National Ballet of Ukraine Tours Nadiya Through Canada
The National Ballet of Ukraine is touring their show Nadiya (Hope) through Canada. Starting in Quebec City on January 15 and ending in Calgary on February 11, the tour is raising money for aid in Ukraine, thanks to a partnership between Humanite Peace Collective and the Olena Zelenska Foundation.
Twenty-three dancers from the National Ballet of Ukraine are a part of this tour, while 150 make up the entire ensemble. Before russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the ballet put on about 16 productions per month at their home base of the Taras Shevchenko National Opera House in Kyiv. The number of shows per month now varies, depending on the circumstances in Ukraine.
In Kyiv, the ballet has reduced not only the number of shows but also the number of spectators. The theatre can hold about 1,300, but only about 400 can now attend — they need to be able to fit in a bomb shelter if required.
We saw the show at the Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg, and it was such a powerful and meaningful performance. Nadiya features dances from various ballets, which really showed off the dancers’ talent. A couple of our favourites were “Melody in A Minor” — the music paired with the movements is just so powerful — and “A Night Before Christmas,” which is based on the wonderfully weird story by Ukrainian writer Mykola Hohol. You can take a look at the show’s full lineup in the program available on the National Ballet’s website.
Nadiya invites to the stage Ukrainian dance ensembles from Canada to perform Hopak and choirs and singers to sing Ukraine’s and Canada’s national anthems as a way to celebrate the connection between Ukraine and Ukrainian communities across Canada. Winnipeg’s show featured the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus and Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble.
Q+A About the National Ballet of Ukraine’s Canadian Tour
We had the chance to talk with David Meffe, head of development of Humanite, about what this tour means to the dancers and to Ukraine.
What is Humanite Peace Collective, and how did you get involved with the National Ballet of Ukraine’s tour?
Humanite is a relatively small organization that’s founded predominantly by survivors of war and refugees. We work in conflict-affected countries around the world, including Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Gaza, and Afghanistan.
David Meffe (centre) is the head of development of Humanite Peace Collective.
What we really try to do is help people who are struggling in the midst of conflict — this is everything from making sure that people in conflict have access to food, water, shelter, and other things that they really need in the moment, to more long-term projects once a conflict is over. Even when the war ends, it doesn’t really mean the end of the war — you always look at 10, 20 years to rebuild cities, rebuild communities, get people back on their feet. We try to take an A to Z approach to conflict where you keep people alive and then give them the means to rebuild their lives after the conflict is over.
We were approached by the organizers of Nadiya, and they were looking for an organization that had a background in working in conflicts and understood what was needed to get to the people of Ukraine, and they wanted someone who could partner on this tour not only as a beneficiary member but to actually help and pull this off collectively. So the two beneficiaries for the tour are Humanite Peace Collective and the Olena Zelenska Foundation, which was founded by the First Lady of Ukraine two years ago.
What was the inspiration behind touring Nadiya?
It all started around two years ago when the full invasion of Ukraine ramped up. People say that the war started in 2022. But really, it started a long time before that with the annexation of Crimea, and there’s loads of backstory behind that.
This tour started as the brainchild of a man named Marc McMurrin, whose father was the conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra throughout the 90s. When the war really ramped up, he had spent a lot of time in Ukraine and was wondering, how do I help my friends? How do I help the artistic community that I'm so close with? And he had this brilliant idea: Why don’t we get the National Ballet of Ukraine to come to Orlando, Florida, to put on one show as a huge fundraiser?
That night (in August 2022) was such a success and raised almost a million dollars U.S. in a single evening. Because of the success in Orlando, organizers thought this needed to be something that could be shared with communities across North America, not just Ukrainian communities, but Canadian communities, American communities, really any lovers of the arts and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Where will the money raised from the tour go?
Conflict situations are really difficult. We can raise money for something right now, and then in two months, another area of the war might come out that needs more attention, so it’s very difficult for me to tell you right now as the tour is going on exactly where in Ukraine the money will go. The Olena Zelenska Foundation is really good at putting together these big projects, so rebuilding schools, rebuilding hospitals — they’ve got this very national vision in mind. They work a lot with kids, they work a lot with schools, they make sure that people have a life to go back to, especially after the war.
Humanite is a little bit different. We have a focus at the ground level. Our specialty is going into conflict areas and finding that person who’s already doing what needs to be done. In all of the conflicts that we’ve worked in in the past, no matter where you go, where people need food, there is someone serving people food. Anywhere that there is a need for shelter, there is someone in those areas, usually a local, who is already doing the work. We find that a lot of larger organizations tend to go into conflict areas and start dictating what people need rather than just being quiet for a moment and listening to what people are already doing. Humanite’s specialty is really going into conflict zones, finding people who are doing the work, and making sure that they have the support and resources they need to continue that work.
“ You can tell that they’re physically here — obviously they’re on stage — but their hearts and their minds are very much still in Ukraine.”
Have you had a chance to talk with some of the dancers on this tour?
I’ve had the great privilege of being on the bus with them since Quebec City. I picked them up from the airport in Montreal at the customs agency, so I was the first person they saw off the plane, and I’ve been with them ever since basically, and they’re all really sweet and wonderful.
They’ve all been affected by the war in different ways. Some of them have brothers, sisters, cousins, parents who are on the frontlines or in the army. A lot of them were trained as combat medics when the war first started as well. A lot of them have kids that they left behind in Ukraine to go on this tour. So these are all dancers that currently live in Ukraine and spend the majority of their time there.
Some of them are even from the cities on the Eastern Front, and Donetsk, and Mariupol where you you hear these names in the news, and it’s never anything good. And some of them tell me about growing up in these places, what it was like years ago when they were these vibrant cities full of life and culture. You can tell that there’s a degree of sadness with some of the dancers having seen their country go from something that was on the track toward being a more independent, more open democratic economy to now, unfortunately being in situations where you have entire communities and towns that have been laid waste to.
For instance, we were on the bus the other night, and I think we were going from Quebec City to Montreal. It was late in the evening. Everyone's kind of tired, so people are napping on the bus, and all of a sudden, everyone’s phones start going off, and there’s sirens everywhere. Everyone grabs their phones, starts looking or talking to each other. And they all have an app on their phone that rings whenever there’s an air raid siren in Kyiv, and it tells you where needs shelter, so they keep an eye on their friends and family, even when they’re here. You can tell that they’re physically here — obviously they’re on stage — but their hearts and their minds are very much still in Ukraine.
What does this tour mean to the dancers?
The key feature of the war that we’ve seen in Ukraine is really the russian invaders trying to destroy Ukrainian identity and history. It’s not just a war about territory. You really see the destruction of heritage sites, museums, concert halls. You see really an attempt to not only conquer territory but erase people and force them out of their homeland. What a lot of the dancers are doing right now, it’s not just touring across Canada and putting on a pretty show. What they're doing is really reminding the world that, “Hey, we have this wonderful culture. We have always had this culture. We have always been our own people with our own identity and our own language.” So they are going to broadcast across Canada as cultural ambassadors, show everyone, remind them that they still exist.
And I think to them as well, a lot of this is important to keep Ukraine front of minds. There’s been a lot in the news the last year, and a lot of people, I think, have forgotten about the war in Ukraine — that hasn’t stopped the intensity of the violence that we’ve seen there, but it has taken people’s eyes and ears off the conflict. So really, this is a reminder that this war is still going on. It’s still affecting people. But despite that, you have these dancers so bravely resiliently trying to maintain culture, and also raising money for a really great cause.
In each of these Canadian cities Nadiya is coming to, Ukrainian dance ensembles and choirs have been invited to perform on the stage as well. Where did this idea come from?
When we started planning this tour all these months ago, we didn’t just want this to be, “Oh look, the circus has come to town. Everyone come watch.” And then we move on to the next city. There is such a vibrant and long-standing Ukrainian community in Canada. Ukrainians have come to Canada for centuries in times of war, in times of famine, and they’ve always been really warmly greeted by their neighbours, and they’ve become these foundational cultures throughout Canada.
When we started planning the tour, we didn’t want to just put on a stage performance — we really wanted to celebrate the connection between Ukraine and the Ukrainian communities across Canada. In every city, we have a local choir or soloists singing the national anthem, both Canadian and Ukrainian. We have local dance troops who are not only on stage with the National Ballet of Ukraine, but they actually get there a little bit early, they rehearse together, and they put on a unique number, mixing local styles of dance with styles of dance from Ukraine, and they kind of blend it together. Every show in every city is a little bit different.
What has the reception of the show been like?
It’s been really wonderful. When these dancers got off the plane in Montreal, it was a night that there was a huge snowstorm so they got in really late. They were really tired because you can’t actually take a direct flight from Kyiv to Canada, and you can’t take flights from airports in Ukraine because of the constant Russian bombings. And so these dancers had to take a 14-hour bus ride from Kyiv to Warsaw and a flight from Warsaw to Germany, and then from Germany to Montreal.
They arrived three hours late. It took them about two days to make the journey. Their luggage was lost, and they were a little bit tired, but the Ukrainian community met them — with a full choir, people were in traditional clothing, they had bread and salt, and as soon as they went through the doors, people started singing, and it just kind of changed the mood completely. So not only did they feel happy, they felt really welcomed. We’ve gotten similar receptions in every city we’ve been to where people are so happy to see them, so happy that they’re here.
We almost had to cancel that first show — their luggage got there four hours before the first show, with the audience none the wiser. So when they say the show must go on, they really mean the show must go on, regardless of what’s going on. I think that’s just another example of the kind of resilience that they show constantly. You know what, no matter what happens, we’re going to make it work. We’re going to figure it out and there will be a show, come hell or high water.
This tour is a celebration of all things beautiful. When you think about what’s beautiful and spectacular, you think of classical music, you think of the ballet, you think of that kind of resplendent night at the opera. And then on the other hand, what is more ugly and destructive than war, an invasion. What we’re doing here is really trying to use this something so beautiful and so pure and so wonderful to fight something so ugly and destructive. I think when Canadian audiences across the country see what this is, they’ll understand the magnitude of what’s going on and they’ll want to be a part of this.
One high monetary donor from each city has the chance to get a ballet slipper signed by the National Ballet of Ukraine.
Thanks so much to David for talking with us. For our full conversation, listen to our latest episode.
This show really pulls on your heartstrings, and we’re excited for all of you to see the show. Watching it, we could feel the emotions of all the dancers. Lots of time, through your movement, it almost says more than what words can — in such intense times, words can’t always depict your feelings, so you just have to dance. Thank you to all the dancers and organizers of this tour for sharing your emotions, your movements, your heart, and your love of and support for Ukraine with us.
The ballet still has a few stops left on its Canadian tour! Find tickets for a city near you on the National Ballet of Ukraine’s website.
Schaslyvo!