A war-displaced Ukrainian ballerina performs in Swan Lake once more.

In the lead role of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet, Ukrainian ballerina Ganna Muromtseva soars high with swaying arms as the lights dim in Budapest's magnificent Opera House. The audience erupts in cheers at the conclusion.

The 29-year-old dancer left Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on a crowded train with thousands of other refugees one year ago, not knowing if she would ever perform again due to the Russian invasion.
When the war changed everything, Muromtseva was at the pinnacle of her career at the National Opera of Ukraine.

Feb. 22, 2022 marked her final performance in Kiev.

On March 3, she was traveling to western Ukraine on a train with a friend, sharing a seat alternately during the arduous 12-hour trip. As Russian bombs began to fall, she found a driver for her mother and grandmother and persuaded them to leave Kyiv as well.

They all met up in Lviv and travelled to Belgium, welcomed by a family where she had once stayed on vacation as a child.

Muromtseva even left her pointe shoes behind in Kyiv, as all she could pack was one bag.

"When I left Kyiv I even did not count that I will dance any day again. I said bye-bye to my career," she said between rehearsals in Budapest to play the demanding dual role of ethereal white swan Odette and deceptive black swan Odile.

Muromtseva had danced the role, considered a tour de force for the best ballerinas, for more than five years with her home company in Ukraine, China and Japan.

BACK AT THE TOP

Performing it at the Hungarian State Opera was a dream: back at the top after a year of surviving from one day to another and rebuilding herself as a dancer physically and mentally.

At a public dress rehearsal, Muromtseva enchanted the audience with her passionate and hypnotic performance.

"I'm happy to make a story on stage again," she said.

"It is a totally different production (in Budapest). For me it feels like I really have to prove (myself) .... You have to be...very flexible in your head, not in your body."

The Ukrainian works on her mental balance each day, going out for long walks, and has made new friends since she arrived in Budapest last summer.

Tough training and a tight schedule helps get by, Muromtseva said, though back in her rented flat, she sometimes cries to let it all out.

"We call it war-life balance, not work-life balance any more. It was difficult, now it's getting a little bit easier.

"Do what you love and then you have power to do what you have to do."

Muromtseva was registered as a refugee in Germany last year where she was offered new pointe shoes and a place to practice, before she auditioned for the job at the Hungarian State Opera, which has Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian dancers among its soloists and international corps de ballet.

Her mother and grandmother returned to Kyiv last year and she is happy to be close to them in a neighbouring country in case they need help. Her mother plans a visit to see her in Swan Lake at the end of March, which gives her emotional strength.

"It means a lot for me, as she and grandfather were always my biggest support in ballet," she said.

Muromtseva's father also lives in Kyiv, and her godfather was just back injured from the front line after several months, she said.

Though the Hungarian State Opera has hired her for another year and she is happy with her new opportunity, Muromtseva would naturally like to return home one day.

"I am waiting for this day, that one day I can dance on Kyiv stage again, but for now I have a contract here."