Risking it all for the love of art

Madison Ballet CEO Jonathan Solari

“I was pacing from room to room inside a dilapidated house 12 years ago in the Belarussian capital of Minsk. It had been a stressful day.

I had been driven around the city for hours by my hosts and guards. As we attempted to ensure that the KGB was not able to track us, I heard horrifying stories about my carmates’ family members and friends who had been deemed politically dangerous by the state and then suddenly disappeared.

The man riding shotgun had been exiled from Belarus the previous year but illegally returned home to visit family and support our project. He snuck back into the country from Ukraine, where he had been able to live without the daily fear of political violence. He wasn’t sure how he would get back.

I was not there to fight. I was not there to spy. I was there to perform a short play I had written.”

Read the full article here.