A prima ballerina in Russia has quit in protest, while young Ukrainian dancers flee war. Jon Wertheim reports on how ballet has become a front in Russia’s war next door.
When Olga Smirnova in March quit Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Ballet in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the prima ballerina’s decision shook the ballet world. Russian dance critic Leila Guchmazova told the New York Times it was as though «a bomb» had been detonated in the Russian ballet world. So opened the cultural front of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The shockwaves over Smirnova’s departure, not only from the ballet company but also from the country, are, in part, because of the outsized role the Bolshoi plays in Russian culture. Physically near the Kremlin, it is inextricably aligned with the Russian government. Tsars loved the Bolshoi, and Communist leaders held rallies and gave addresses at the Bolshoi theater. Amid his military campaign in Ukraine, Putin held a press conference in March to discuss the future of the Bolshoi. Olga Smirnova had danced as one of two principal soloists at the Bolshoi since 2016. After her departure, which she announced on the social media platform Telegram, she joined the Dutch National Ballet.
