Beyond tutus: Svetlana Zakharova on ballet in Putin’s Russia | Talk to Al Jazeera

Since the age of 10, Svetlana Zakharova has devoted her life to ballet. Originally from Ukraine, her extraordinary talent catapulted her to world fame as the prima ballerina of Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Ballet. Considered one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation, Zakharova is often compared with Russia’s iconic male ballet dancers, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. But her success has come at a price. “At the age of 10, my childhood was over and I started a new grown-up life,“ she told Al Jazeera. Zakharova gave up her childhood to practise the art form she says she was physically designed for, despite ballet being “unnatural for a human body. The stretching, the turnouts and the training load.“ “You get used to living with pain,“ she said. “I sometimes ask myself if I made any sacrifices. But I don’t know any other way of life ... I have no regrets. Even when I’m exhausted and tired, when I want to hide from