BALLETS BY OLEKSANDR RODIN IN THE REPERTOIRE OF THE KYIV MODERN BALLET: CULTURAL OPTICS

Abstract

The article is devoted to identifying the peculiarities of O. Rodin’s ballets in the repertoire of the Kyiv Modern Ballet through cultural optics. The following methods were used: analytical, chronological, historical, cultural determination, and theoretical generalization. Based on the provision of culturology about the text of culture as any object, it is entirely legitimate to use cultural optics to study ballet works as texts of culture, considering its synthetic specificity. Interpreting a “text” does not only entail identifying the meanings implied by the author but also allows the production of new meanings, as a ballet work is an open system that interacts with the context and other cultural texts of the past and present. The ballet performances of the composer O. Rodin, choreographed by O. Busko (Seasons of the Year, 2013; The Spirit of the Rose, 2014) and R. Poklitaru (Up the River, 2017; Viy, 2019) are multilayered cultural texts that can be interpreted at the level of the context of the ballet itself (technical and technological, artistic and figurative solutions), the context of the author (additional meanings, allusions, reminiscences, metaphors, etc.) and the context of the interpreter (the level of choreographic awareness as well as artistic and imaginative thinking; contemporary cultural and historical events; biographical milestones; the level of professionalism in a particular field of activity, etc.) Promising areas for further research include determining the methodology for construing (interpreting) ballet performances as cultural texts, comparing the staging decisions of ballets by O. Rodin and other composers in the repertoire of the Kyiv Modern Ballet through the prism of cultural patterns, identifying the cultural significance of the Kyiv Modern Ballet in the national and world cultural discourse, etc.