The Politics of Dancing

For members of the Kyiv City Ballet, who were stranded in paris by the russian invasion of Ukraine, continuing to perform has been a matter of survival but also an act of resistance

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On an unseasonably sultry afternoon in May, I wind my way down the back stairs of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris's First Arrondissement, a Haussmannian hall built in the Italian style in the mid-19th century and one of the city's premier concert venues. It's my second visit in two weeks, but it's easy to get lost navigating the twists and turns of the theater's narrow corridors, with only the growing crescendo of jingling tambourines emanating from below to serve as my guide.

Inside the lower rehearsal studio-named after Anna Pavlova, the famed prima ballerina who once danced here with the Ballets Russes-the Kyiv City Ballet company is mastering a new choreography. It's called "Tarantella," a nod to the upbeat Italian folk dance traditionally accompanied by tambourines. The dancers swirl and spin in a colorful array of leggings and leotards, with diaphanous circle skirts and pointe shoes. The company's associate director, Ekaterina Kozlova, 30, sits on a stool at the front of the room, leading the session, while her husband, Ivan Kozlov, 39, the founder and general director of the Kyiv City Ballet, surveys the scene with a broad smile. "They're all here," he says, referring to the 38 members of his touring group, who are together for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began this year.