Eight foreign-born dancers of the Hungarian National Ballet - among them several Russian-Ukrainian married couples - received their naturalization certificate from Katalin Novák, the President of the Republic of Hungary, on Saturday morning before the ballet performance The Nutcracker at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest.
Before receiving the documents, the dancers took the oath of citizenship in the presence of their children on stage, and afterwards they sang the Hungarian national anthem in front of an audience of thousands.
Szilveszter Ókovács , the general director of the Hungarian State Opera, said at the event that he considers the citizenship ceremony of couples living in mixed marriages to be symbolic. "Everyone understands what it is about, the equality of people and peoples, the creation of peace between them," he said, specifically referring to the fact that they lined up for the occasion before a ballet performance by a Russian author.
The artists have been living in Budapest for many years, dedicating their lives to Hungarian ballet, underlined the general director. " National ballet" means that the Hungarian state supports the ensemble; they strive to have the best artists in the world as members of the troupe, he added.
Julija Golovinya of Ukrainian origin and Radzius Mikalaj ; Kristina Starostyna from Russia and the Yuri Kekali ; the Russian Tatyana Melnyik and the Ukrainian dancer Melnyik Vladyslav the Kazakh Alija Tanikpayeva and the Russian Dmitri Tyimofeev .
Julija Golovinya and Radzius Mikalai also appear in The Nutcracker
Source: MTI/888.hu
Photo: Zoltán Máthé
