Ukrainian International Ballet at the Clingendael Institute

On 25 June 2026, Ukrainian International Ballet was honoured to perform at the farewell event of Monika Sie, General Director of the Clingendael Institute.

After ten years of leadership, Monika Sie will hand over her role to Bob Deen as of 1 July. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, her work has included deep research into the protection mandate for displaced Ukrainians, looking closely at the Dutch and European political context, migration intentions and long-term perspectives.

For us, it was especially meaningful to be present at this event. Ukrainian International Ballet was founded in The Hague by displaced Ukrainian dancers. Our company was born from the same fragile reality that is so often discussed in policy rooms: people forced to leave, to begin again, to carry memory and identity across borders.

At Clingendael, we presented a fragment from INdependent24, our first contemporary project. Created through the real stories of Ukrainian dancers in the Netherlands, the work reflects their encounter with modern Dutch society and carries a deep gratitude to the Dutch people.

In a time when the world often seems to crack along its most painful lines, INdependent24 speaks in another language: sensitivity, humanity and compassion. Through movement, the piece asks what it means to choose human connection as a way of living together.

We are grateful to have contributed to this thoughtful farewell gathering, and to have brought the voice of Ukrainian artists into a space where questions of diplomacy, protection, displacement and Europe’s shared future are taken seriously.

Watch on YouTube: video 1, video 2

Photo: Deborah Capotorto, Oleksii Kniazkov