Ukrainian ballerina uprooted by war flies high again in Swan Lake
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[March 21, 2023]
By Krisztina Than and Marton Monus
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - After the lights dim in Budapest's magnificent
Opera House, Ukrainian ballerina Ganna Muromtseva flutters high with
undulating arms in the lead role of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet. At
the end, the audience bursts into applause.
One year ago, the 29-year-old dancer fled Ukraine's capital Kyiv on a
packed train with thousands of other refugees after the Russian
invasion, wondering if she would ever be on stage again.
Muromtseva was at the peak of her career at the National Opera of
Ukraine when the war rewrote all her plans.
She last performed in Kyiv on Feb. 22, 2022.
Then on March 3, she was on a train with a friend, taking turns to share
one seat during a gruelling 12-hour journey to western Ukraine. She
found a driver for her mother and grandmother and convinced them to also
leave Kyiv as Russian bombs started to rain down.
They all met up in Lviv and travelled to Belgium, welcomed by a family
where she had once stayed on vacation as a child.
Muromtseva even left her pointe shoes behind in Kyiv, as all she could
pack was one bag.
"When I left Kyiv I even did not count that I will dance any day again.
I said bye-bye to my career," she said between rehearsals in Budapest to
play the demanding dual role of ethereal white swan Odette and deceptive
black swan Odile.
Muromtseva had danced the role, considered a tour de force for the best
ballerinas, for more than five years with her home company in Ukraine,
China and Japan.
BACK AT THE TOP
Performing it at the Hungarian State Opera was a dream: back at the top
after a year of surviving from one day to another and rebuilding herself
as a dancer physically and mentally.
At a public dress rehearsal, Muromtseva enchanted the audience with her
passionate and hypnotic performance.
"I'm happy to make a story on stage again," she said.
"It is a totally different production (in Budapest). For me it feels
like I really have to prove (myself) .... You have to be...very flexible
in your head, not in your body."
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Ganna Muromtseva, 29, a professional
ballerina from Ukraine tries on her headdress after a stage
rehearsal for the Swan Lake ballet at the Hungarian State Opera in
Budapest, Hungary, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Marton Monus
The Ukrainian works on her mental
balance each day, going out for long walks, and has made new friends
since she arrived in Budapest last summer.
Tough training and a tight schedule helps get by, Muromtseva said,
though back in her rented flat, she sometimes cries to let it all
out.
"We call it war-life balance, not work-life balance any more. It was
difficult, now it's getting a little bit easier.
"Do what you love and then you have power to do what you have to
do."
Muromtseva was registered as a refugee in Germany last year where
she was offered new pointe shoes and a place to practice, before she
auditioned for the job at the Hungarian State Opera, which has
Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian dancers among its soloists and
international corps de ballet.
Her mother and grandmother returned to Kyiv last year and she is
happy to be close to them in a neighbouring country in case they
need help. Her mother plans a visit to see her in Swan Lake at the
end of March, which gives her emotional strength.
"It means a lot for me, as she and grandfather were always my
biggest support in ballet," she said.
Muromtseva's father also lives in Kyiv, and her godfather was just
back injured from the front line after several months, she said.
Though the Hungarian State Opera has hired her for another year and
she is happy with her new opportunity, Muromtseva would naturally
like to return home one day.
"I am waiting for this day, that one day I can dance on Kyiv stage
again, but for now I have a contract here."
(Reporting and writing by Krisztina Than; Editing by Andrew
Cawthorne)
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