Russia’s Bolshoi, Performing in China, Vows to Return to the West 

People pose for pictures in front of the National Center for the Performing Arts, before a performance by Russia's Bolshoi Ballet company in Beijing, China, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
People pose for pictures in front of the National Center for the Performing Arts, before a performance by Russia's Bolshoi Ballet company in Beijing, China, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

Russia’s Bolshoi, Performing in China, Vows to Return to the West 

People pose for pictures in front of the National Center for the Performing Arts, before a performance by Russia's Bolshoi Ballet company in Beijing, China, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
People pose for pictures in front of the National Center for the Performing Arts, before a performance by Russia's Bolshoi Ballet company in Beijing, China, July 25, 2023. (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 Center 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.

"I have no doubt that one day everything will go back to how it should be because culture is a wave that is very hard to suppress," Vaziev, 62, said in an interview.

"Many governments have banned cultural figures from Russia... but we are still talking to the same people we talked to in the past."

The Bolshoi's dancers hope their performances will herald a return to the global stage for the crown jewel of Russian culture, which toured the world even in the most tense days of the Cold War.

But the company only has two further confirmed international stops so far: the Belarusian capital Minsk in November, and Oman in January 2024.

The theater, founded in 1776 by Empress Catherine the Great, will showcase excerpts of some of its best-known ballet works in two gala performances in Beijing, followed by a three-day staging of the 19th century ballet "Don Quixote".

It still receives around 70 percent of its funding from the Russian government, according to the company's PR representative. No performers have so far publicly condemned President Vladimir Putin's war, which has caused an estimated 8,500 civilian casualties according to the UN.

Reuters was asked to avoid political questions during interviews with members of the troupe.

In February 2022, the day after Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine, London's Royal Opera House called off the Bolshoi's planned post-pandemic return for a residency scheduled for that summer.

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.

"I would really like to visit other countries, see the world, and get to know different venues, theaters, teachers and choreographers," said principal dancer Elizaveta Kokoreva, who joined the company at the beginning of the pandemic.

"But it is what it is right now."



Riyadh Book Fair Hosts Lecture on Impact of Camels on Arab History, Culture

The Riyadh International Book Fair 2024 held a lecture on the role of camels in Arab history and culture. SPA
The Riyadh International Book Fair 2024 held a lecture on the role of camels in Arab history and culture. SPA
TT

Riyadh Book Fair Hosts Lecture on Impact of Camels on Arab History, Culture

The Riyadh International Book Fair 2024 held a lecture on the role of camels in Arab history and culture. SPA
The Riyadh International Book Fair 2024 held a lecture on the role of camels in Arab history and culture. SPA

The Riyadh International Book Fair 2024 held a lecture on the role of camels in Arab history and culture, delivered by Turki bin Al-Ghanami, a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Society for Camel Studies.
Al-Ghanami highlighted the fact that Arabs have not coexisted with any animal as they have with camels, marking a significant turning point in their history.
The Arabs’ reliance on camels led to the growth of their trade, expanding across land and sea borders from the southernmost part of the Arabian Peninsula to beyond the Mediterranean Sea basin, Al-Ghanami said.
Thanks to camels, trade routes flourished, including the Incense and the Silk roads, and Arab livelihoods improved due to their reliance on camel milk and meat as their staple diet, he stated.
Camels have become partners in all aspects and details of Arab lives, he added.