| Directors | Vladislava Kovalenko, Richèl Wieles, Dmytro Borodai |
| Duration | 110 min |
Experience a unique collaboration of Dutch and Ukrainian choreographers in the inspiring ballet "INdependent 24," exploring humanity, love, and beauty.
Meet the unique collaboration of Dutch choreographer Richèl Wieles with Ukrainian choreographer Dmytro Borodai in two new ballets about a story of 10 people in the present-day Hague. At a time when the whole world is “cracking” at the seams, drowning from the worst sides of human nature, the choreographers created a performance based on the principles of sensitivity, humanity, and compassion for each other, where the dance calls on the heart and mind to choose “humanity” as the main tool of coexistence in the world.
With the help of choreography, soulful dances, drama, sarcasm, and apt humor, this ballet will guide you through the emotions of your own soul. The performance invites the audience to immerse themselves, sincerely “release” and analyze their own emotions and their impact on everyday life, and get mental relief during the performance. The choreography, saturated with different moods, provokes and directs the viewer to experience a wide range of feelings. Dmytro Borodai hails from the city of Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhya region and is an outstanding representative of Ukrainian choreography. From 2019 to 2022, he worked at the National Opera of Ukraine, and after 2022 he continued his career at the United Ukrainian Ballet.
This lively one-act ballet recreates, through the real stories of 10 Ukrainian dancers, the vision of the beauty of modern Netherlands and dedicates this ballet to gratitude to the Dutch nation. Richèl Wieles is a professional Dutch dancer whose career began after graduating from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague in 2011. Since then, he has performed extensively as a classical and contemporary dancer with several esteemed companies across Europe, including Nederlands Dans Theater 2, Ballet van Vlaanderen, Slovenian National Ballet, Tanz Luzerner Theater, Another Kind Of Blue, Introdans, and Ballet Ireland. Alongside his performance career, Richèl has also found fulfillment in assisting choreographers and teaching as a guest instructor in various companies and summer schools worldwide.
The Ukrainian International Ballet is a foundation created on the basis of the United Ukrainian Ballet Foundation, which has earned a positive reputation within the Netherlands and during tours to California, Washington DC, London, Liverpool (performed at the opening of Eurovision 2023), Copenhagen, Taiwan, and many other places; working with choreographers Jiři Kylián, Sol Leon & Paul Lightfoot, Alexei Ratmansky, Sasha Riva, and Simone Repele, under the guidance of the Dutch ballerina Igone de Jongh, Rinus Sprong, Mattiijs Bongertman and the entire board of the UUBF. Even after the operational closure of the UUBF in March 2024, the foundation continues its noble journey of preserving Ukrainian culture and helping Ukrainian refugee dancers. Thankfully to the financial and informational support of UUBF the «INdependence24» project was brought to live.
Recommended age: 6+
No use of strobe lighting
| Directors | Vladislava Kovalenko, Richèl Wieles, Dmytro Borodai |
| Choreography | Dmytro Borodai, Richèl Wieles |
| Performers | Kseniia Novikova, Marat Ragimov, Dmytro Borodai, Orina Purimova, Anastasia Levkut, Vladislava Kovalenko, Andrii Siromakha, Oleksii Hohidze, Iryna Khutoryanska, Dmytro Tkachenko, Yaroslava Zhivolup |
| Special thanks to | Rinus Sprong, Igone de Jong, Bart Meuter, Bessel Kok, Monique de Velders, Annemaayke van der Worp, Maxim Hodak, Britt Arp, Lior Zafri |
Korzo Zaal