'Nureyev' ballet banned by Bolshoi
The Bolshoi Ballet has removed a ballet about Nureyev from its repertoire, according to Moscow Associated Press.
Bolshoi director Vladimir Urin said the ballet Nureyev had been dropped because of a newly signed law, "which unambiguously deals with issues related to propaganda of non-traditional values,” the Interfax news agency reported.
The law decreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December last year bans advertising, media and online resources, books, films and theatre productions deemed to contain “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” expanding a 2013 ban on such ”propaganda” aimed at minors.
The ban is believed to have been prompted by the ballet's references to Nureyev’s homosexuality.
The ballet's choreographer is the internationally-renown Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov. The ballet had already been postponed; the cancellations occurred after Serebrennikov criticised Russia's war on Ukraine.
Serebrennikov is unpopular with Russian authorities, particularly for his defence of LGBTQ+ rights. He was arrested in 2017, accused of embezzlement, spent two years under house arrest and was banned from travelling for more than a year. The charges were later dropped. His treatment was regarded by many observers as a punishment for his outspoken views. Nonetheless, he has continued to live in Russia until the outbreak of the war, after which he moved to Berlin.
There is no mention of the cancellation of Nureyev in the Bolshoi's latest newsletter, which is packed with news of promotions, premieres and events such as the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rachmaninov.
The company's 248th season includes, aside from many of the standard classics, Taming of the Shrew, by Jean Christof Maillot, Master and Margarita, by Romanian choreographer Edward Clug, Queen of Spades, by Ukrainian Yuri Possokhov, Balanchine's Jewels, Wheeldon's A Winter's Tale, John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias and 4 Characters in Search of a Plot, by US-based Bryan Arias. The season finishes with a tour to Beijing.
- KAREN VAN ULZEN