Thank you North Dorset
As we reflected on the visit of Kyiv City Ballet we recognised the wonderful support we had, that made their visit possible.
The Grosvenor Arms gave an immediate and positive response to an enquiry about sponsored accommodation. Their generosity gave us the confidence to follow up our initial enquiry with Kyiv City Ballet.
Kyiv City Ballet loved their home from home in Shaftesbury and had, for the first time in almost two years, a hotel next to the shops, dance studios and venues they needed day to day. They were deeply impressed by the care the staff gave them, the quality of the 5 unique rooms they stayed in and the age of the property in a characterful town.
They were deeply moved by the gifts of welcome the Grosvenor helped put in their rooms and the decorations that marked their residency. Being able to come back to such a warm and welcoming place each night gave them real respite from their Infinity Tour. Kirsty, Fiona and Rob have asked us not to mention them by name but their staff, Marianna, Tom and others do deserve a mention.
Without the generous contribution of the owners of The Grosvenor Arms, Stay Original Co, the week would never have happened.
Next we are delighted to acknowledge the Ukrainian community locally who planned the programme and supported each event.
We have been inspired by the people who came to our community for the safety of their families and their personal security and grateful to have their involvement in the week.
It was the Ukrainian community that made the Bread and Salt Welcome very special for over 100 people with unique foods. The memorable Borscht and canapes made at Compton McRae was the product of careful project planning and dedicated hard work on the Sunday and Monday. The young waiters worked so hard to share the food and meet the needs of their guests and the bread, baked by Anna was astonishing and tasty!.
Everybody helped and supported throughout the week but the support of young Ukrainians in schools and dance classes made for a very special week. The young performers such as Liudmyla and Marta, Valeriia, Timur and Daryna who entertained us from the stage and the piano keyboard on Sunday were just a part of the energy and involvement of Ukrainian young people during the week and especially that seen in schools.
Every successful project needs willing and knowledgeable partners. We could not have done better than to have Tiffany Longley-Wolff and her team at TLW Dance to help us with the arrangements for the week and in particular the last performance. Their students worked phenomenally hard to make their contribution flawless and immensely entertaining.
Thank you to the young dancers of TLW Dance
Tiffany also arranged support for the Ukrainian dance classes from TLW Foundation and, in the shortest of periods choreographed some stunning performances to illustrate 5 steps in a dancer’s journey. Her young dancers dazzled the audience at the Sunday finale. Thank you to Tiffany and the team at TLW Dance Studios.
Then there are our wonderful Mayors…
Barry von Clemens and Virginia Edwyn-Jones began their welcome in July by writing to Kyiv City Ballet whilst they were in Edinburgh and highlighting how much Shaftesbury and Gillingham were looking forward to their visit and support for Ukrainian guests.
Their presence at Bread and Salt signalled the significance of this event for local Ukrainian guests and Kyiv City Ballet alike.. Both mayors are champions for the needs of all people in our area and both hosted events in their Town Halls during the week. Thank you.
Our artist in residence, Johnny Bull came into our group at just the right moment. Inspired by his exhibition at The Slade Centre and his posters for The Chalke Valley History Festival, our Chair, Carolyn made an initial contact with Johnny. He delighted us by taking on the project of illustrating our posters for the week. We had very little time to produce these but Johnny never let us down on the tightest of schedules and produced work that was universally admired. We have used his signed posters as gifts for schools and partners and we hope you catch sight of some of them around town.
We decided to have two discussions during the week, opportunities to consider the importance of culture in a time of war. Not an easy topic and one needing careful handling. We are grateful to Amber Harrison and Fanny Charles for their gentle manner and scrupulous preparation, which made these two events interesting and enjoyable.
Bill Dowling and Tom Netherton of Compton McRae have been supporters of our small charity for over three years. Their willingness to give support is notorious but in the week of Kyiv City Ballet they went further than we could ever have expected. They opened their kitchen to the Ukrainian cooks and in so doing opened up the chance for community, laughter and the joy of team work. They know what they gave and we are constantly amazed at the depth of their generosity and warmth to people.
Keri Jones and the Team at This is Alfred are an asset few towns can boast. The Alfred Daily is community radio at its best, telling the stories that matter to the people they are about. From the start of our project, Keri has offered guidance, helped us make connections, steered our approach and told the story of the visit of Kyiv City Ballet. We are indebted to Alfred almost every week and do not think we would be the same town without it.
Five of our local schools hosted visits and 8 schools were involved in the workshops and assemblies given by Kyiv City Ballet. The schools planned these visits together and with us. Thinking carefully about the needs of their young Ukrainian students and the children interested in dancers as they do every day the sessions were inclusive and a celebration of the identity and resilience of these young People. The local schools and the English education system has responded superbly to displaced people wherever they are from. This stability for children is hugely important for parents well-being.
Our local businesses wanted to show the warmth of the community that displaced people come to in North Dorset and helped us put together welcome gifts for Kyiv City Ballet to show their appreciation and thanks for bringing exceptional ballet to our region.
Caz Richards of Dorset Food and Drink put together these flavours of Dorset as a welcome hamper.
Neal’s Yard Remedies based in Gillingham and Covent Garden provided delightful welcome bags with travel toiletries for the Ballet Company that is on the Infinity Tour.
Jemima of Pamplemousse and her colleagues made up posies for the dancers’ bedrooms and, when we could not pick these up on Saturday as planned, we were amazed that she would open the shop especially to make this delivery.
The cafes and restaurants of Shaftesbury are an enormous draw for visitors to North Dorset. They provide great food and often in the most glorious of settings. As part of the huge local welcome given to them, the Kyiv City Ballet members were offered a menu of possibility, wherever they were in Shaftesbury
Our charity’s small resources are needed to meet the needs of displaced people from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. If we were to avoid using them on this single project we would need to secure additional grants for the week.
We applied for a number of grants. The grant providers that recognised the value of our week’s aims were The Dorset Community and Culture projects fund, round 5, TLW Dance Foundation and Dorset Community Foundation (DCF). They thought our ambition to use a week of dance to build community, celebrate resilience and Ukrainian identity was to be commended. They also believed that we could make the week a chance to thank North Dorset for its kindness and the Ukrainian community for enriching our lives with a deep cultural heritage.
In addition the decision makers of the Toby’s of Shaftesbury Fund, which is administered by DCF thought that this was an important use of their legacy resources. Therefore the week had a focus on young dancers and young Ukrainians in our area and we were grateful for their award of £2000.
Toby’s was a young people’s advice and information centre based at 1 Bimport. Young people could come and hang out, drink coffee or whatever without having to tell anyone who they were. Those who had the inevitable difficulties of maturation could talk to skilled youth workers for help.
Costumes are a continuing issue for a travelling Ballet Company. Their costumes are hugely important but are expensive and can only be made by specialists who can fit each costume to the dancer and allow the movement necessary. Although the principal dancer, Kristina was able to dance ‘The Dying Swan’ by Saint-Saens she had no costume.
We had already arranged with Andrea of The Dressmaker’s Studio to help with costume repair. Almost unbelievably Andrea also had experience and the skill to make the swan’s costume from scratch. Staying up late and working incredible hours Andrea created an exquisite bodice, headdress and wings which astonished her ally, Oksana, from Kyiv City Ballet. The final performance was therefore able to include this stand out piece in a perfect costume, made locally in Swan’s Yard!
Shaftesbury Arts Centre manager Charlie was with the project from the start. Sharing the venue, her volunteer colleagues and importantly John, the sound and vision technician. for The Infinity Tour performance on Friday. This venue is something to cherish about Shaftesbury and is one chamber of the beating heart of culture locally.
The other chamber of the cultural heart is The Exchange in Sturminster Newton which puts on an amazing series of events and is a warm community venue staffed mainly by volunteers.
We benefited enormously from the support of Sharon and her team to put on the final sold-out performance. This event was beyond the experience of our Trustees and had it not have been for the expertise of Andrew and Adam and their collaborators for the night, Mikey Foulerton and Hannah Sweet, we could not have made this event the success it was.
Mikey and Hannah deserve an extra special mention because they too worked as volunteers, although technicians in Gillingham School and people who had already contributed to the successful school visit there on Thursday. Hannah and Mikey managed the wings and Mikey the sound too. It was astonishing to get this gift of expertise when we needed it most.
Karen Wimhurst and the singers of Palida Choir helped us enormously during the visit by demanding nothing of us! By getting on and rehearsing their four Ukrainian language songs with the help of Halyna and Marta we had the space to work on other aspects. We only saw the results of their rehearsals on Sunday. We did little more than invite the choir and yet the result was astonishing. Beautiful and moving, the whole audience in Stour Hall, were held in the emotions of shared community and mesmerised by the close harmony.
Throughout the week we had the voluntary support of Jamie Randall of Randall Photography. Jamie came to every event and took the stunning photographs that helped us tell the story of the week.
His artistic skill and humanity captured the joy and the vulnerability within the astonishing performances of TLW and Kyiv City Ballet..
Jamie’s dedication extended to being at Gillingham Station at 4.30am to capture the departure of Kyiv City Ballet, even though by that time they were being driven to Stansted to have time to process their excess baggage. His pictures are a real legacy of the week and we are enormously grateful for his professionalism and kind support.
Dancers’ bodies are their instruments. They need regular fine tuning by osteopaths and physiotherapists. We had not expected to have to provide this service until Ivan asked for them in the week before their arrival . Friend of a Trustee, Alex Gibbs, an Osteopath, was able to make local arrangements at the last minute (leaving a dinner party on Sunday to do so). The shuttle service provided by Monica and John helped all the dancers receive Osteopathy treatments from Alex in Sherborne and Shaftesbury. Later in the week they helped all receive Physiotherapy from Sarah Junor in Gillingham. The dancers were keen to report that both treatments were among the best they had ever received! Thanks for being so responsive Alex and Sarah.
Dorset Vehicle Rentals and the inspiring Lottie made the hiring and use of transport during the week effortless. Always available for cheery advice it was also very encouraging to have Lottie make sure the transport was discounted for this important cause. Thank you Lottie and the team at Yeovil DVR.
Finally our thanks to Ivan and Katya who had the heart to visit our community in North Dorset and to Kristina, Olesia, Mykhailo, Oksana, Yevhenii, Ella and David for being with us all for a memorable week.
If you can, when they return to the UK do please go to Kyiv City Ballet and enjoy the astonishing quality of their dancing.
