KIEV As a prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Ukraine Viktoriya Zvaryts has danced the demanding double role of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Swan Pond hundreds of times. The movements are in muscle memory, but he is no longer capable of the main part of the Russian ballet classic.
– When the war started, my husband went to the front as a volunteer. I was left alone with a small child, says Zvaryts.
– I was in the war, but at the same time I was dancing Russian ballet according to Russian choreography. It was really contradictory.
Shortly after the Russian invasion, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine ordered a boycott of Russian culture and symbols.
The National Ballet therefore no longer performs the works of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake or The Nutcracker will no longer be seen on Ukrainian stages.
The main choreographer of the National Ballet Viktor Lytvynov I think the decision was absolutely right.
Lytvynov has made the choreography for the National Opera’s evening performance “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”. A dress rehearsal is going on here.
– Now is not Tchaikovsky’s time, says the 85-year-old choreographer, himself a former Joutsenlammi solo dancer.
According to ballet dancer Viktoriya Zvaryts, Russia has worked systematically for decades to harness especially ballet for its propaganda.
– We have a saying: first comes the ballet, then comes the tanks, says Zvaryts.
According to Zvaryts, ballet is one of Russia’s hardest means of soft power.
Despite the policy of the Ministry of Culture, ballet groups performing Russian works tour the world under the name of Ukraine.
At least three international ballet groups are currently on tour in Finland as well, performing Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. In part of groups there are both Ukrainian and Russian dancers. One of the ballet groups declares with its name, Ukrainian Ballet of Peaceappearing in the name of peace.
In the video below, Zvaryts tells how Russian culture has influenced the Ukrainian ballet scene.
Researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Jussi Lassila is on the same lines as the dancer Zvaryts: ballet is one of the means of soft power use in Russia.
– Russia has always used culture as a means of soft influence, says Lassila.
According to Lassila, “appearing in the name of peace” also falls on deaf ears. The Soviet Union used it a lot in his rhetoric.
“It’s about information warfare”
Swan Lake is not just any ballet either.
It has a special meaning in Russian society.
In the former Soviet Union, those in power used it to stabilize a situation where a political upheaval could have started. State television suspended other programs and aired Joutsenlammi after the death of state leaders and when the coup d’état Mikhail Gorbachev against failed in 1991.
Ballet troupes tours are justified by the fact that Ukrainians the dancers had to flee abroad simply to stay in shape, to be able to train and to maintain their professionalism.
This does not convince the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine or the management of the National Opera.
– It’s a matter of information war when Ukrainian ballet troupes perform Swan Lake, which is Russia’s pride and most important ballet, states Lana Roks.
Roksi is the communications director of the Ukrainian National Opera.
– Some of the groups may not even be completely Ukrainian groups. It is inhumane to cloak war in ballet, says Roksi.
None of the ballet groups performing Russian works responded to ‘s request for an interview.
“The name of the National Ballet of Ukraine has been misused”
A clear attempt to cheat ballet groups has also been revealed.
National Opera of Ukraine write on their websitethat it has repeatedly asked the ballet company to give up the National Opera brand and performances, which originate from Russia.
– It is difficult to find out who or what entity is behind the groups. I wouldn’t be surprised if Russian money was found in the background, says Roksi.
Russian money has always circulated in culture.
Last spring it was revealed in Austria that the Russians oligarchs paid large sums To the management of Austrian concert halls, so that Russian performers and works could be seen in the repertoire.
The Finnish National Ballet opened the autumn season at Joutsenlammi
In Poland and Lithuania, Russian ballets have been banned for more than a year.
Director of the Polish National Ballet Krzysztof Pastorin according to him, the decision was the right one, even if it causes difficulties for the ballet group.
– We do not perform Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev or Stravinsky. They have nothing to do with the current Russian government, but their work is used as a propaganda tool, says Pastor Yelle.
Joutsenlampe is currently being performed at the Finnish National Ballet.
The director of the ballet by Javier Torres According to the National Opera and Ballet, there is no reason to ban Russian works of art from different eras that are not related to the current war.
The solo dancer returned from the front to the stage
Despite the war, the National Ballet of Ukraine is full of people night after night.
We meet a solo dancer Daniil Silkin, who is preparing for the evening’s performance in his dressing room.
Silkin is played by a Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol based on the work “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”.
Among the ballet costumes and props, a large flag of the soldiers of the Azov Regiment hangs on the wall. Silkin has just returned from the front to the scene.
– Returning seemed absurd to me, he says.
– Even the fact that I’m talking to you here calmly in front of the camera, and 500 kilometers away we’re fighting, causes a terrible contradiction.
Silkin is moved when he tells about the death of his childhood friend and fellow dancer at the front.
– He was killed by an enemy sniper in a firefight in Bahmut a few months ago. I had danced with him since elementary school at the ballet school, says Silkin.
When the evening’s performance is over, and the audience applauds gratefully, an air raid alarm begins in the night of Kyiv.
A message flashes on the mobile application: “everyone must immediately move to the nearest bomb shelter”.
The dancers start preparing for the next day’s performance.