Status: 04/20/2023 09:43 a.m
The ballet about the dancer Ruldolf Nureyev is removed from the schedule of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. It violates the ban on propaganda of “non-traditional values,” according to the director.
Moscow’s renowned Bolshoi Theater has canceled a play about legendary gay ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. The ballet had been removed from the repertoire because of the ban on propaganda of “non-traditional values”, explained theater director Wladimir Urin when the program was presented.
Uncertainty after tightening of the law
The law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2022, bans alleged “propaganda promoting non-traditional sexual relations” in advertising, media, online publications, books, films and theatrical productions.
It extends a 2013 ban that originally only targeted children. Violations are punished with high fines. Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Russia.
After the law was tightened, cultural workers and publishers were unsure whether books that portray same-sex love as equal to relationships between men and women are also banned. According to the new code, this is not allowed and should lead to further censorship of classics.
Criticism of Putin’s policies
The award-winning play “Nurejew” by director Kirill Serebrennikov premiered in 2017. It tells the story of ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev, who fled the Soviet Union and became world famous in the West. The ballet also addresses the fact that the dancer, who died of AIDS in 1993, was homosexual. In Serebrennikov’s production, naked bodies are shown and homosexual scenes are played out. Men in women’s clothing and high heels can be seen and profanity finds a place.
Some performances were already canceled by the Bolshoi Theater in May last year. Shortly after Putin sent Russian troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Serebrennikov was found guilty of diverting public funds.
His supporters saw the verdict as politically motivated, as the director denounced authoritarianism and homophobia under Putin in his work. Serebrennikov had also criticized Russia’s military action in Ukraine. He has lived in exile in France and Germany since May 2022.