From Russia to Argentina, past Japan, France and Cuba, famous dancers from around the world gathered this Saturday at a huge party in London to raise funds and send a message against the “cruel” war in Ukraine.

“As artists, we have talent and we have to use it to say what we believe. Art has a voice and that’s the voice we use,” former Ukrainian dancer Ivan Putrov, one of the event organisers, told AFP before the grand gala at the London Coliseum, home of the British National Opera.

Putrov was the lead dancer with the prestigious London Royal Ballet from 2002 to 2010. Now, seeing his country torn apart by war, he decided, along with Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru, to be trained like him in kyiv, where they still have friends and relatives. , to mobilize the world of ballet in this “cry of humanity”.

Two weeks later they have assembled an incredible army to “raise funds that will save lives” and “send a message, not only to the West (…) but to Russia, some of whom will hear us and raise their voices” because ” what happened was horrific,” he said.

Great stars will appear on stage such as Natalia Osipova from Russia, Marianela Núñez from Argentina and Fumi Kaneko from Japan, all from the Royal Ballet, Mathieu Ganio from France from the Paris Opera or Katja Khaniukova from Ukraine, Aitor Arrieta from Spain and from America. Emma Hawes of the British National Ballet.

Dancers and musicians donate their work and the proceeds will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a platform that includes the British Red Cross and 14 other humanitarian NGOs, to help victims of war.

Between tickets and donations, they hope to raise more than 100,000 pounds (130,000 dollars, 120,000 euros).

“Does art deserve such dire circumstances? Of course, because it gives hope, inspires people,” Putrov said.

The gala will begin with the Ukrainian national anthem and should end with “The Triumph of Love” from the ballet “Raymonda” with music by Alexander Glazunov of Russia.

Between the two, 13 choreographies are laden with symbolism such as “No Man’s Land” by Liam Scarlett, “Lacrimosa” by Gyula Pandi or “Ashes” by Jason Kittelberger.

Russia’s Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff will also play, among other European composers, because “Russian culture has nothing to do with Putin and Putin has nothing to do with Russian culture,” underscoring Ukraine.

“And the dance has been integrated for centuries so it cannot be associated with any nation. It is a message of unity,” he added.

Also the presence of Osipova, one of the most prominent Russian dancers outside her country, who declined to give an interview, “shows that Russia is not equal to aggression,” she thought.

Among the artists who answered “gifts”, Javier Torres of the Northern Cuban Ballet performed “Casanova” on Saturday with his company in Leeds, in the north of England.

But he asked to be replaced by bringing the male version of “The Death of a Swan” by Camille Saint-Saëns to the Coliseum.

Created by French choreographer Michel Descombey who lived in Mexico and died, Torres played it brilliantly during the ten years he was a member of the Cuban national ballet before coming to England, where he has worked since 2010.

Full of strength and expression, this work shows a paraplegic who has lost a limb and “represents the struggle for what has been lost,” he told AFP.

“He talks about fighting to the end and that’s how he wants to interpret it,” he said, thinking of “people who are trying to fight what happened to them,” like the Ukrainians mired in war or the Cubans mired in suffering. for decades. American sanctions and embargoes and “even by Russia” in Soviet times.

“I have that pain, I have the sadness that every Cuban who lives outside Cuba has, because we know the needs that are experienced there,” he said.

Although she says she has never mixed art with politics, participating in the gala for her is a “humanitarian duty as a dancer, as a defender of human rights, first as a person and then as an artist.”

acc/bl