London cancels Bolshoi visit in response to Ukraine invasion
The Royal Opera House has cancelled a planned 2022 tour of the Bolshoi Ballet in wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Moscow-based company was to appear in London in that country's summer.
The Opera House management has decided to light the landmark building in the colours of the Ukrainian flag every night for a week, and play the Ukrainian national anthem before each performance as "an expression of respect for all those affected by this terrible conflict". "All of us here at the Royal Opera House are shocked and appalled by the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine," it states on its website.
The Bolshoi's own home season has also been affected. The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky was in Moscow at the announcement of the conflict, choreographing a new work, The Art of Fugue, scheduled for March. That has now been "postponed" and the choreographer has fled Moscow and returned home to the United States, with the help of the Bolshoi, along with the rest of his international creative team. Ratmansky was born in St Petersburg and is a former artistic director of the Bolshoi but he trained in Kiev and was a dancer at the National Opera of Ukraine.
“It was as if we were on a fast-moving train, rushing toward the finish,” he is quoted as saying in the New York Times. “The news was bad, but I was absolutely torn between creation, love and desperation — all these words. I thought, if actual military action begins, I won’t be able to continue, but until then, I’ll try to ignore the news and be professional and just do my work.” He has posted a Ukrainian flag on his instagram page.
According to the Bolshoi's website, "this project is extremely important to the Bolshoi Theatre, a significant amount of work has been already done by now, and we hope to be able to realise this project." The ballet has been replaced by Don Quixote, Spartacus and Giselle.
Like Ratmansky, the careers of many Russian and Ukrainian dancers are interwoven, with strong links forged over decades. Vladimir Malakhov, the celebrated Ukrainian dancer who trained at the Bolshoi school, has posted numerous pleas for peace on his instagram page, as have many Russian dancers.
The National Opera of Ukraine has of course "suspended" all performances due to the "introduction of the Decree of the President of Ukraine №64 / 2022 on the entire territory of Ukraine martial law regime." It vows to resume its work in full following the end of martial law. Let us hope that will be soon.
– KAREN VAN ULZEN