Vishneva's Venice return stirs the Biennale's Russian question

Diana Vishneva, the celebrated Russian ballerina, has made a quiet return to the Venice Dance Biennale, a performance that the New York Times says raised uncomfortable questions for an event that once vowed to cut ties with Russia's artists over the war in Ukraine. Her appearance, reported by the paper's dance critic on Tuesday, comes as the festival navigates the delicate line between artistic freedom and political responsibility.

The Biennale, which has long been a global stage for experimental and classical dance, had publicly distanced itself from Russian state-affiliated institutions after the invasion. Vishneva, who has not been linked to the Kremlin's cultural propaganda, now finds herself at the centre of a moral reckoning that the foreign press has framed as a test of the festival's principles.