Last night, RBTheatre – formerly Russian Ballet Theatre – was scheduled to perform “Swan Lake” at the Avalon Theatre. We’re sure it was a great show for western Colorado’s ballet fans and we’re glad recent calls for the show to be canceled weren’t heeded.

Over the past few weeks we’ve heard from readers who wanted the show canceled because they thought it showed support for Russia at a time when that country is engaged in a brutal invasion of its close neighbor Ukraine.

There have been incidents around the country of Russian-owned businesses being harassed and similar calls for Russian branded shows to be canceled. What the Russian government has done is horrifying, but taking it out on a local business or travel show is foolish.

In this specific case RBTheatre isn’t even Russian. It’s an American entity with dancers from around the globe, according to reporting by The Daily Sentinel’s Nathan Deal. Yes, some are from Russia and Belarus, but others are from Ukraine, as well as Poland, Japan and elsewhere.

Furthermore, the dance troupe was not known as Russian Ballet Theatre because of its Russian members or any promotion of the country’s politics or leaders. Russian ballet is its own dancing technique, also known as the Vaganova method, and many iconic ballets have Russian origins. They changed their branding when the invasion began and have posted messages in support of Ukraine.

“The RBT team announces the change of company’s name for the remaining shows on tour in solidarity for our friends, family members and all those in pain and fear caused by decisions of a small group of monsters,” the troupe posted. “Let’s not allow them to destroy a beautiful world and culture created by millions of brave and kind, smart and caring people of the world. We Dance for Peace. We stand with Ukraine.”

We should also remember that Russians aren’t their government. Russia today isn’t a democracy. Putin has total control over the government. While some Russians support his decision to attack Ukraine, buying the Kremlin’s propaganda, many others do not. We’ve seen them take to the streets by the thousands, often being arrested for their courageous protest.

When there is a large national or international catastrophe we often see a few misguided people lash out at the closest person who looks like the people they blame. During the pandemic hate crimes against Asian people increased. After 9/11 there was violence against Muslims and even Sikhs.

This comes from a desire many of us feel right now to do something to help this situation. But, when it is a war thousands of miles away, the options for individual people to do something are limited and sometimes not satisfying. But, there are certainly better options than canceling a ballet performance, almost entirely unrelated to the crisis in Ukraine.

When the invasion started we editorialized about different aid organizations that were helping the people of Ukraine. We’re sure more have stepped up in the time since. Giving money to help the people of Ukraine have their basic needs met is a much more productive response.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel editorial board