Ten days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Olga Smirnova left Russia, after posting a message on Telegram in which she said she was "opposed to the war with all [her] soul." "I never thought I was ashamed of Russia, I've always been proud of the talent of the Russian people, of our cultural and sporting achievements. But today, a line has been crossed," she wrote at the time. A rarity in the dance world since the defections – a word she doesn't like, as it has a pejorative connotation in Russian – of Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov during the Soviet era, her departure has left a lasting impression.
Now based in Amsterdam, the 32-year-old ballerina, who works with the Dutch National Ballet, performed on Sunday, March 3, at La Seine Musicale, southeast of Paris, as part of a gala of classical ballet stars, Les Beautés de la danse ("The Beauties of Dance"). Slender and graceful, the perfect embodiment of the swan-necked dancer, she performed Raymonda, the last great Russian ballet of the 19th century.
The life of a ballet dancer takes place in a rather closed world. We devote all our time to daily rehearsals and are absorbed by our profession, which requires hours and hours of work. But of course, the echoes of what was happening outside reached me, and I was aware of the growing repression against [Alexei] Navalny and the demonstrations being broken up by what is more and more a police state. I couldn't believe, however, that a war would start like that and that things would go so far. Ballet has been my life since I was very young. I wasn't very interested in politics until politics came to me. That's when I had to make a decision.
My opinion hasn't changed and I continue to do what I can, like raising money for Ukrainian dancers in Kyiv who are suffering from this situation. There was no longer any need for me to continue on Telegram after I arrived in Europe. I do it a little on Instagram for ballets, but I no longer enter into discussions about the war on social media.
Yes, my family didn't understand my decision, they found it hard to accept, but little by little my parents began to understand.
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