00:01Final preparations before these ballerinas take to the stage.
00:06Some of them were in this production of Adolf Adon's Giselle
00:09the last time it was performed in Kharkiv, on the 23rd of February 2022.
00:14Hours later, Russian rockets rained down on the city
00:17and the opera house had to close.
00:19But it has reopened, in the same building, but underground.
00:23A bomb shelter transformed into a theatre.
00:31This is a safe place. We don't have to interrupt or cancel performances here.
00:36They continue from beginning to end, even when the sirens are going off across the city.
00:40We don't have to go anywhere, because a shelter is a shelter.
00:48Many of these dancers left Kharkiv at the start of the Russian invasion.
00:52Some went abroad and performed on other stages.
00:55But they chose to return.
00:57After all, they say, the war is with them, wherever they are.
01:07Every day we think of those who are on the front line.
01:11But at the same time, we have a job to do.
01:15And we try to give 100, 200, even 300 percent.
01:20For the sake of all those who aren't with us here and now,
01:24and for those who will never come back.
01:30Our troops are defending our rear, our land, our country.
01:35Our mission is to defend our soul, our culture.
01:40When I was living abroad, I constantly wanted to go home.
01:43I'm not happy anywhere but here.
01:45I don't care how close the aggressor is.
01:48We are resilient and we will withstand this.
01:55Everyone here hopes that the day will soon come
01:57when the security situation will allow the performers to return to this,
02:01the main stage at the Kharkiv Opera House,
02:03with a capacity of 1,500 people.
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