Culture connects people, and it is a thread which can't be broken by political tensions. When the Malaysia Airlines Boeing was shot down over the Ukraine last year I was on tour with the Bolshoi in New York. I watched the news and listened to the comments by American politicians about Russia and, frankly, it was scary. Every day we were expecting problems at the Lincoln Center; after all the Bolshoi Theatre is a symbol of Russia. But nothing happened. In fact, the American public enthusiastically welcomed the Russian artists, and the run was sold out. After Spartacus, we received a 20-minute standing ovation! It's worth a lot and says a lot.
Svetlana Zakharova was talking to the Russian weekly Argumenty I Fakty (AIF) after the surprising decision by the Kiev Ballet School to refuse the money raised by Zakharova and colleagues in a ballet gala at the Bolshoi last month.
They said that I support the policies of Vladimir Putin and therefore my help wasn't wanted. It was unexpected, and even strange, because apart from me in the gala there were many European artists from the best theatres of the world with different political views. All they wanted to do was help the children of the Kiev school. Politics was not mentioned and we even called the evening Ballet Without Borders!
Zakharova decided to raise money after returning to Kiev to dance with Sergei Polunin. The evening before the performance they visited their old school, the Kiev Ballet Academy.
When we entered the building our hearts started pounding... there was the same smell, the same walls. Nothing had changed in the years since we'd left. They told us that in the winter there was a lack of heating and cold drafts came from the windows. Part of the roof was crumbling and rain entered the building.
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