Russian culture wars take centre stage
An outbreak of competitive cultural toadying in Moscow
THE posters had been printed, and most of the tickets sold. The ballet, a celebration of the life of the gay dissident dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, promised to be a progressive production by the standards of the main stage of Russia’s famed Bolshoi Theatre: in videos of the rehearsal, male dancers can be seen twirling in high heels. But just days before the show was due to open in July, the Bolshoi’s director, Vladimir Urin, declared that the troupe was, apparently, not up to snuff and cancelled the premiere, replacing it with an old standby, “Don Quixote”.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “A new government inspector”
From the August 19th 2017 edition
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