Dancing at the Bolshoi Theater is a dream for most ballet dancers. However, Olga Smirnova is giving up her place. The prima ballerina left Russia – because she cannot remain silent.
Olga Smirnova is one of the great stars of the ballet world. Since 2016 she has been dancing with the rank of prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theater – the great pride of Russian culture. But now the 31-year-old is turning her back on Russia. The reason is the war in Ukraine. She continued her career at the National Ballet of the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
“Olga Smirnova is an outstanding dancer who I have followed and admired for many years”the official announcement of the Dutch National Ballet quotes director of the Dutch National Ballet Ted Brandsen. “I have followed her career with great interest for many years. It is a privilege for us to have her dance in our company in the Netherlands – even though the circumstances that have prompted this change are incredibly sad.”
The ballerina had already sharply criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine on her social media channels on March 1. “I can only say that I am against the war with every fiber of my soul”. “And it’s not even about the fact that probably every second Russian in Ukraine has relatives or friends, nor that my grandfather is Ukrainian (…) , but about the fact that we’re still living in the 20th century, although we are nominally in the 21st century.” In a modern civilized society, political problems should only be solved through peaceful negotiations.
“We cannot remain indifferent to a global catastrophe”
“I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia. I have always been proud of the talented Russian people, our cultural and sporting achievements. But now there is a before and an after. And it hurts that people are dying while others are left without a roof over their heads or have to leave their homes. Who would have thought a week ago that this would happen to all of us. Because even if we are not at the epicenter of war, we cannot remain indifferent to a global catastrophe.”
Earlier this week, the Russian prima ballerina arrived in Amsterdam. It will celebrate its premiere in Amsterdam in just two weeks. Smirnova’s first role with the Dutch National Ballet becomes the title role in the ballet “Raymonda” in which she will appear in several performances.
Olga Smirnova is not the only one
Smirnova is not the first ballet dancer to leave Russia because of the Ukraine war. So far, however, it has mainly been dancers from abroad, such as the Brit Xander Parish or the Brazilian Victor Caixeta, who is going to Amsterdam with Smirnowa. But the prima of the Bolshoi Theater is one of the greatest figures in Russian culture to have taken such a demonstrative step. “Smirnova’s fans in Russia, including the sponsor circles, will be impressed by the decision”, wrote ballet critic Leila Gukhmazova on her Telegram channel. She added it “very important” was to recognize that the mood in the Bolshoi towards the “Special operation in Ukraine”, as the Kremlin calls the war, are far removed from the government’s position. Vladimir Urin, the Bolshoi’s director-general, signed a petition against the operation shortly after the invasion began, she said.
Alexei Ratmansky, the former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, was preparing a new ballet for the company in Moscow when the invasion began. He left Russia immediately. The project is officially on hold, but Ratmansky said the “New York Times”he doubts that he will return to Russia as long as Putin is president.
The news of Smirnova’s decision hit the Russian ballet world like a bomb, says Gukhmazova. Since the end of the Soviet Union, some dancers left the Bolshoi to find new skills or better positions, but Smirnova, who had everything, left because she “prefers to express their opinion”.
Not everyone in Russia thinks like Smirnova
However, there are other voices in the Russian ballet scene. The dancer Ivan Wassiljew, for example, joins the Kremlin line. “I was born in Soviet Vladivostok, have lived in Ukraine since I was four and finished school in Minsk. For me all this is one big unified Slavic world”, he writes on Instagram in response to numerous critics of his attitude. That Ukraine is not about this “slavic world” Apparently he is just as uninterested in wanting to belong as Vladimir Putin.
Source: Stern
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