Bertolt Brecht asked whether there would be singing in the dark times. In the throes of war, the United Ukrainian Ballet Company defiantly insists there will be dancing, too. Far from the land they call home, young dancers take quiet comfort from art. For a while, their work feels like the old days, except there is a new troupe member: a soldier learning to dance with prosthetic legs.
Cinematography
Ballet as visual poetry in cramped, temporary spaces.
Direction
Guttmann lets silence and movement carry the weight.
Practical Effects
Real prosthetic adaptation, no cinematic shortcuts.
Director
Miriam Guttmann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Brecht's 'dark times' quote opens the film, grounding Ukrainian resilience in a century of artistic resistance to fascism.
The troupe formed in 2022 after the full-scale invasion; most dancers fled with single suitcases, making their precision onstage a miracle of muscle memory under extreme duress.
GB
NL
