Kyiv Ballet to Debut 'Tribute to Peace' at Davidson College | Davidson - Davidson News

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The Kyiv City Ballet makes a stop at Davidson College as part of its U.S. tour. The company, stranded in France when the invasion of Ukraine began, has not returned home since. Learn more.

This weekend, the Kyiv City Ballet Company will perform at Davidson in front of a sold-out crowd on the second stop of its premier United States tour.

The tour marks an unexpected coming-out for the ballet company. Founded in 2012, the Kyiv City Ballet had no designs on a global tour until this past February, when the company unknowingly took one of the last flights out of their home city before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The dancers flew to Paris for a two-week tour, but found themselves stranded in France after the invasion began. They have not returned home since. Instead, they have performed throughout France and Europe, before embarking on an inaugural tour of the United States.

While in Davidson, they will share their expertise with approximately 10 students in a ballet master class in the Cheryle Williams Center for Dance in the Vance Athletic Center.

During the U.S. tour, the company will prepare two different programs: a mixed repertory program of three ballets, including “Thoughts” (choreography by Vladyslav Dobshynskyi), a contemporary ballet; “Tribute to Peace” (choreography by Ekaterina and Ivan Kozlov), a new neo-classical work; and “Men of Kyiv” (choreography by Pavlo Virsky), a Ukranian folk dance; as well as a full-length “Swan Lake” (choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Ivan Kozlov). They will debut the mixed repertory at Davidson.

“We are honored to share the beauty of ballet with U.S. audiences, through Ukranian artists,” said Ivan Kozlov, artistic director. “Touring the states for the first time with a range of ballets makes an important global statement. It demonstrates the resilience of the Ukrainian people.”

The Polsky Foundation, the tour’s sponsor, requests that anyone who would like to support the ballet consider a donation to Operation White Stork. Operation White Stork is a veteran-led, rapid response, humanitarian organization that takes its name from the national bird of Ukraine. White Stork's programs include: evacuating women and children, the elderly, and their pets; directly supplying hospitals; and providing first aid kits to the defense forces of Ukraine.