The Ukrainian Ballet Freedom’s journey to Edinburgh has been well documented in the media, with two of the male dancers being given special dispensation by Ukraine’s minister of culture to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
They are required to return home after their Fringe run to fight for their country, so there’s a lot of support for this company in the auditorium.
An adaptation of their hit show Boudoir, a series of stories driven by sex and violence, a wardrobe, centre-stage is integral to the action, revealing itself in different guises, including a wardrobe, a shower, and even a place to hide corpses. There’s a speak-easy vibe to the set.
The show starts well with the dancers entering the auditorium dressed in stylish red-waiting outfits, carrying platters of food, conducted by a master of ceremonies, as though inviting us to a feast. But sadly the feast that is unveiled is not the wholesome, tasteful one we’d hoped for. The action then descends into a series of bawdy, somewhat unrelated stories, with scantily clad dancers, some with bottoms bared, simulating copulation and other violent scenes driven by sex. It’s as uncomfortable as it is chilling, which isn’t helped by the temperature of the auditorium.
There’s no doubting the talented dancers and there’s a Bob Fosse style to some of the choreography but the ballet’s subject, with its central theme of sex and violence, left me feeling uncomfortable, as I’m sure it would many of the ‘Me-Too’ movement.
As much as my senses have not been titillated, many of the audience are nonetheless supportive of the company’s efforts and they received a standing ovation at the end, especially when the Ukrainian flag is unfurled at the end. As much as I wanted to love this show, I only came away liking it and it certainly didn’t move me to tears as it had one friend the previous evening.
