Скачать или смотреть Dr. Natalie Rouland - Power and Protest

Dr. Natalie Rouland, Senior Advisor for the Billington Initiative at the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C.

Power and Protest: Russian Ballet from the Time of the Tsars to the Era of Putin
 
In light of the recent probes into Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election, the political and cultural landscape of Russia has attained a prominence unheard of since the Cold War. In preparation for his controversial re-election, President Putin brought culture center stage with the arrest of the internationally-renowned director Kirill Serebrennikov. Charged with the embezzlement of state funds obtained for his project Platform over the period of 2011-2014, Serebrennikov has remained under house arrest for the past year. While this charge is not unusual given the contradictory laws that facilitate government prosecution of alleged violations, the choice of target is significant and suggests a worrisome return to an earlier era. In lieu of an expected figure of business or bureaucracy, the Russian government has selected a member of the cultural elite to persecute. 
 
Russia’s current practice of political persecution recalls the Stalinist purging of artists and intellectuals. At the same time, the delayed premiere of Serebrennikov’s ballet Nureyev, based on the life of the celebrated dancer who defected from the Soviet Union in 1961, evokes the era of Socialist Realism, when all works were required to conform to a set of state-approved themes. Yet the power dynamic between ruler and performer dates back even further, to the time of the tsars, when dancers were considered imperial property and the tsar could literally make or break a performer’s career. The moral policing of works of art in Putin’s regime and the controversy surrounding one of the most prominent figures of the performing arts suggests that the intersection of culture and politics in Russia has never been more meaningful or more representative of a country in conflict.

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