The Swedish channel SVT released an interesting investigation about ballet troupes that tour Scandinavian countries under names like “Ballet of Ukraine,” “Grand Ukrainian Ballet,” or “The Heritage Ballet.”
They present themselves as Ukrainian groups from Ukraine, claiming to raise funds for the needs of their homeland. The program includes “The Nutcracker” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (which already seems odd for a “Ukrainian ballet” during the war between Russia and Ukraine).
SVT’s investigation revealed that these “Ukrainian groups” are actually not connected to Ukraine in any way.
The ballet groups in question are from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the entrepreneurs profiting from their performances are either from Russia or have Russian roots.
Literally:
▪️ The Ballet of Ukraine recently staged “The Nutcracker” in several cities in Sweden. Now we can tell you that the group has strong ties to Russia – a phenomenon known as a ballet clone. At the address in Kyiv that the Ballet of Ukraine lists on its website, the SVT correspondent finds an office building and a shopping center, but no ballet studio.
We went there after being informed that the Ballet of Ukraine, which recently performed “The Nutcracker” in eight cities in Sweden, is not what it claims to be: an anonymous blogger claims they are Russians. Half of the dancers work in Russia.
When we begin investigating the ballet troupe, we find that their booking company, Touring Actors, is hosted on a Russian server and belongs to a Russian citizen who is registered as a business owner in Moscow, meaning he pays taxes in Russia. Furthermore, 7 out of 14 dancers listed on the website are actively working in Russia. We cannot find any Ukrainian or Russian company that received money from Sweden.
However, we discovered that the funds from at least six performances in Sweden were paid to a Swiss artificial intelligence company owned by a former Russian banker.
As early as 2022, the National Opera in Kyiv warned about clone troops touring under false flags.
In early February, the Grand Ukrainian Ballet performed two shows in Sweden, although a review in Sydsvenskan showed that the connection to Ukraine was weak.
In December, The Heritage Ballet was canceled from its Swedish tour after a security investigation revealed ties to the Russian state. The same cast and repertoire of the Ballet of Ukraine are mostly identical to the Russian ballet from St. Petersburg, as also reported by DN.
The “Ukrainian Ballet” theater also uses the same press materials as the “Moscow Ballet” artistic theater, a Russian company currently in the process of liquidation.
“Making money off our suffering,” says Lana Roxy, press secretary of the National Opera in Kyiv, who mentions that the number of ballet troupes calling themselves Ukrainian has become so large that they are hard to track.
“They are making money off of our suffering,” she says.
The “smear campaign” Russian entrepreneur behind the booking company dismisses the information about Russian ties as a smear campaign and claims that the Ballet of Ukraine does not employ Russian dancers.
He refused to give an interview.
The artistic director writes that the list of dancers on the website is outdated, but at the same time, it is the one the booking company used when selling the tour.
The websites of the Ballet of Ukraine and the touring company have been removed.
Eight Swedish concert halls were forced to cancel the Heritage Ballet tour in December when it was revealed that they had ties to Russia. New procedures are now being implemented in concert halls to ensure this does not happen again.
Tags: Art Culture Ukraine
