AP PHOTOS: Ballet competitors soar in Moscow at Bolshoi

In a city where global tensions weigh heavily, rising talents of ballet soared gracefully at the Moscow International Ballet Competition.

The event, which concluded Saturday at the Russian capital’s Bolshoi Theater, is held every four years. Although Russia is laborious to reach because of sanctions and flight cancellations from the fighting in Ukraine, the competition brought in dancers from Asia, South America and Eastern and Western Europe.

In the senior soloist group, for dancers no older than age 27, no first prize was awarded. But Malika Yelchibaeva of Kazakhstan, and Anastasia Smirnova of Russia, jointly took second place. South Korea’s Kim Yujin placed third.

Russian senior soloists swept the top spots in the men’s division: Dmitry Smilevsky, Dmitry Vyskubenko and Maxim Izmestyev.