DATELINE NEW YORK: Dancers and art (06/08/97)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Dancers and art

by Helen Smindak

ABT's Ukrainian stars

The American Ballet Theater's 1997 season, which opened May 12 at the Metropolitan Opera House, is enhancing the careers of three Ukrainian dancers.

Vladimir Malakhov, a native of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, who is performing in his third season as a principal dancer, is appearing in most of the dances on the summer schedule. He is in the company premiere of "Coppelia," staged by Frederic Franklin, and is doing lead roles in full-length favorites "Romeo and Juliet" and "Swan Lake" and the revival of Kenneth MacMillan's "The Sleeping Beauty." He is billed to appear in three works that are part of the company's All-Star ABT program - "Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux," "La Bayadere" (Act II) and "Manon" - and in "Apollo", part of the company's 20th Century Masterworks program.

Joan Acocella in an review in the Wall Street Journal recently described Mr. Malakhov as a most remarkable dancer. "Everything about him is elongated, sculpted, refined. Male dancers, when they lift the heel from the floor, generally rise onto half point, that is, onto the ball of the foot. Mr. Malakhov rises onto three-quarter point; he stands on the base of his toes."

Miss Acocella regards his big jump - the simple grand jete - as his best step: "When he jumps, you barely see the launch, the change of conditions between earth and air. And once in the air, he floats like a hang glider."

During ABT's opening week, Mr. Malakhov and Irina Dvorovenko of Kyiv, who joined ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996, were paired in "Swan Lake."

Anna Kisselgoff's review in The New York Times, published on May 17 with a photo of Ms. Dvorovenko and Mr. Malakhov in "Swan Lake," called attention to the excitement that "radiated from the matinee's idiosyncratic and riveting leads."

Noting that Ms. Dvorovenko's first Odette-Odile performance "showed off a dynamic and excellently schooled dancer," she pointed out that the dancer "did not fall under the shadow of her elegant and melodramatic partner, Vladimir Malakhov."

She continued: "Ms. Dvorovenko entered with an extra-large jete, made her mime expressive and used her high extension to fine but not flamboyant effect in her adagio and solo. She impressed the swan arabesques on the eye. In the Black Swan pas de deux, her natural dynamism showed her unafraid to plunge into the movement ... she whipped off perfect fouettes."

Mr. Malakhov's performance elicited this acclaim from Ms. Kisselgoff: "As a classical dancer, he was at the top of his pure form. One had only to let the eye travel from his side to his pointed foot to see nobility of line."

Ms. Dvorovenko, who is married to ABT soloist Maxim Belotserkovsky, began her ballet training at age 10 at the Kyiv Ballet School. Joining the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Kyiv in 1990 as a soloist, she rose to the rank of principal dancer in 1992. She has won awards at the Ukraine Ballet Competition (Grand Prix, 1987), Jackson International Ballet Competition (silver medal, 1990), International Ballet Competition in Moscow (first prize and the Anna Pavlova gold medal, 1992) and the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Ukraine (Grand Prix gold medal, 1994).

Her repertoire with American Ballet Theater includes Ganzatti in "La Bayadere," Aurora in "Coppelia," Odette-Odile in "Swan Lake" and a leading role in "Transcendental Études."

Mr. Belotserkovsky is appearing this season in ABT's productions of "Cinderella," "Coppelia" and "The Sleeping Beauty." He joined American Ballet Theater as a member of the corps de ballet in 1994 and was appointed soloist in May 1995. Born in Kyiv, he was a leading soloist with the National Opera of Bulgaria and the National Opera of Ukraine before coming to the United States.

In her review of "Swan Lake," which mentioned that both Ms. Dvorovenko and her husband were principal dancers in the Kyiv Ballet in Ukraine, Ms. Kisselgoff called attention to the exciting performance of Mr. Belotserkovsky and Keith Roberts in the "Neapolitan Duet."

Festival highlights

Folk arts, fine arts and culinary arts were woven into the 21st annual Ukrainian Festival in New York, transforming East Seventh Street in the East Village into a Ukrainian bazaar during the weekend of May 16-18. The festive ambiance was heightened by stage shows featuring dance ensembles, singers and musicians, with many festival-goers attired in embroidered shirts and some in full Ukrainian folk dress.

Folk arts were shown by artisans like Easter egg expert Sofia Zielyk of New York and bead-work artist Sister Josaphat of the Order of St. Basil the Great, while fine arts were displayed by decorative painter Andriy Pikush of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, antique-silver jewelry master Liubart Lishchynsky, and painters Daria Naumko of Lviv, Petro Rybchuk and Valeriy Skrypka of Kyiv. Mr. Lishchynsky's and Mr. Skrypka's works were shown by the Chryzanta Kaminsky-Hentisz Gallery of New Jersey.

Ms. Zielyk's skilled handiwork was evident in dozens of decorated pysanky, with intricate designs covering chicken, goose and ostrich eggs, as well as ceramic vases and dishes hand-painted with colorful Poltava and Kyivan motifs. Sister Josaphat showed an array of stunning patterned neckpieces, called gerdany, each fashioned from hundreds of tiny beads strung onto threads.

Mr. Pikush, who demonstrated his art at last year's fair, showed interested bystanders how he paints vivid flower-and-bird scenes using the highly decorative style that originated in the village of Petrykivka in eastern Ukraine. In the U.S. on a one-month visit, he has been exhibiting and illustrating Petrykivka art in Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The ladies of St. George's Church and Ukrainian National Women's League of America branches took care of the culinary department (and fair-goers' appetites) by offering a Ukrainian menu that included tasty Ukrainian borsch, holubtsi, varenyky topped with fried onions, kovbasa with kapusta (sausages with sauerkraut), nalysnyky (crepes) with sour cream, and a variety of pastries to team with coffee. Members of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM-A) ran a small sidewalk cafe that proved to be popular with many visitors.

Stage presentations that set hands to clapping and toes to tapping featured Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky's talented Syzokryli Dancers of New York and groups of her students from Long Island and New Jersey (the youngest a 5-year-old from the troupe in Newark, N.J.).

Adding further excitement were the Mriya dance ensemble from Hempstead, Long Island, directed by Petro Fil, and the children of St. George Academy, with traditional spring dances - hahilky - under the direction of Daria Genza.

The festival's guest artists were baritone Stephen Stepan, from the Lviv Opera Theater, and his accompanist, composer Bohdan Yanivsky of Kyiv. Making their festival debut were mezzo-soprano Ivanna Taratula, guitarist/poet Victor Samokhval and a four-man vocal group from Lviv called Lvivski Muzyky, now touring the U.S.

Other vocalists who charmed the audience were Anna Baczynska, Andriy Tscherniak, Laryssa Magun-Huryn, Roman Tsymbala and Andriy Solodenko. Miss Baczynska was the program director, with Ulana Kekish and Ivanna Mazur serving as announcers and pianist Oksana Lykhovy providing accompaniment for singers.

Despite the bustle and revelry, three philanthropic organizations - the Orphans' Aid Society, Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine and Ukramerezha - were able to attract the attention of passers-by to their causes. Ukramerezha (also known as USA/USA - Ukrainian Student Association in the U.S.A.), which was launched in 1991 by Dr. Bohdan Oryshkevich with seed funding from the Ukrainian National Association and the Soros Foundation, runs a summer seminar in Kyiv for highly qualified Ukrainian high school students who wish to enter college in the United States.

Initiated in 1976 by the Ukrainian Bicentennial Committee of New York, the Ukrainian Festival is held on the block of Seventh Street between Second and Third avenues that is the home of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church and rectory; the Surma book store, a general emporium of Ukrainian books, periodicals, art and handicrafts; and Brewsky's Pub, a Ukrainian-owned tavern that specializes in beers from around the world (Ukrainian beer was especially flown in for the festival, and bartenders in Ukrainian embroidered shirts added to the Kozak ambiance).

Since 1977, the fair has been sponsored by St. George's Church, under the over-all supervision of its pastors, the Rev. Patrick Paschak and the Rev. Lavrentiy Lawreniuk.

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