On the front line of Ukraine’s cultural de-Russification
Tchaikovsky on mute, Tolstoy pulped and Catherine the Great boxed up in basement — Putin’s invasion has triggered an unsparing excision of all things Russian
In the Kyiv Opera House, dancers from the National Ballet limbered up for a performance of The Snow Queen, a ballet created from the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale in Ukraine five years ago.
Then, the medley piece was packed with the works of Russian composers that make up much of ballet’s classical canon. Now the work has been radically altered to excise Tchaikovksy and Prokofiev, making for an inventive melting pot of works pilfered from opera, foreign ballet and theatre, from Pietro Mascagni to Amilcare Ponchielli and Edvard Grieg.
“It was decided that Tchaikovsky is a symbol of Russian culture and Russian aggression so we cannot support it,” Serhii Skuz, the ballet’s director, said.
“We don’t miss Tchaikovsky,” Anastasia Shevchenko, the ballerina dancing the
