Danser pendant la guerre froide
1945-1968
By : Stéphanie Gonçalves
Language : French
Topics : History and theory
Format : Book
Number of pages : 262 pages
Publisher : Presses universitaires de Rennes
Year of publication : 2018
EAN : 978-2753574861
This book explores ballet as a tool of international and transnational cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. Beyond the romantic image of dancers in tutus, ballet was an essential showcase for cultural diplomacy, leading to the development of “dance diplomacy”.
Price : € 24.00
The fruit of lengthy research based on archives in France, Great Britain, the United States and Russia, Danser pendant la guerre froide identifies the institutional, artistic and commercial players in the touring machine. The history of ballet touring thus calls into question the idea of bipolarity as a watertight separation between two blocs during the Cold War.
Ballet companies regularly crossed borders, and dancers retained their traditional role as cultural couriers. The book is built around representative tours of the link between dance and politics, episodes that highlight the hot spots of this Cold War, starting and ending in London and Paris.
It takes a fresh look at cooperation and rivalry in ballet during the Cold War, by delving into the diplomatic fabric of touring.
Stéphanie Gonçalves is a historian and post-doctoral researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is a specialist in the link between dance and politics in the 20th century, and is particularly interested in the transnational circulations of dancers, especially Soviet dancers. Her current research project is entitled “Rethinking the Béjart phenomenon, socio-cultural perspectives on a multifaceted choreographer”.