Safe in Paris, Ukrainian artists try to inspire French compassion amid war
Kristina Kadashevych sails into the air in a pale blue leotard, legs outstretched in a leap. As her feathery frame floats back to the ground, her fellow company members stand in position, arms raised delicately overhead.
This is just a rehearsal for the Kiev City Ballet, whose 38-member-strong company has been in exile in France since arriving for a national tour just as the war in Ukraine began. But Ms. Kadashevych says that every time she performs for a live audience, she is overcome with emotions.
She’s from the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, whose nuclear power plant was taken over by Russians in March. It was around then that her family fled to the west of Ukraine, and she decided to leave her parents and 3-year-old son to join the Kiev City Ballet in Paris.
