The Suffering and Resilience of the Ukrainian People Brought to the Ice

I have always loved the combination of athleticism, artistry and music in figure skating. Perhaps that is why I found this performance by Ukrainian ice dancers Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin on Friday at the 2022 World Championship so incredibly powerful. 

Here's what Nazarova and Nikitin, who had just recently escaped to Poland, said about their performance:

"For us it is so important to tell the whole world what is happening right now in Ukraine. Of course, it’s a competition, but for us it’s not just a competition. For us it is something bigger, especially for Maksym.”

“It (the performance) was not just for us, it was for all Ukrainian people; for all the people who are still there who are not safe. I hope the support from all the people will help our country,” Nikitin added. “The bigger point is to tell the truth about what is happening in Ukraine, and I hope this will help people in Ukraine who are now not safe, who are in danger and have lost their homes.

“I hope we can help all people in the world to understand what really happens because we saw it. We saw what they (the Russian army) are doing, how they work, and it is disgusting. Just six days ago I was in Kharkiv and our whole families are still in Ukraine.”

The music they chose divides the performance into two parts - representing both the suffering and resilience of the Ukrainian people. Nazarova and Nikitin began with a song titled "1944" by Ukrainian singer/songwriter Jamala. 

The lyrics for "1944" concern the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, in the 1940s, by the Soviet Union at the hands of Joseph Stalin because of their alleged collaboration with the Nazis. Jamala was particularly inspired by the story of her great-grandmother Nazylkhan, who was in her mid-20s when she and her five children were deported to barren Central Asia. One of the daughters did not survive the journey. Jamala's great-grandfather was fighting in World War II in the Red Army at this time and thus could not protect his family. The song was also released amid renewed repression of Crimean Tatars following the Russian annexation of Crimea, since most Crimean Tatars refuse to accept the annexation.

Here is Jamala singing "1944" at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016.

Halfway through the ice dancing performance the mood changed as Nazarova and Nikitin began skating to a Ukrainian folk song captured by Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the lead singer of the band Boombox - who quit his tour of the U.S. to go back home and join the fight. 

At that moment, Nikitin raised his hand in the air and let out a shout of defiance.

As the announcer said, "It was not a made-up story. It was a real story...brought to the ice" by a couple who, only a week ago were hiding in a shelter as bombs fell on their home. What a moment!