The ballet “Nureyev”, by the famous Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, has been removed from the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, in accordance with the law prohibiting “gay propaganda”, the director-general of this cultural institution, Vladimir Urin, announced on Wednesday .
“Nureyev’s ballet was removed from the repertoire because of the law (…) which establishes absolutely unequivocally the themes related to the propaganda of non-traditional values”, he said, quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax.
Vladimir Urin pointed out that the Bolshoi made this decision once the law was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2022.
The dance show that tells the life story of the famous Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev premiered on December 17, 2017.
Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, the ballet caused intense controversy in Russia and on several occasions there were reports of the show’s cancellation, which have been denied by the Bolshoi Theater to this day.
His detractors particularly criticized the set design, which showed a large-scale nude of the dancer, as well as constant references to his homosexuality.
Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy (Leningrad) in 1958, after which he entered the Kirov Theater of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theater) in the then city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he fell by his special talent.
In 1961, while touring Paris, he decided to leave the Soviet Union, for which he was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison for treason.
However, not only did he manage to consolidate his career in Europe, he also became one of the most acclaimed dancers of the 20th century.
In his personal life, Nureyev was romantically involved with Danish dancer and choreographer Erik Bruhn for 25 years until his death in 1986, after which he led a promiscuous sex life and contracted HIV.
The law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”, pedophilia and gender reassignment in the media, the Internet, advertising, literature and film introduces fines of up to 10 million rubles (160,500 euros) for those who violate the law.
The legislation extended the previously existing ban on “LGBTQ+ advertising” among minors to adults and also includes pedophilia and calls for gender reassignment among teens.
The law has been heavily criticized by LGBTQ+ associations and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International (AI), who claim the law will increase homophobia with the consent of the Russian state and take it to a whole new level.
Source: DN
