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Olga Smirnova Leaves Bolshoi for Dutch National Ballet


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On 3/17/2022 at 12:58 AM, Drew said:

I am trying to decide just how depressing I find it to read this story about the renaming of the Russian Lounge at Kennedy Center.  Fundraising experts perhaps can tell me: Is it typical to let a space name lapse when the donor's original arrangement expires? If so, then that is one thing and I can live with it even if I find it dispiriting. But otherwise I find it an unpleasant 'wartime' kind of gesture and I can't help but think it's the sort of thing that gives life to those who might believe Putin's claim that the world is out to "cancel" Russia.

Shades of "freedom fries." There was also a story recently about a Ukrainian woman in Orlando whose ballet studio has "Russian" in the name and she's been fielding threats and general nastiness. She's not changing the name. Yet.

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Admin note, re hidden posts:  links to all news-related social media posts are required.  If it's an Instagram story, that can be referenced only, since it will by nature disappear.

To find the permalink for any given social media post, this usually means clicking on the data or timestamp, and that will resolve to the post itself, where you can copy the link from the URL in the browser window.

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1 hour ago, dirac said:

Shades of "freedom fries."

I think of those pickup groups of dancers who perform "The Great Russian Nutcracker" and such at smaller venues. For the purposes of selling tickets it was considered advantageous to call the productions Russian, even if the dancers actually came from Ukraine, Moldova or Kazakhstan. Now appellations to Russian ballet have the opposite effect.

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In what Maria Khoreva had originally announced as her “time to leave Instagram” post, she had also posted a link to her Telegram, which no longer appears. The ROC Olympic ice skaters are still using Instagram. I’m wondering if they are being allowed/encouraged to still post but are being monitored.

Also, I was surprised to see that Kimin Kim is still in Russia.

Edited by AB'sMom
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2 hours ago, AB'sMom said:

In what Maria Khoreva had originally announced as her “time to leave Instagram” post, she had also posted a link to her Telegram, which no longer appears. The ROC Olympic ice skaters are still using Instagram. I’m wondering if they are being allowed/encouraged to still post but are being monitored.

Also, I was surprised to see that Kimin Kim is still in Russia.

Her Telegram link appears a the top of her IG page, and for the record, is: https://t.me/marachok

Telegram was developed by two brothers, Russian software developers, who ran into issues with Putin and his supporters. One of them lives in France now, but I'm not sure about the other.

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6 hours ago, dirac said:

Shades of "freedom fries." There was also a story recently about a Ukrainian woman in Orlando whose ballet studio has "Russian" in the name and she's been fielding threats and general nastiness. She's not changing the name. Yet.

Hers is an easy fix: change the name to Ukrainian Ballet and she will get good press.

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2 hours ago, pherank said:

Hers is an easy fix: change the name to Ukrainian Ballet and she will get good press.

Good press for five minutes, but as I know  you know, she should not be being intimidated by threats into doing anything.

And of course ‘Russian Ballet’ refers to a whole history of ballet....it’s not just about nationality, ethnicity, or where someone was born.

The episode is nothing compared to the horrors being visited on Ukraine by Russia—I am sure no-one on this thread needs to be reminded of that— but when the U.S., the country I live in, has gone down this route during past wars and international crises (including Covid), it has never ended well. Better to speak up when it IS still a trivial problem.

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A business name change comes with a loss. Maybe not a net loss given the circumstances. But it’s not an “easy fix.” It’s unfortunate.

And calling one thing unfortunate does not mean one is implying that war, death and destruction are not immeasurably more so.

Edited by nanushka
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I was being sarcastic, and unfortunately, nothing is actually easy in this world. I doubt that bullies objecting to a name like "Russian Ballet" have much experience with, or interest in, ballet. They are just looking for a new target.

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1 hour ago, pherank said:

I was being sarcastic, and unfortunately, nothing is actually easy in this world. I doubt that bullies objecting to a name like "Russian Ballet" have much experience with, or interest in, ballet. They are just looking for a new target.

I'm slapping my head....the sarcasm should have been obvious to me....

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17 hours ago, Drew said:

I'm slapping my head....the sarcasm should have been obvious to me....

I guess I need a sarcasm emoji. I just looked on Google, and supposedly an upside down face symbolizes irony/sarcasm. Somehow, that just doesn't do it for me.

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