Ukrainian cultural rebirth: Lviv ballet & opera
These are preliminary exploratory materials from an initial visit, a proof of concept and access for a deeper documentary about a Ukrainian cultural renaissance in the context of the current war. (It will need a better title than the purely descriptive working one above!) The documentary will pull on the threads of human interest stories showing how the war has impacted individuals connected to Lviv National Ballet & Opera, and explore how an institution & building that is iconic within Ukraine, and the individuals that are within it, are part of a rapidly developing Ukrainian national identity that itself is a critical part of the war effort.
I will be working together with Ukrainian filmmaker Polya Moshenska on the project to make it a Scottish-Ukrainian co-production. I have longstanding connections with individuals in Lviv National Ballet & Opera having first worked on a photo project about them (which was widely published) right back in 2009. You can see that series of photos here.
The ballet, particularly in countries that formed part of the Soviet Union, was until the 1990’s seen as one of the key Soviet/Russian cultural propaganda tools. Tours of the West during the Cold War by the likes of the Bolshoi (drawing dancers from all over, including Lviv) were designed to showcase Soviet cultural supremacy. When Ukraine became independent, Ukrainian ballet companies cut the umbilical cord that tied them to the Soviet network, to the schools of St Petersburg and Moscow (amongst others) that distributed dancers, choreographers through the Soviet Union. Since the latest phase of Russian invasion in 2022, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture has banned performances of Russian works, including the staples of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.
As the project develops, it will show more about an emerging, uniquely Ukrainian voice through ballet & opera. But to understand it it is also important to show where this has come from, the history, and not to hide aspects of the trauma of the Soviet past.
Lviv Opera’s building itself is one of the most iconic in Ukraine and is at the very heart of the city. Lviv is unique in Ukraine, and indeed the former Soviet Union, as a city with the glittering past of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of Europe's most beautiful cities, with outstanding architecture and an intense cultural scene. Being at the extreme Western edge of Ukraine, far from Moscow, in many ways even during Soviet times it had more artistic licence to experiment than was allowed in Moscow or even Kyiv, and even during Soviet times was to some extent allowed to showcase Ukrainian artists, composers and choreographers. Lviv was also a uniquely multi-cultural city, with ethnic Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Russians, Austrians and Hungarians rubbing shoulders over the last hundred-odd years.