Ballet in the Cold War: A Soviet-American Exchange

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Anne Searcy (Assistant Professor of Music History, Assistant Professor of Music History, University of Washington)

Ballet in the Cold War

A Soviet-American Exchange

Anne Searcy (Assistant Professor of Music History, Assistant Professor of Music History, University of Washington)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
12 November 2020

Ballet; Contemporary dance; 20th century & contemporary classical music; Social & cultural history; The Cold War

In 1959, the Bolshoi Ballet arrived in New York for its first ever performances in the United States. The tour was part of the Soviet-American cultural exchange, arranged by the governments of the US and USSR as part of their Cold War strategies. This book explores the first tours of the exchange, by the Bolshoi in 1959 and 1962, by American Ballet Theatre in 1960, and by New York City Ballet in 1962. The tours opened up space for genuine appreciation of foreign ballet. American fans lined up overnight to buy tickets to the Bolshoi, and Soviet audiences packed massive theaters to see American companies.

Political leaders, including Khrushchev and Kennedy, met with the dancers. The audience reaction, screaming and crying, was overwhelming.

But the tours also began a series of deep misunderstandings. American and Soviet audiences did not view ballet in the same way. Each group experienced the other's ballet through the lens of their own aesthetics. Americans loved Soviet dancers but believed that Soviet ballets were old-fashioned and vulgar. Soviet audiences and critics likewise appreciated American technique and innovation but saw American choreography as empty and dry.

Drawing on both Russian- and English-language archival sources, this book demonstrates that the separation between Soviet and American ballet lies less in how the ballets look and sound, and more in the ways that Soviet and American viewers were trained to see and hear. It suggests new ways to understand both Cold War cultural diplomacy and twentieth-century ballet.

By: Anne Searcy (Assistant Professor of Music History Assistant Professor of Music History University of Washington)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 155mm, Width: 239mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 446g
ISBN: 9780190945107
ISBN 10: 0190945109
Pages: 198
Publication Date: 12 November 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration and Translation Introduction 1. A Cold War Welcome: The Bolshoi Ballet's 1959 Tour of the United States 2. Bringing an American Report Card to Russia: American Ballet Theatre's 1960 Tour of the Soviet Union 3. A Question of Taste: The Bolshoi Ballet's 1962 Tour of the United States 4. ""Ballet is a Flower!"": New York City Ballet's 1962 Tour of the Soviet Union Epilogue: Exchange in the Twenty-first Century Note on Abbreviations Endnotes Index"

Anne Searcy is Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of Washington.

Reviews for Ballet in the Cold War: A Soviet-American Exchange

Dr. Searcy's research is invigorating. She guides us with a sure hand through the political thickets to a deeper appreciation of the art. Highly recommended. -- Danielle Fosler-Lussier, The Ohio State University Ballet in the Cold War offers a vibrant portrait of Cold War cultural exchange, brimming with insights into cultural politics, institutions, and the social meanings of music and dance. This engaging and carefully researched study is essential reading for anyone interested in the arts during the Cold War and the effects of culture on global politics. -- Kevin Bartig, Michigan State University