SARASOTA — The Grand Kyiv Ballet is coming to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall for its Sarasota premiere.
The performance of “The Snow Queen” takes place Jan. 2.
The show’s dancers have a story of their own.
According to a press release, the ballet set for Sarasota is an “incredible story of resilience and inspiration.”
Principal dancers Kateryna Kukhar and Oleksandr Stoianov now live in Seattle due to the violent conflicts in Ukraine.
When Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, they were in France. Their children were back home — trapped in a nation at war.
The pair planned to return home after the showing in Menton in the south of France, but received word about the outbreak of the ferocious fighting.
Kukhar and Stoianov had to work with family and friends to get their children out of Ukraine, evacuating them safely to the United States.
“Now we have another mission. When the war started, we started dancing for our country. It is our cultural front line,” Stoianov said.