The world of dance comes together in a grand gala for Ukraine in London

From Russia to Argentina, to Japan, France and Cuba, renowned dancers from around the world come together this Saturday for a grand gala in London to raise funds and send a message against the “atrocious” war in Ukraine.

“As artists, we have talent and we must use it to say what we believe. Art has a voice and that is the voice we use,” former Ukrainian dancer Ivan Putrov, co-organizer of the event, told AFP ahead of the grand gala at the London Coliseum, home of the English National Opera.

Putrov was principal dancer at the prestigious London Royal Ballet from 2002 to 2010. Now, seeing his country torn by war, he decided together with the Romanian dancer Alina Cojocaru, trained like him in Kiev, where they still have friends and relatives, to mobilize the world of ballet in this “humanitarian appeal”.

Two weeks later they had assembled an exceptional squad to “raise funds that will save lives” and “send a message, not only to the West (...) but to the Russians, some of whom will hear us and raise their voices” because “what is happening is atrocious,” he says.

Big stars such as Russia's Natalia Osipova, Argentina's Marianela Núñez and Japan's Fumi Kaneko will take the stage, all from the Royal Ballet, the French Mathieu Gabio of the Paris Opera and the Ukrainian Katja Khaniukova, the Spaniard Aitor Arrieta and the American Emma Hawes of the English National Ballet.

Dancers and musicians donated their work and the proceeds will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a platform that includes the British Red Cross and 14 other humanitarian NGOs, to help the victims of the war.

Between entries and donations, they expect to raise more than 100,000 pounds (130,000 dollars, 120,000 euros).

“Is art appropriate in such horrible circumstances? Of course, because it gives hope, it gives people inspiration,” says Putrov.

- “Message of unity” -

The gala will begin with the national anthem of Ukraine and should end with “The Triumph of Love” of the ballet “Raymonda” with music by Russian Alexander Glazunov.

Between them, 13 choreographies full of symbolism such as “No Man's Land” by Liam Scarlett, “Lacrimosa” by Gyula Pandi or “Ashes” by Jason Kittelberger.

Russians Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff will also sound, among other European composers, because “Russian culture has nothing to do with Putin and Putin has nothing to do with Russian culture,” emphasizes the Ukrainian.

“And dance has been so integrated for centuries that it cannot be attributed to any nation. This is a message of unity,” he adds.

Also the presence of Osipova, one of the most prominent Russian dancers outside her country, who declined to give interviews, “demonstrates that Russia is not equivalent to aggression,” she says.

Among the artists who responded “present”, the Cuban Javier Torres of the Northern Ballet had a performance of “Casanova” on Saturday with his company in Leeds, in the north of England.

But he asked to be replaced to bring to the Coliseum a male version of “The Death of a Swan” by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Created by Mexico-based and deceased French choreographer Michel Descombey, Torres performed it profusely during the ten years she was part of the Cuban national ballet before coming to the United Kingdom, where she has been working since 2010.

Loaded with strength and expressiveness, this piece shows a paraplegic who loses one of his limbs and “represents fighting for what you have lost,” he explains to AFP.

“He talks about fighting to the end and that's how I wanted to interpret it,” he says, thinking of “people trying to resist what happens to them,” such as Ukrainians mired in war or Cubans mired in decades of suffering from US sanctions and embargo and “even by the Russians” in Soviet times.

“I have that pain, I have that anguish that every Cuban who lives outside Cuba has, because we know the needs that are spent there,” he says.

Although he says he never mixed art with politics, participating in this gala was for him “a humanitarian duty as a dancer, as a defender of human rights, first as a person and then as an artist”.

ACC/BL