hearings, the supreme court overturning roe v. wade, the fbi raiding the home of a former president, and everything in between. 2022 has been incredibly consequential for american politics a year that has left us with a lot of questions about the future of our country, our democracy, our rights as human beings and about whether you have more of those rights if, say, you are a former president or fewer if you have a uterus and live in a red state. well, 2023 may be the yorear we get answers. we will learn who will be running for president in 2024 and who, if any, in the republican party will stand up to donald trump. though maybe don t hold your breath on that one speaking of which, we could find out if the twicism impe disgrac former president will be held accountable in a laundry list of investigations that he is under. the new year will also present the biden administration with new challenges as the president for the first time will be faced with a split congress. democrat
island of luzon has been hit by flooding as a result of heavy rain from super tycoon noru. emergency services in low lying areas have rescued people in low lying areas from the roofs of their houses. noru is the strongest storm to hit the philippines this year. and now on bbc news, time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. a few days ago, oleksandr shapoval, one of ukraine s leading ballet dancers, was killed while serving in the ukrainian army fighting the russian invasion. art and culture are not immune from the impact of war. my guest today knows that well. alexei ratmansky is a world renowned choreographer with roots in both russia and ukraine, once director of the bolshoi ballet in moscow, and now putting on a special production of giselle with the united ukrainian ballet, to show the world ukrainian culture lives on. has ballet become a battleground? alexei ratmansky, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, it s an honour to be here. delighted to hav
happy holidays. we begin the special edition of the readout with a look back at what has been a monumental year for the democrats historic performance in the midterm elections, to the january six hearings, to the supreme court overturning roe v. wade. the fbi rating the home of a former president, and everything in between. 2022 has been incredibly consequential for and politics. i hear that s left us rights as human beings, and whether you have more of those rights if, say, you re a former president. or if you are if you have a uterus and live in a red state. well, 2023 maybe the air we finally got some answers. to start, we ll learn who exactly will be running for president in 2024, and, who if any in the republican party, will stand up to donald trump. though, maybe don t hold your breath on that one. speaking of which, we could find out if the twice impeached disgraced former president will actually be held accountable and any of the laundry list of investigations that
dancers. alexei ratmansky is a world renowned choreographer with roots in both russia and ukraine, once director of the bolshoi ballet in moscow, and now putting on a special production of gisele with the united ukrainian ballet to show the world ukrainian culture lives on. has ballet become a battleground? alexei ratmansky, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, an honour to be here. you hardtalk. thank you very much, an honour to be here. an honour to be here. you are here in london an honour to be here. you are here in london because - an honour to be here. you are here in london because you i here in london because you mounting this extraordinary set of performances of gisele. performed by ukrainian dancers. can you go about putting on how can you go about putting on a performance with ukrainians when their country is at war? there was an extraordinary project, it started in march, i received a call from my friend in holland, she is a former principal ballerina, and
Survival of their nation. Its also about the survival of their identity. Their language, their culture. A big part of that culture is ballet. Some dancers stayed in ukraine and continued to perform even with limited audiences and constant Air Raid Sirens. But others made the hard choice to leave and continue with their training. A group of about 60 dancers found their way to the netherlands, where they joined the United Ukrainian Ballet. Every dancer in that company is a refugee. They perform nonrussian ballets all over the world, and they plan to keep on doing that, showing the world the power and beauty of ukrainian ballet and why their culture is worth protecting. Cnns Christiane Amanpour traveled to the netherlands and to ukraine to meet with this Extraordinary Group of dancers and watch them as they fight the war in their own way. Im rolling. Yeah, thats great. Okay, guys, lets go. From the beginning of the war i began to think should i go to military to protect my country. I actu