United Ukrainian Ballet Co Brings ”Giselle” to Segerstrom Hall

Today my guests are: Alexis Tutunnique and Elizaveta Gogidze, both principal dancers with the United Ukrainian Ballet Company, an assemblage of refugee dancers from all over Ukraine, who will perform at our Segerstrom Hall, 6/29-7/2nd, in Alexei Ratmansky’s version of the ghost story “Giselle, with surprising nuances and a hopeful ending in place of the usual bleak one. They’ve performed in the Netherlands, the UK, Singapore, Australia and the US; we are fortunate to have them in our neighborhood. We’ll hear what these artists are doing, what’s on their minds. Details for tickets and times are available at:https://www.scfta.org/events/2023/united-ukrainian-ballet. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; and Vsevolod Zaderatsky, Preludes and Fugues in a minor, performed by Irma Klimenko. Note to listeners: In 1937 Ukrainian composer Vsevolod Zaderatsky (1891-1953) was one of those who fell under the Great Terror – the most brutal of Stalinist repressions. In earlier years all his compositions were destroyed to render him silent. Zaderatsky was accused of being a teacher for young Tsarevich, of formalism – a fraught word, which means one’s music is not approved by the Party – and of “anti-Soviet statements” that musical life in Ukraine was superior to that in Yaroslavl (Russia), where he worked before. This prelude and fugue was written during his imprisonment in GULAG – on fragments of telegram forms, without access to any musical instrument – and performed publicly only in 2014, 75 years after the composer’s death. Please listen to the whole work.