‘Ukraine' means ‘on the edge', or ‘Borderland', and Lviv, Lvov, Lwów or Lemberg - depending on whether you are Russian, Ukrainian, Polish or Austrian - is right at the Borderland's most western border. The city's Opera, where the Ukrainian State Ballet of Lviv have their home, is one of the most elegant opera buildings in Europe. A gem in the crown of the Habsburg Empire, and part of Poland before it was handed to Ukraine at the end of World War II, the Russian ballet tradition meets the elegance of Vienna there in a way that it does nowhere else. The Lviv ballet company attracted first class teachers, choreographers and artists from around the Soviet Union, such as the scenographer Lysyk, who helped give Lviv an international reputation for its stage sets. The ballet dancers that live and work there today manage somehow to continue that tradition in the difficult financial and cultural conditions created by economic transformation - a considerable achievement not only to pursue their passion, but to earn a living from it. Ukrainian nationalism, and friction with the Russia influence, is perhaps stronger in Lviv than anywhere else in Ukraine. The split between Moscow and Kiev was especially painful for the Russians - after all, Kiev was the capital of Old Rus long before the centre of the empire shifted to Muscovy. But much of Lviv's population is still ethnically Russian, and nowhere is the Russian identity stronger than at the ballet. This is an international and cultural institution where the different nationalities mix more or less harmoniously, that spans the gap between Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the Habsburg traditions.