"When we dance, I express all the hurt and pain that I feel."
This ballet company from Kyiv arrived in France a day before the war broke out in Ukraine. Brut followed them backstage during a performance as they danced for their homeland ...
This ballet company from Kyiv arrived in France a day before the war broke out in Ukraine. Brut followed them backstage during a performance as they danced for their homeland ...
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00:00The day after we arrived, we received news of the conflict and we weren't prepared morally
00:11or physically, emotionally, we had no idea this was coming.
00:18We're fighting for our country from a stage.
00:21Every successful performance, it's a small victory for Ukrainian soul, you know, we are
00:27showing that we are unbreakable and nothing can stop us.
00:57I'm very happy, I'm very happy, because I probably wouldn't be able to stand this moral tension in Ukraine.
01:22I'm very upset, I'm very worried about my family all the time,
01:26I can't talk to them, I'm from Ukraine, from Kiev, I'm a principal dancer in a Kiev opera house,
01:33and now I'm in France, stuck here because of war in Ukraine.
01:40Every day I watch news, all these terrible videos with mothers, with their children,
01:45with everything, and I can't cry, I can't stop, so it's terrible.
01:56I have a small, small problem with my feet now.
02:05Two weeks ago I twisted my feet, but it's no problem, because after three days I can be like new.
02:17We go 23 February, it starts 24, so I can just say we're lucky, lucky guys.
02:25And we hurt these people in Ukraine.
02:29And is your family still there?
02:32Yeah, but I don't want to talk about this now, it's really hard.
02:46Of course it's very hard for them, it's very hard for us, it's very hard for everybody.
02:51Of course it's war in your country, in your home, it's very hard.
02:57It's all the time in the background, it's all the time in your head.
03:03We're very lucky to show Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian art,
03:07and we're very grateful to be able to share with the French people,
03:12who have been so wonderful to us.
03:14We want to give something back to them.
03:21Now, when we dance, we feel more emotional about our country,
03:43and I express all the hurt and all the pain that I feel.
03:52And I can show this to people right now.
04:12Dancing is probably the best thing we could be doing right now, to help others,
04:17to share art and to share Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian ballet with the world.