(FOX NEWS) – Russian prima ballerina Olga Smirnova has departed her home country to pursue a dance career in the Netherlands following her public denouncement of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The world-famous classical dancer has joined the Dutch National Ballet and will be featured in “several performances” in the next month, including a title role in the ballet “Raymonda” – a legendary show choreographed by French danseur Marius Petipa in 1898, the Dutch ballet company announced.
Smirnova, who danced in various ballet performances with Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre in the last decade, spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on social media and has found the response in her native country to be “untenable,” the Dutch National Ballet wrote in a news release.
