Cold War Ballet Battles
From 1959 through 1962, a series of ballet exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union led to mutual admiration for the arts as well as some miscommunication. Both the public and the dance critics from the US and USSR (both being highly distrustful of each other’s actions) were undecided if what they were seeing deserved a series of standing ovations and curtain calls, or maybe no reaction at all.The early years of the Cold War brought with them a new diplomatic tool that appeared to be harmless, simply a means of educating and introducing people on the subject of ballet – this theatrical, gentle and graceful art form. Little did the public know that the use of these cultural exchanges was to undermine the enemy and spread propaganda and ideas meant to influence their views and make them question what they believed: the Americans were supposed to switch from seeing Russians as uncultured, rigid and shut out from the world, while the Russians were supposed to gain further confirmation that their lifestyle was the norm and that the western world is not one they would like to live in. More