Traditional Component of Les Kurbas's Symbolism (Based on Haivkas of the Village of Staryi Skalat, Podvolochyn District, Ternopil Region)

The purpose of the article. The article deals with the characterization of traditional elements of symbolism of the outstanding actor and director, reformer of Ukrainian theater, Les Kurbas, and aims to outline traditional approaches in the process of staging his theatrical plays as the basis of Ukrainian innovative theater. The research methodology consisted in the combination of the analytical-synthetic and historical-typological methods, which allowed for investigating the symbols of haivkas (ritual songs) of Les Kurbas’s native village, which directly or indirectly influenced  the creative thinking of the director in his on-stage productions, and, using the method of semiotic analysis, made it possible to prove that the basis of motion plastic is the complete combination of conditional gestures and naturalistic initial gestures. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the first attempt to comprehend the connection between Ukrainian haivkas and the symbols in Les Kurbas’s creative work in order to prove that traditional folk ethnocultural factors nourished Les Kurbas’s creative talent, enriched his ethnocultural understanding and helped to create unsurpassed scenic images. Conclusions. It was proved that choreographic movements in haivkas of Staryi Skalat are made of figures predominantly based on the symbols of pre-Christian beliefs. The most visible motion elements are the styles of walking in a circle, a snake, two rows, and a variety of gestures. Symbols of movements in haivkas, which have long been used in Les Kurbas’s native village, became an integral part of the formation of the innovative principles of his theater. Syncretic image, metaphorical stage action, cluster-symbol of individual characters became important factors in Les Kurbas’s theatrical productions.