As the lights in Budapest’s historic State Opera House dim, a Ukrainian ballerina by the name of Hanna Muromtseva begins her ascent into the air as the lead role in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. At the end of her performance, the audience bursts into applause.
A necklace with a map of Ukraine reminds Muromtseva of home.
One year ago, when the 29-year-old dancer fled Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on a packed train with thousands of others after the Russian invasion, Muromtseva wondered if she would ever be on stage again.
Muromtseva prepares for training at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest.
Muromtseva was at the peak of her career at the National Opera of Ukraine when the war rewrote her plans.
She last performed in Kyiv on February 22, 2022.
Muromtseva takes a break during practice.
The following week, Muromtseva was on a train taking turns sharing a single seat with a friend during a grueling 12-hour journey to western Ukraine. With Russian air strikes targeting Kyiv, she found a driver for her mother and grandmother and convinced them to flee.
They all met up in Lviv and travelled to Belgium, welcomed by a family where she had once stayed on vacation as a child.
When Muromtseva left her home she took only one bag, leaving behind her pointe shoes.
Muromtseva holds a new pair of pointe shoes.
"When I left Kyiv, I did not think that I would dance again. I said bye-bye to my career," she said between rehearsals where she performs the demanding dual role of the 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. Her home company traveled not only in Ukraine, but also to lands as far as China, and Japan.
Russian dancer Boris Zhurilov and Muromtseva attend a dance class with master Irina Prokofiyeva.
Muromtseva and Zhurilov practice their lead roles for Swan Lake.
After a day of rehearsals, Muromtseva travels home on a bus.
A Return To The Stage
Performing the lead role in Swan Lake at the Hungarian State Opera was a dream after a year of surviving from one day to another and rebuilding herself as a dancer, both physically and mentally.
The ornate staircase at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest where Muromtseva performs.
At a public dress rehearsal, Muromtseva enchanted the audience with her passionate, almost 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."
She works on her mental focus every day as she goes out for long walks and enjoys the company of new friends.
A seamstress adjusts Muromtseva's costume backstage.
Her tough training and a tight schedule also help her get by, but sometimes, back in her rented flat, she cries to let it all out.
Muromtseva performs during a stage rehearsal at the Hungarian State Opera.
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 an international corps de ballet.
Her mother and grandmother returned to Kyiv last year and she is happy to be close to them in a neighboring 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 on for another year, 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."
Muromtseva and Zhurilov perform during a dress rehearsal for Swan Lake at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest on March 16.