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”.