ANIMA
One-act ballet · The Ascent of the Soul
- Producer
- Tetiana Khyzhniak
- Choreography
- Artem Hordieiev
- Music
- L'Orchestre de Contrebasses (Marseille, France)
- Costumes
- Jenia Kirienko
- Premiere
- April 12, 2014
- Venue
- Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (Kyiv Opera, KMATOB)
The Soul passes through trials beyond time and space. The Hero discovers the depth of his inner world, remaking himself through the trials of the illusions of material existence. Justice, the Hermit, the Wheel, Strength, the Hanged Man, Death and Temperance — and his Soul grows according to the law of the Universe.
The Hero brings himself into harmony through the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The Hero's Soul is a separate character, who appears in the penultimate scene as the result of all the transformations.
7 Arcana
Each scene corresponds to one of the Major Arcana of the Tarot — a stage in the Hero’s spiritual ascent.
Download Libretto
Justice
Justice
The Man comes to understand the law of cause and effect: the binary nature of life is an illusion, there is no difference between “good” and “bad”, only the Supreme Law of the Universe. He asks the Spirit to show him his path.
The Hermit
The Hermit
Step by step, the Man learns to trust himself, lighting his own path as he goes, while his Soul struggles with its trials.
The Wheel
The Wheel
The Man passes through the stages of ignorance, self-abasement, passion and silence, and finds himself at the centre of the wheel, watching what happens around him.
Strength
Strength
The Man can do anything once he grasps the boundlessness of his inner strength, tames it and becomes its Master.
The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man
The Man begins to see the world from a new angle and recognises his Genius. He enters a new stage of trials: escape from reality, ignorance, passion and ego.
Death
Death
Death lives among us every day, and we ignore the very moment of life. A symbol of total transformation.
Temperance
Temperance
All the previous transformations lead to temperance and balance.
Video
Full recording of the premiere (27 min)
Rehearsal recording
Promo (6 min)
КМАТОБ-ФЕСТ 2014
KMATOB-FEST 2014 — Festival of Choreographic Art
April 7–12, 2014 · Kyiv Municipal Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (KMATOB), 2 Mezhyhirska St., Kyiv
The first festival of choreographic art at the Kyiv Opera brought together leading Ukrainian choreographers and dance companies for a week of premieres, masterclasses and laboratories. LITSO Dance Company presented the premiere of ANIMA, which opened the festival gala on 12 April.
Organised by Oleksii Busko (leading soloist of Kyiv Modern-Ballet, 2005–2022; artistic director of KMATOB-FEST, 2014–2017), with the support of Radu Poklitaru and KMATOB.
From LITSO to Newspaper Birds
LITSO Dance Company was founded in 2013 by students of the Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film and Television. The name LITSO carried the company's core mission: to explore theatre as a space where the true face of a human being is revealed through dance and dramaturgy. LITSO was a creative laboratory — a place for research at the crossroads of contemporary dance, physical theatre and choreographic storytelling. Newspaper Birds became its natural professional continuation: from an experimental student laboratory to a fully fledged contemporary ballet company.
Available for International Stages
ANIMA is available for international touring, festival programming and co-production. Producers, programmers and festival directors are welcome to start a conversation.
Contact the choreographerart_om@me.com