Top Russian ballerina Olga Smirnova quits Bolshoi ballet over Ukraine conflict

By AFP

PARIS: Prima ballerina Olga Smirnova has give up the Bolshoi in Moscow to hitch the Dutch National Ballet, it was introduced Wednesday, turning into the most important star to go away Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

The 30-year-old’s departure from Russia’s most prestigious cultural establishment carries echoes of defections throughout the Cold War. 

Smirnova, thought-about one of many biggest dancers of her era, had already expressed her opposition to the conflict on messaging app Telegram earlier this month, saying she “cannot remain indifferent to this global catastrophe”. 

The Dutch National Ballet confirmed the departure in a press release, saying: “Smirnova was outspoken in her recent denouncement of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is making it untenable for her to work in her native country.”

In her Telegram publish, Smirnova had stated: “I’m in opposition to conflict with all of the fibres of my soul.

“It is not only about every other Russian perhaps having relatives or friends living in Ukraine, or about my grandfather being Ukrainian… It is that we continue to live as if this were the 20th century.”

Several overseas performers have give up their positions in Russia because the invasion, however Smirnova is by far the most important native star to go away. 

“I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia, I have always been proud of talented Russian people, of our cultural and athletic achievements. But now I feel that a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after,” she wrote on Telegram.

At the peak of the Cold War, the Soviet Union suffered various embarrassing defections by high-profile performers, most notably the legendary dancer Rudolph Nureyev who claimed asylum throughout a go to by the Kirov ballet to Paris in 1961.

Many present stars of the Russian stage have refused to criticise the invasion of Ukraine, together with star conductor Valery Gergiev and soprano Anna Netrebko, and have been stripped of their jobs within the West or had excursions cancelled. 

Smirnova stated the Dutch National Ballet could be “a good fit” and that she had been contemplating a transfer even earlier than the battle. 

“It is a privilege to have her dance with our company in the Netherlands — even if the circumstances that drove this move are incredibly sad,” stated its director Ted Brandsen within the assertion. 

Brazilian dancer Victor Caixeta, 22, who had spent 5 years on the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg, can be becoming a member of the Amsterdam-based firm.