A day after I watched Scapino Ballet Rotterdam's full scale entertainment contemporary ballet, Oscar, I went to see something, which I am comfortable to say is opposite of it: the Ukrainian International Ballet's (UIB) INdependent24 at an intimate setting of Theater Koningshof in Maassluis on 7th September.
As I wrote in the earlier news post, UIB is the successor of the United Ukrainian Ballet. It now has ten Ukrainian dancers and is based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
I am not sure if can say I enjoyed watching INdependent24 even though it showcased good techniques and I like techniques (who hates Kitri?). Rather, it was painful to watch because it was about the War in Ukraine. I knew it was going to be. And I think that was the whole point. Furthermore, due to the proximity to the stage, I could see sweats on dancers' faces and hear their breath (and identify a pointe shoe brand), which made me re-live the Ukrainians' painful experiences.
Independent24 comprised of two acts. The first act was Project - Emotions choreographed by company dancer Dmytro Borodai, who is from Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia. It was skilfully chaotic and non-violently violent. It started with a train journey after, I guessed, the Russian invasion in February 2022. Everything went fast. Then, audience was drawn into a young soldier's point of view. The way he carried a big weapon. His lost youth, lost friendship, lost love, lost future and lost dreams.. and lost limbs. I felt grateful for Andrii Siromakha's appearance on stage. He a 23 year-old war veteran if I heard it correctly.
The second act was de/het/één by Dutch dancer choerographer Richèl Wieles. It was about their lives in the Netherlands. Interstingly, its much cleaner, calmer and trendier choreography added depth to the whole performance. Their life will go on.
Overall, INdependent24 was a unique and peerless storytelling. It was an unequivocal anti-war message and a non-violent protest. I just thought choreography and lights would have been even more effective on a larger stage. Hopefully, UIB will get a chance to perform this piece on much larger stages in the future. On the other hand, I am sure I will be telling everyone in near future that I was very lucky to watch them in such a grassroots setting.
Personal note: I am from Japan, which is known for unspeakable atrocities during the two world wars. At the same time, the vast majorities of the Japanese who lost their lives in the pointless wars were young soldiers, who were sent to front lines without a say, and civilians, who happened to be underneath air raids and the two atomic bombs. Japan is also known for earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis in the aftermath of the massive earthquakes and tsunami in 2011. So I take war messages quite personal.
You still have one more chance to watch INdependent24 on 14th September at Cpunt in Hoofddorp.
The images are taken by me and my better half with my iPhone.