Laurent Hilaire has announced that he is leaving Moscow “in view of the situation”. The Russian government continues its violent military offensive on Ukraine.
Frenchman Laurent Hilaire, director of the ballet troupe at the Stanislavski Theater in Moscow and former star of the Paris Opera, announced his resignation from the Moscow institution on Sunday “in view of the geopolitical situation” and is preparing to leave Moscow.
“I resigned yesterday. [samedi]it will be announced today on the site (of the theater), I am leaving Moscow tomorrow in view of the situation”, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), without dwelling further. “I regret this decision, I worked in harmony (with the theater teams), I leave with sadness but the context no longer allows me to work calmly,” he added.
Offensive russe en Ukraine
After weeks of tension around the pro-Russian separatist regions of Ukraine, the Russian president went on the offensive overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. Several cities, including Kiev, the port city of Mariupol located along the Sea of Azov, Kharkiv, the country’s second city, and Kramatorsk were victims of heavy bombardments.
On Saturday evening, Russia announced that it was “expanding” its offensive. Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday that at least 198 civilians had been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, a figure that was not updated more than 24 hours later.
Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, reiterated that the Russian army was not carrying out strikes on residential areas, but several houses hit by fire across the country.
Five years in office
Appointed dance director of the Stanislavski Academic Musical Theater five years ago, Laurent Hilaire was the second Frenchman to lead a ballet troupe in Russia, almost 150 years following his illustrious predecessor, the dancer and choreographer Marius Petipa, a major figure in dance in the 19th century and director of the Imperial Ballet in Saint Petersburg.
Considered one of the most brilliant French dancers of his generation, he renewed the repertoire of the Russian company, the third following the Bolshoi in Moscow and the Mariinsky in Saint Petersburg.
Born in 1962, Laurent Hilaire is a graduate of the Paris Opera School of Dance. Engaged in the ballet corps, he was named “Star” in 1985, at the age of 22, by Rudolf Nureyev, a dancer from the USSR who had defected to the Soviet Union.