Japanese ballet dancer Haruka Takemi, 20, is helped by an assistant as she gets ready backstage prior to "Magical night" play at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre in Nizhny Novgorod on May 17, 2026. En pointe, demi-pointe, entrechat -- for Jotaro and Haruka, two Japanese dancers based in Nizhny Novgorod, one of Russia's historic ballet cities, life revolves entirely around their art, even as the war in Ukraine occasionally interrupts their daily routine. (Photo by Igor IVANKO / AFP)