Russia’s Bolshoi Theater drops Nureyev ballet due to ‘gay propaganda law’

Russia’s famed Bolshoi Theater has pulled a ballet about the late dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev due to legislation outlawing the sharing of positive messages about LGBTQ issues.

The ballet, “Nureyev,” was dropped “in connection with the newly signed law, which unambiguously deals with issues related to propaganda of non-traditional values,” Bolshoi director Vladimir Urin said Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency.

In November, Russian lawmakers passed an amendment to a controversial law signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2013.

Slammed by the nonprofit Human Rights Watch as a “classic example of political homophobia,” the so-called “gay propaganda law” was “aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values.”

However, after Putin signed the amendment in December 2022, the ban widened its scope to also include adults.

“It’s only natural that, once the bill was signed into law, the theater made a decision to cancel this show,” Urin told reporters Wednesday, according to Russia’s state-owned agency Tass.

“Nureyev,” which was first performed in 2017, is based on the life of the legendary Soviet-born dancer and choreographer, who defected from the Soviet Union to France in 1961.

Choreographed by famed Russian film and stage director Kirill Serebrennikov, the ballet touches on Nureyev’s relationships with men. Last year, performances of “Nureyev” were canceled following Serebrennikov’s criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the 53-year-old director took to social media to express his frustration with the Russian government.

“This criminal ‘law’ was passed specifically against this show and against several books…” Serebrennikov wrote on his Telegram channel, adding three Pride rainbows, according to The Guardian.

With Wire News Services