Young Ukrainian dancers, trapped abroad, get Paris residency

THE dancers are torn between body and mind — physically on stage in Paris but in spirit back home in Kyiv.

In other circumstances, the Kyiv City Ballet’s residency at the Théâtre du Chatelet would be a dream come true, but the stranded company of young dancers feels little but heartbreak.

“We are both physically and emotionally exhausted,” Ekaterina Kozlova, the company’s deputy director, told The Associated Press. “Everyone in the ballet is worried about their families, loved ones, friends, colleagues at home. It’s been very difficult.”

The Théâtre du Chatelet, in the heart of the French capital, offered them the stage on Tuesday for the last show of a French tour that has left the company stranded after the war broke out in Ukraine.

The dance director of the Paris Opera along with some of her company’s best joined them for an open class before performing together a medley