Ukrainian ballet theatre in school students’ understanding of art: Renewing the curriculum

The article reviews several works of the Ukrainian ballet theatre from a pedagogical perspective. The author’s goal is to draw the attention of art teachers to the works of the Ukrainian ballet theatre and to guide the renewal of the art education curriculum by offering recommendations for using individual works in lessons. A key determinant in addressing this issue is the effort to respond to teachers’ search for suitable replacements for artistic examples that, since 2022, have been rightfully excluded from artistic communication due to their association with the heritage of the aggressor state and their propagandistic content. In contrast, many remarkable achievements in Ukrainian art from different eras remain largely overlooked. The review focuses on contemporary ballet productions. Among them are “Hoffmann’s Nutcracker” by Ivan Nebesny with choreography by Arthur Shoshin, “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” by the same authors, and “Chasing Two Hares” by Yurii Shevchenko with choreography by Viktor Lytvynov. These ballets are analyzed in terms of the synthesis of the arts, through which a holistic artistic image is created. Parallels are drawn between the ballet interpretations and their literary sources, as well as the representation of these literary plots in cinema and on the ballet stage; using recognizable “signs” in scenography, music, and choreographic movement is outlined as elements that students can be invited to decode. Some ballet works from previous decades are also noted, and comparisons with them may interest students in exploring the features of artistic language and styles. The author emphasizes the existence of a broad spectrum of modern ballet works, including those that have been forgotten but deserve to be included in educational content. In this way, the article outlines the prospects for further artistic and pedagogical research aimed at helping Ukrainian schoolchildren discover their national art.