The Igor Moiseyev Dance Company: Dancing Diplomats

By Anthony Shay

In this book Anthony Shay examines the life and works of renowned choreographer Igor Moiseyev and his dance company. Formed in 1937, The Igor Moiseyev Dance Company have performed across the globe and are the first major Soviet dance group to perform in the United States. Through The Igor Moiseyev Dance Company, dance became a vital diplomatic tool, ballerinas replaced atom bombs and helped usher in a new era of cultural exchange, formalized by an agreement signed by the United States and the Soviet Union. Through this book Shay explores the multiple lenses of spectacle, Russian nationalism and the Cultural Cold War, to describe and analyse the history of Moiseyev’s company, and the shock that ‘innocent’ folk dance gave the American government. Blending academic study and personal anecdote, Shay provides a nuanced analysis of Moiseyev’s importance and his place in the world of dance. This is the first English language study of Igor Moiseyev and his dance company.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Release date: May 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781789380118

Anthony Shay

Anthony Shay is a Capacity Building Specialist, Assistive Technologist, and Rehabilitation Specialist with the University of Wisconsin, Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (USA). He holds a Doctoral Degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Psychological Services. He is a WI Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, and holds an Assistive Technology and Accessible Design Certification. Anthony chairs the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s (RESNA) Vocational Rehabilitation Professional Specialty Group (VRPSG).

Book preview

Chapter 1

Spectacle

Introduction: Spectacle, Dance, and the State

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For any scholar to do justice to the artistry and legacy of Igor Moiseyev, he or she must see his work through three lenses: spectacle, Russian nationalism, and cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. Igor Moiseyev’s genius was sourced in spectacle. He understood its power and how to create it, and for this he was very useful to the Soviet state, which, like many nations, sought spectacle to symbolize the power of the state. He helped establish the creation of Russian national identity through his spectacularized choreographies of Russian dance, and played a central role in the Cultural Cold War representing the human face of the Soviet Union around the world; his company’s performances in Paris and London in 1955, and as the first Soviet company to perform in the United States in 1958, mark the opening of the Cultural Cold War in Europe and between the Soviet Union and the United States. Thus, it was Igor Moiseyev who established that spectacularized folk dance would be a principal weapon of choice in the Cultural Cold War, which lasted for the next fifty years.

Spectacle is our starting point (Guss, The Festive State; Shay, Choreographic Politics). We will look at Russian nationalism and the Cultural Cold War in more depth in separate chapters.

We all think we know what spectacle means, but I think it is useful to look at the meaning of the word in a more formal fashion to enlarge the discussion of Moiseyev’s choreographies as spectacle. The Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary defines spectacle in three ways: (1) Something remarkable that can be seen: an object, phenomenon, or event that is seen or witnessed, especially one that is impressive, unusual, or disturbing; (2) Lavish display: an impressive performance or display, especially something staged as a form of entertainment; (3) Unpleasant center of attention: something or someone that attracts attention being unpleasant or ridiculous. You are making a spectacle of yourself (1386, original emphasis). We will be looking to all three meanings in this study, in other words, high-cultural and low-cultural aspects of spectacle; however, it will be clear that the spectacle that Moiseyev created falls into the first two meanings of the Encarta