Wonder Woman of the Week: Olga Smirnova
- Mar 16, 2022
- 2 min read
While men, women, and children in Ukraine grapple with a full-scale Russian invasion of their country, citizens of Russia are grappling with the increasingly real reality in which the democratic nation they thought existed since the fall of the Soviet Union has been a mirage for a dictatorial state. Those in the Russian Federation who have the audacity to stand up against the oppressive regime of Vladimir Putin face jail time, and- in extreme cases- execution for dissidence. This week's Wonder Woman is not only one of Russia's most accomplished ballerinas- a dance style iconic with Russian culture- but is also an activist against a government well known for their violent crackdown of any who would speak out against its tyranny. Olga Smirnova was born in St. Petersburg in 1991 at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union- which would have been a turbulent time to have been born in the region. Under the chaos of Russia's transition period, Smirnova began taking ballet classes as a young child and grew up taking pride in her fellow Russian people for the hardships they endured in their evolution out of the Soviet Era.
In 2011, Olda Smirnova traveled to London to perform where she earned high praise from fellow Russian ballerina Olga Ulanova as one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. Smirnova went on to tour in several other countries before returning to Russia to perform at the world famous Bolshoi Theatre at the rank of soloist. By 2016, Smirnova earned the rank of prima ballerina. In the entire time Smirnova was performing in her home country however, Russia's seemingly democratic government facade was cracking to reveal a long-existent authoritarian regime in power for decades. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine after an early 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Within weeks, reports of high civilian casualties in Ukraine and a seemingly careless disregard for the human cost of war drove several Russian citizens to distance themselves from both their government and their country. While thousands crossed quietly across the border into Finland, others publicly cried out against Putin's aggression. This included Smirnova who spoke out about her Ukrainian heritage and her inability to remain silent over the human rights abuses in Ukraine before moving to the Netherlands.
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