Bolshoi star dancer leaves Russia in protest over Ukraine

[Belle]

This will make some people feel really good. Russia endures boycotts, but in not buying Chinese goods there is a much more concrete way of influencing outcomes. They are far more important to Putin than the Bolshoi Ballet. If China pulled up stumps because of economic disadvantages this would be extremely consequential for Russia.

The problem with artists being labelled immoral or without conviction for not standing up to Putin is that some of those people might actually disagree with the war and fear the consequences for their own families. That is alluded to in this article. In Australia when Medvedev was unpopular at the recently tennis Open because he was Russian; he might conceivably hate Putin and his war - but he was representing himself, not part of a team representing the nation like the Olympics. Ukraine has recently been one of the most corrupt nations on the planet - before Zelensky took over. Not only that, they were in the middle of a civil war where many of the people wanted to remain with Russia and the rest with Europe. We lost Australians when an aircraft was shot down during this war.

The Ukraine war has many complex tentacles. I repeat that we need to deal with China first, so that they understand the price of siding with a tyrant.

‘I had no choice. I left behind everything’
Bolshoi Ballet star Olga Smirnova was a Russian hero until she fled the country in protest at Putin’s war. Now she’s dancing for Ukraine.

By DEBRA CRAINE
Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet enjoy an exalted status in Russia, but in the present climate that’s not enough to protect them if they take a stand against Vladimir Putin. So when ballerina Olga Smirnova, one of Russia’s most prized artistic jewels, went on social media to denounce the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 she knew she had no choice but to leave her company – and her homeland.

“I am against war with all the fibres of my soul,” she wrote on messaging service Telegram. “I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia … But now I feel that a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after.”

In her case the before was a glittering career in Moscow; the after is as a principal dancer with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, where she has been an artist-in-exile for the past two years.

“I had no other choice,” she says. “In an ideal world, you ought to be able to separate art and politics, but it’s hardly possible to do so in reality. Especially as the Bolshoi Theatre, as Russia’s main theatre, is tightly interwoven with everything the government stands for.”

We are talking just days before Smirnova comes to London to take part in Dance for Ukraine, a fundraising gala at the Palladium to help dancers in Kyiv. Speaking from Amsterdam – her English is fluent – she may be well settled into her new home but the memories of those hectic final hours in Moscow are still fresh.

“When the war started there was disbelief and fear, especially in Moscow, where the atmosphere was terrible and tense,” says Smirnova, whose family has roots in Ukraine.

“We kept hearing all the horrible news from the war. There was political repression – social networks like Instagram and Facebook, they started to block them – and the main international flights were cancelled.

“It happened quite fast. The rumours were that the borders might be closed. I flew to Dubai – one of a few destinations that were still open – and because I was injured at that time I wanted to continue my recuperation there. I didn’t intend to leave Russia and the Bolshoi forever but I realised that to come back to Russia I would need to retract the statement I had made against the war and I didn’t want to do this. So I decided not to return.

“I left behind everything, but I wasn’t alone. I made all changes with my husband.”

Smirnova got in touch with Ted Brandsen, the longstanding artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet. It was a company she admired for the breadth of its repertoire, but she was also attracted by the presence of ballet mistress Larissa Lezhnina, who, like Smirnova, trained at the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg. Brandsen suggested Smirnova come to The Netherlands to meet him. The next day she moved to Amsterdam with just two suitcases and her husband, Dmitri Kostov, a banker.

It’s no wonder Brandsen jumped at the chance to hire Smirnova, a true global superstar. Her talent was remarkable from the start. After graduating from the Vaganova in 2011, she received job offers from the Bolshoi, the Mariinsky Ballet and Staatsballett Berlin – three of the best in the world.

She chose the Bolshoi because she was impressed with the energy and vision of its newly appointed artistic director, Sergei Filin, a new broom sweeping through the company who two years later was the victim of a horrific acid attack (his policies clearly didn’t please everyone). She entered the Bolshoi as a soloist and was promoted to prima ballerina five years later.

Celebrated for her incredibly elongated technique, dynamic physicality, exotic beauty and regal stage presence, Smirnova was the Bolshoi’s leading lady of choice, adorning the opening nights of the company’s foreign tours, especially in London. She could channel the wild drama and grand flutter of Odette in Swan Lake as easily as she dispatched the explosive technique and romantic charm of Kitri in Don Quixote or the liquid sensuality of a new Wayne McGregor ballet.

The London gala, on Sunday, will give audiences a chance to appreciate her distinctive artistry in two pieces: a pas de deux from Alberto Alonso’s flashy version of Carmen (partnered by Denis Matvienko) and the celebrated Dying Swan solo made famous by Anna Pavlova.

Smirnova says the Palladium show, organised by former Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov, who was born and trained in Kyiv, matters. “It helps to keep the world aware, and not to forget what is happening,” she says, fresh from rehearsal and decked out in a riot of pink and green warm-up gear. “But it also raises help and support for the Ukrainian dancers. I’m grateful to Ivan for organising it. The world still needs this kind of event because it brings people of peace together.”

Two years ago Smirnova branded the invasion of Ukraine “a global catastrophe”. What does she think now? “How can one possibly say different? Every day brings more and more victims. And the catastrophe, it’s grown even bigger.”

Her parents are still in Russia; she has not seen them since she left. For the most part, she isn’t in touch with former colleagues at the Bolshoi Theatre. “The theatre is isolated. There is no international touring, no international choreographers are going to the theatre to work with the dancers. I don’t know what my former colleagues are feeling because I ended up on opposite sides from some of them and others are afraid to give their honest opinion, which I understand. It can be dangerous to speak honestly in Russia.”

At 32, Smirnova is at her peak as a dancer and the Dutch National Ballet is giving her the chance to develop as an artist. “We have great classical productions here and I have quite a lot of artistic freedom to continue my relationships with the Monte Carlo Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet.”

This is Putrov’s second gala for Ukraine. The first, shortly after the invasion in 2022, raised £160,000 for the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Ukraine humanitarian appeal. Proceeds from the 2024 gala, which will feature more than two dozen dancers in a repertoire of classical and contemporary dance, will be used to provide aspiring Ukrainian dancers with grants towards their training as well as underwriting a new production of Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardee for the Ukrainian National Ballet. Not only is this quintessentially English rom-com the ideal ballet to lift one’s spirits, it will also provide much-needed content in the absence of the Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev ballets – such as Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet – that are now blacklisted in Ukraine because of their Russian origins.

For the gala Smirnova will be joined by dancers from the Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and the Ukrainian National Ballet among others. The repertoire will have a very British flavour, including a taste of La Fille mal gardee along with works by Kenneth MacMillan, David Dawson, Christopher Wheeldon and Russell Maliphant. Sadly, there won’t be a live orchestra – the Palladium’s orchestra pit is closed – but there will be soloists on stage to deliver some of the music live.

When Russia invaded, theatres in Ukraine closed but they have opened up again. Putrov has heard from his father, Oleksandr, a photographer and former dancer who is still in Kyiv, about how sirens and bombs go off during rehearsals, sending the dancers rushing into the basement for cover. “For us it’s scary,” Putrov says, “but for them it’s normal life.”

Smirnova, who will also take part in the Ballet Icons Gala at the London Coliseum on March 17 (dancing with Jacopo Tissi, who also fled the Bolshoi and ended up at the Dutch National Ballet), says it’s vital for Ukrainian dancers to keep working even in Kyiv’s devastating conditions. “When I came to Amsterdam and was able to work from the very first day, rehearsing a new production of Raymonda, it saved me. I imagine that for the dancers in Ukraine, for them to be saved by art and the theatre means a lot.

“I hope the war ends as soon as possible,” she adds. “I cannot end the war or change the situation – I’m not that naive – but to remind the world not to forget about it and to raise some help for Ukrainian dancers is an important thing.”

The Times