A series of shows featuring the Bolshoi Theatre’s principal dancer has been suspended amid protests from Kiev
South Korea has canceled a series of performances by Svetlana Zakharova, a renowned ballerina from Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre, after Ukraine expressed anger over the planned events.
A set of shows featuring Zakharova had been scheduled to take place at the Seoul Arts Center in April.
The performance, titled ‘Modanse’, which portrays the life of Coco Chanel, was staged in collaboration with the French fashion house Chanel and premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2019.
The Seoul Arts Center, affiliated with South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, said the performances had been canceled “in light of ensuring the safety of both the audience and the artists.”
“We sincerely apologize to all the audience members who were anticipating this performance and kindly request your understanding,” the center said in a notice.
The cancelation comes after Ukraine’s embassy in South Korea last week claimed that allowing Zakharova to perform would amount to the “legitimization of Russian unjustified aggression and belittling the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
Kiev’s embassy added that despite “respect to the pluralism of opinion,” Ukraine calls on its “international partners to suspend cultural cooperation with the criminal Russian regime and its cultural representatives.”