Choreographer Ratmansky: We do it for Ukraine
The former Bolshoi Ballet artistic director says working while the war is ongoing is "very challenging".
Russian-born choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, who recently staged a production of Giselle in London with The United Ukrainian Ballet, has told the 大象传媒 about the challenges of working on it while the war in Ukraine is ongoing.
"The dancers have families. I have a family in Kyiv. We are all checking the news constantly," Ratmansky, who grew up in Ukraine, told the Hardtalk programme's Stephen Sackur.
"You wake up in the morning and you want to know which cities were bombed, how many people were killed, which buildings were destroyed and check that all your loved ones are OK and safe."
The United Ukrainian Ballet is a group of Ukrainian dancers, technicians and creatives who fled their country when Russia invaded and are now based in the Netherlands.
Ratmansky, a former principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet, was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 2004 before joining the American Ballet Theatre in 2009 as artist in residence. He was working on a new production with the Bolshoi when the conflict began and he left Russia.
