Ballet's New Iron Curtain

"In July 2017, as the U.S. was racked by revelations that Russia had interfered in its presidential election, a group of envoys from both countries quietly brokered a peace accord in New York. They met at Lincoln Center. There, Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet joined the New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet to perform Jewels, a landmark work by the American company's Russian-born co-founder, George Balanchine. At the end of the performance, the dancers gathered onstage and took their bows-united, it seemed,"

"The company-which is largely sponsored by Vladimir Putin's regime-may never again tour here, or in any Western country. Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, theaters in London and Madrid canceled the Bolshoi's scheduled performances. In 2024, dancers from another top Russian company were barred from a gala in New York City. Among the many costs exacted by Russia's brutal war on Ukraine is the loss of a long-running cultural exchange;"

In July 2017 diplomats from the United States and Russia met at Lincoln Center while the Bolshoi Ballet, the New York City Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet performed Jewels by George Balanchine. That visit proved to be the last Bolshoi tour to America. The Bolshoi, largely sponsored by Vladimir Putin's regime, faced cancellations in London and Madrid after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and in 2024 dancers from another top Russian company were barred from a New York gala. Those measures ended a long-running cultural exchange between American and Russian ballet. In June 1960 an emissary from the Soviet ballet world argued that dance could still flourish behind the Iron Curtain; that emissary had been a close collaborator of Balanchine in 1920s Saint Petersburg.

Read at The Atlantic