A Ukrainian Ballet Corps Stranded in Paris

On an unseasonably sultry afternoon in May, I wind my way down the back stairs of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris’s First Arrondissement, a Haussmannian hall built in the Italian style in the mid-19th century and one of the city’s premier concert venues. It’s my second visit in two weeks, but it’s easy to get lost navigating the twists and turns of the theater’s narrow corridors, with only the growing crescendo of jingling tambourines emanating from below to serve as my guide. Inside the lower rehearsal studio—named after Anna Pavlova, the famed prima ballerina who once danced here with… Read Full Article