Boston may get its fair share of winter weather, but nothing this season will be as dazzling as the storm blowing into the Emerson Colonial Theatre on December 27, when the Grand Kyiv Ballet returns with The Snow Queen for one night only.
The company last came to town with Swan Lake back in February, earning the kind of rapturous audience response that usually only greets returning pop stars, not classical ballet troupes. This time around, they’re bringing something even more transportive along with them: a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, filtered through Ukrainian artistry and rendered on stage with plenty of wintry grandeur.
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Part of the draw is the story itself, one of Andersen’s most enduring tales: when a shard from an enchanted mirror slips into Kai's eye and turns his heart cold, he becomes a perfect target for the Snow Queen, who spirits him away to her frigid kingdom. Gerda follows him through forests, storms and a menagerie of magical beings ranging from robbers to trolls to a thoroughly mischievous Snowman.
The company’s version enacts that adventure to the music of Grieg, Massenet, Mozart and Vivaldi, led by principal dancers Viktor Tomashek and Alisa Kuzmenko.
But this Boston engagement carries more weight than a purely seasonal outing. Part of the tour’s proceeds will go toward restoring Ukraine’s Main Ballet Academy and repairing its children’s dormitory, institutions that have long shaped the country’s dance identity and that now require rebuilding.
Ballet has always been a dialogue between tradition and innovation and, in this case, it’s also a means of preservation. Attending The Snow Queen becomes a way to experience a beloved classic while supporting the training ground that produced many of the dancers on stage.
The Grand Kyiv Ballet is touring internationally with an ensemble of 35 artists from Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa, joined by performers from abroad but still rooted in the spirit and resilience of Ukrainian dancers. The Snow Queen tickets are available through the Emerson Colonial Theatre. For more information, click here.