DANCING FOR LIFE An Escaped Ukrainian Dancer’s Story Vsevolod Mayevskyi

Mariinsky Ballet

Dancing at the Mariinsky Ballet – one of Russia’s best and the world’s most renowned ballet companies – was Ukrainian-born Vsevolod Mayevskyi’s lifelong dream. At age 19, after a triumphant performance at the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) international ballet competition, his dream finally came true: he joined the main troupe of the Mariinsky. Over the next 4 years, he started being noticed, getting more soloist roles, and there was even talk of him being promoted. And then, everything changed.

Special Operation

On February 24, 2022, Russian military forces entered Ukraine as part of a “special operation” – and Vsevolod found himself in a special operation of his own. “It was not an easy conversation,” he says of his meeting with the Director of the Mariinsky, “But he understood everything.”

Vsevolod left the company of his dreams to help his family – which, at that time, was desperately trying to get out of Ukraine. “This was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make, but I really had no choice.”

Going back to Kyiv was not an option: once he would enter, he would not be able to leave – all men of combat age (up to 60 years old) were not allowed to leave Ukraine. So, with only a few hundred dollars in his pocket, no access to credit cards, and, on top of it all, fighting through a crippling back injury, he made his way from St. Petersburg to Turkey – where his brother was living and working at the time. Two weeks later, his mother and two sisters finally made it there, as well.

With his family now at least in temporary safety, the next question was, now what? Dance, for a dancer, is life itself: take it away, and you take away life’s meaning. Going back to Russia – or Kyiv – was out of the question, so he once again turned to the people who helped him get into the company of his dreams.

Youth America Grand Prix

“Without YAGP, I would not be who I am today,” says Vsevolod, and adds, “I really mean that.” And he might as well: the competition got him his first scholarship with Ellison Ballet in New York – which led to the performance at the next year’s YAGP Finals that landed him the job at the Mariinsky. All this, he says, made him the dancer he is today.

“The Russian ballet tradition is based on centuries of studying the human anatomy, kinesiology and movement. It pays attention to every single detail – from how the tiniest of inner muscles affect the turnout [of the legs] to how lifting your head makes your leg go higher. Dancing at the Mariinsky made me grow in ways I could not have grown anywhere else.”

Dresden Semperoper Ballet

Now back to square one, Vsevolod was invited to perform at the YAGP 2022 Gala in the United States – which also served as an audition. YAGP also arranged for him to audition with a few companies in Europe, helping him with airfare and accommodations. “It really is extraordinary how much we [dancers] rely on networks like this,” says Vsevolod – also referring to more than 100 displaced Ukrainian dancers whom YAGP has helped to find a place on scholarship at some of the leading dance academies in Europe and the United States. After a few auditions, he now finds himself a company member of Dresden Semperoper Ballet.

The 24-year-old Vsevolod – or Seva, as his friends call him – is a gentle giant. At 6’4”, he towers over you with a sincere smile, almost apologizing for the inconvenience of having to look up at him to maintain a conversation. When asked about why dance matters, he takes his time to think before offering his answer.

“It is, after all, hardly a “pleasant” experience,” he ponders, talking about the injuries (he broke his foot twice), fatigue, emotional burnout, extreme physical exertion, and the constant pain that is an everyday reality for professional ballet dancers. Why, then, all this? What makes it all worth it?

Vsevolod pauses. Words don’t come easily to him – not because of his difficulty with words, but because of how much the subject matter matters to him.

“Beauty,” he says after a long pause. “It’s all about beauty. It’s something that is impossible to describe in words – but can only be experienced by dancers and the audience during a live performance. Beauty moves us. It heals. And beauty begets beauty: it awakens something in us – and somehow, unnoticeably, makes us more human.” yagp.org

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Sergey Gordeev is a New York-based journalist and an Emmy-winning TV host.

Pull quotes for Dancing for Life:
1. “It’s all about beauty.”
2. “I really had no choice.”