BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - The artistic director of Moscow's state-owned Bolshoi Ballet has vowed that his company will eventually perform in the West again, having been subject to a cultural boycott since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The storied ballet company performed at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts on Tuesday in its first international tour since the pandemic.
Speaking in Beijing on the eve of the performance, artistic director Makhar Vaziev insisted the troupe was "not suffering" from being unable to perform in the West.
Cancellations in other Western cities soon followed, and creative collaboration with Western venues and choreographers evaporated.
Several Russian and foreign leading dancers also quit the company in opposition to the Ukraine war, including former principal ballerina Olga Smirnova.
Persons:
Makhar Vaziev, Empress Catherine the Great, Don Quixote, Vladimir Putin's, Olga Smirnova, Elizaveta Kokoreva, Laurie Chen, John Geddie, Raju gopalakrishnan
Organizations:
Bolshoi Ballet, National, Performing Arts, Reuters, London's Royal Opera House, Western, Thomson
Locations:
BEIJING, Ukraine, Beijing, Russia, Minsk, Oman, Moscow