‘Giselle’ underground: Kharkiv’s ballet keeps dancing as war grinds on KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a city battered by missiles and winter blackouts, the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre has found its stage a few floors below ground. The company’s last performance in its grand auditorium above street level took place on Feb. 23, 2022. Hours later, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and tried to seize Kharkiv. What followed remade the life of one of Ukraine’s leading ballet companies: shattered…