were able to rehearse. During this time, the war did affect our rehearsals.

Maia Makhateli
Dancer, Dutch National Ballet
I think it’s a wonderful experience to support the dancers in this situation because I think it’s very important to keep doing what you love because I think love will save us in the end.

Despite sudden air raid warnings and strict curfews, the troupe danced on, against the odds. Through ballet, the dancers want to pay tribute to the Ukrainian military and pray for their compatriots back home.

Paul Godrey
Producer
A story of love, betrayal and death, so it’s very resonant to the circumstances in Ukraine at the moment. It may be a ballet about a German village in a French-style production, but it still has a lot of universal meaning to it, so it’s particularly appropriate at this time for Ukraine. So that is the performance we have chosen to bring.

The plot of “Giselle” revolves around a doomed love affair that moves from love, betrayal, and death to redemption. The performance expresses complex emotions and conveys determination to overcome death with love. This echoes the current situation in Ukraine, and producer Paul Godfrey hopes this love can also be conveyed to audiences in Taiwan.

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烏克蘭芭蕾舞團來台無懼戰火堅守崗位演出

2024-01-05

烏克蘭聯合芭蕾舞團，晚間首度登上台灣國家戲劇院演出，帶來經典芭蕾舞劇「吉賽兒」，演出前的記者會上，舞者們表示，儘管家鄉戰火持續，他們仍堅守崗位排練演出，希望透過舞蹈向烏克蘭軍隊致上最高的敬意。

跳著浪漫經典芭蕾舞劇"吉賽兒"，烏克蘭聯合芭蕾舞團在首次登上國家戲劇院前加緊彩排，儘管俄烏戰火上未停歇，舞者們仍堅守崗位演出。

[[烏克蘭芭蕾舞團舞者 Arsen Marusenko]]
“有很多噪音，因為我們有白天在劇院進行排練，但每天都有空襲警報，最近俄羅斯又開始大面積的攻擊我們，這就是我們的一些排練中斷的原因，我們去了防空洞，等到所有空襲警報過去，祈禱它不會到達利沃夫，有幾次它飛進來了，但多虧了我們的武裝部隊，我們才能平安度過，我們很幸運，這就是我們進行排練的原因，這段時間戰爭影響了排練”

[[荷蘭國家芭蕾舞團舞者 Maia Makhateli]]
“我認為在這種情況下，舞者受到支持是一個非常美好的體驗，我認為堅持做自己喜歡的事情非常重要，我認為愛終將拯救我們”

即便面對突然來襲的空襲警報與宵禁規定，劇院仍排除萬難努力練習，要透過芭蕾向烏克蘭軍隊致上最高的敬意，及對家鄉同胞的祈福。

[[演出製作人 Paul Godfrey]]
“這是關於愛、背叛跟死亡的故事，它能夠呼應烏克蘭目前的狀況，這是一部由法國作曲家以德國村莊為背景改編而成的劇作，具有全球性的意義，所以對於烏克蘭來說，在這個時候尤為合適。因此，我們選擇帶來這裡表演。

劇情圍繞男女主角無法開花結果的戀情，從一開始的相戀、背叛、死亡到救贖，用曲折卻堅毅的情感，傳遞用愛戰勝死亡的決心，呼應烏克蘭現在的處境，製作人Paul也希望把這份愛傳遞給台灣的觀眾。

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