Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia

Galina Ulanova and friend watch a student perform

By Christina Ezrabi, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012

An academic text about the role of ballet in the early days of Soviet Russia.  The Mariinsky (later Kirov) and the Bolshoi troupes where the only ballet companies with imperial status, and after initial suspicion, the Soviets tried to co-opt the glory of pre-revolutionary culture to their own ends.  The Soviet regime worked to dispel Russian "backwardness" by promoting "kul'turnost," making bastions of high culture available to the common worker.  They argued that Soviet citizens read more books than any other people on the planet and had access to superb ballets.  This book helped me to understand the "Russianness" of  Mariinsky and Bolshoi dancers today: the emphasis on character dances, the history of the drambalet, their enduring mastery of ballet cannon such as Swan Lake, and the role of the Vaganova Ballet Academy.