MOSCOW, April 19 (Reuters) – Moscow’s Bolshoi theatre has dropped a recent ballet concerning the legendary Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev from its repertoire following the enlargement of a ban on “LGBT propaganda”.
A regulation handed in November not solely widened an present prohibition on materials thought of to advertise an LGBT way of life but in addition restricts the “demonstration” of LGBT behaviour.
This makes any portrayal of homosexuality – comparable to Nureyev’s relationships with males after his defection from the Soviet Union in 1961, which the ballet touches on – nearly inconceivable.
The ballet, choreographed by Kirill Serebrennikov, has had a troubled historical past in Russia, the place President Vladimir Putin has lengthy promoted conservative values as a part of a nationalist agenda backed by the Russian Orthodox Church.
It premiered in December 2017, a number of months late, after the then-culture minister reportedly known as it homosexual propaganda, and has not been carried out since 2018. Performances scheduled for 2022 had been abruptly cancelled after Serebrennikov publicly blamed Russia for the battle in Ukraine.
“‘Nureyev’ was faraway from the repertoire in reference to the regulation … the place points associated to the promotion of ‘non-traditional values’ are stipulated completely unequivocally,” Vladimir Urin, normal director of the Bolshoi, advised a information convention on Wednesday.
Serebrennikov, one in all Russia’s main movie, theatre and tv administrators and stage designers, made his frustration clear.
“This felony ‘regulation’ was handed particularly in opposition to this present and in opposition to a number of books… Effectively, OK…” he wrote on his Telegram channel, including three rainbows – an LGBT image.
Serebrennikov has himself fallen foul of Russian authorities.
He was detained in 2017 and held in home arrest for nearly two years, to the outrage of Russia’s liberal cultural institution, earlier than being given a suspended sentence in 2020 on costs of embezzling a state subsidy. After he repaid the sum, the sentence was cancelled final yr.
Writing by Kevin Liffey; Modifying by Alex Richardson
: .
