AFP, NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia
En pointe, demi-pointe, entrechat — for Jotaro Kanazasi and Haruka Takemi, two Japanese dancers based in the historic Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, life revolves entirely around their art, even as the war in Ukraine occasionally interrupts their daily routine.Jotaro Kanazasi, 32, chose to settle in Russia 14 years ago, the country known for Moscow’s Bolshoi and St Petersburg’s Mariinsky theaters, to fulfil himself “fully as a dancer,” as he puts it in halting Russian. Some foreign dancers chose to leave Russia after it sent troops to Ukraine in 2022, but Kanazasi decided to stay. The villainous sorcerer Rothbart in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Albrecht in Adolphe Adam’s Giselle, Kanazasi moves from role to role as a principal dancer at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre, about 400km east of Moscow.
Japanese ballet dancer Haruka Takemi, front left, performs in Magical Night at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on May 17.
“I love Russian ballet and always wanted to become a dancer, but there is no national ballet school in Japan, so I chose Russia,” said his compatriot Haruka Takemi, 20, who has lived in Russia for six years.Absorbed in their lives as professional dancers, Takemi and Kanazasi admit they follow the news only loosely, including the war Moscow has been waging in Ukraine since February 2022.
