March 17 (UPI) \u2014<\/span> Olga Smirnova, a Russian prima ballerina with Moscow\u2019s historic Bolshoi Ballet, has left her company to join the Dutch National Ballet over the Kremlin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Smirnova, whose grandfather is Ukrainian, had early this month publicly denounced the war on Telegram, saying she was against it \u201cwith all the fibers of my soul.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/article>\n Smirnova\u2019s addition to the Dutch ballet was announced in a statement by the company that said she is \u201cwelcomed with open arms\u201d and would begin work immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cDutch National Ballet is a good fit for me and a great place to further my career as a ballerina,\u201d the St. Petersburg native said. \u201cI had been thinking about this type of move for quite a while \u2014 it\u2019s just that the current circumstances accelerated this process.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dutch National Ballet said Smirnova\u2019s move was precipitated by her denouncement online of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, which was \u201cmaking it untenable for her to work in her native country,\u201d suggesting her decision may have been partially influenced by a new Russian law that criminalizes spreading so-called fake news about the war with up to 10 years in prison.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I would be ashamed of Russia, I have always been proud of talented Russia people, of our cultural and athletic achievements. But now I feel that a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after,\u201d she said March 2 on Telegram.<\/p>\n The Dutch National Ballet added that Brazilian soloist Victor Caixeta had also joined the company from St. Petersburg\u2019s Mariinsky Ballet.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev announced that he was resigning as the musical director of the Bolshoi Ballet and of the Toulouse Capitol National Orchestra in France.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Olga Smirnova (R) has quit the Bolshoi Ballet after making comments online denouncing Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. Photo by Ekaterina Shtukina\/EPA-EFE March 17 (UPI) \u2014 Olga Smirnova, a Russian prima ballerina with Moscow\u2019s historic Bolshoi Ballet, has left her company to join the Dutch National Ballet over the Kremlin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Smirnova, whose grandfather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}