Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history Elena Yushkova (Vologda) Protest movements in contemporary Russia are being seriously threatened by the state. Nevertheless, some street performances in the last few years have become milestones of artistic resistance to growing authoritarianism. Young talented artists performed all of these actions, although the level of challenge was different - from shocking to public morality to just ironic and theatrical. Between two of the most striking performances: by Pussy Riot in 2012 and Pavel Pavlensky in 2016, there was one less provocative and less resonant performance, created by Amnesty International. It was shown in January 2014 in Moscow and was entitled Dying Swan. The young performer Alexandra Portyannikova danced the famous piece, first staged by the Russian choreographer Michael Fokine in 1907, with handcuffs on her arms in the open air, when the temperature was below -20°C. The performance aimed to draw the attention of the audience to the situation of human rights and freedoms in Russia. All these performances strongly criticized the Russian political regime by means of epatage, challenge and shock. The protest movement in contemporary Russia is seriously threatened by the state. Many laws have been passed to prevent different kinds of demonstrations and protect the regime. Even individual pickets, which are formally permitted, in reality always have unpleasant consequences for people who stand somewhere with a critical poster. The more people want and have reasons to protest in Russia, the fewer actual protest opportunities they have. Under these circumstances, the role of the artistic community is becoming more and more important. These courageous and creative people find a way to express political protest in specific artistic forms 1 . Some street performances in recent years in Russia have become milestones of artistic resistance to growing authoritarianism. Wrapped in the form of challenging and provocative actions, they shook a sleeping society, comforted by the propagandistic mantras pouring out from the state-controlled TV channels. Young talented artists performed all of these actions, although the level of challenge varied - from shocking to public morality to just ironic and theatrical. The most striking performances of the last decade were by Pussy Riot and Petr Pavlensky. In 2012, Pussy Riot performed their notorious “ punk prayer ” at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow; 2 in 2015, Petr Pavlensky nailed his testicles to the paving stones of the Red Square and in 2016 he burnt the door of the FSB at Lubyanka Square in the centre of Moscow 3 . Between these events, there was a less provocative and less resonant performance, created by Amnesty International. It was shown in January 2014 in Moscow and was entitled Dying Swan. The young performer, Alexandra Portyannikova, danced the famous 1907 piece staged by the Russian choreographer Michel Fokine, with handcuffs on her arms in the open air in winter, when the temperature was below - 20°C. The performance aimed to draw the attention of the audience to the situation in human rights and freedoms in Russia 4 . All these performances strongly criticized the Russian political regime by means of scandal, challenge, and shock. The latter performance had many connotations in Russian art and political history and, equally importantly, did not have any personal consequences for the performer (such as jail, trial or psychiatric facility). It did not break the law and could not be considered simply as hooliganism, but, unfortunately, it did not attract mass attention in Russia and the world. This performance used legal opportunities for expressing protest and not causing harm to the actor. The starting point for this action was the new law about “ foreign agents ” in Russia issued by the State Duma on 21 November 2012 and special measures against Russian NGOs receiving support from abroad that followed. 5 This law and some other legislative acts (criminal liability for slander, insult of religious believers ’ feelings and the law against LGBT propaganda) 6 were recognized by Amnesty International as repressive and provided the impetus for an international campaign. A petition for the revocation of these laws was distributed all over the world, and about 336,000 people signed it. Before delivering the signed petition to the Russian President ’ s office, Amnesty conducted the performance, Dying Swan, and Alexandra opened it by carrying a banner with Putin ’ s own words: “ One of the priorities for the state and society should be support to the human rights movement ” 7 . His words seemed to be a mockery because reality showed the opposite to be true. Moscow authorities permitted this performance to be conducted far away from the crowded sites of the city, at Yauzskie Vorota Square instead of near the monument to the heroes of Plevna (the site chosen by Amnesty), where a bigger audience could have watched the performance. At the authorized deserted square only several policemen, journalists and representatives of Amnesty International were among the audience. The case of Pussy Riot had created a precedent, which made the authorities suspicious of all kinds of theatrical-political protest activities. The performer explained her understanding of these circumstances: “ In general, there is so much truth about Russia in this situation: our climate does not favor to street actions, the only recognizable image of a dancer is a swan, and an authorization could be given only to a performance at an empty place where nobody but journalists can see it ” 8 . However, thanks to Youtube, the performance was watched more than 2200 times 9 , although this amount is incommensurable with the resonance of Pussy Riot ’ s “ punkservice ” and Pavlensky ’ s self-harming actions. Swan Dying and Resurrecting Portyannikova was right in saying that the image of the Dying Swan had a special meaning in Russian cultural tradition. This short lyrical piece was quite revolutionary for the whole system of stiff ballet tradition: it dynamized and modernized Russian classical ballet, which by the time of its appearance had lost its creative potential and become a museum art with long performances, heavy decorations, established codified language and a huge number of dancers and corps de ballet. 10 Dying Swan was the first attempt of the young choreographer Michel Fokine to move in a new direction within the classical ballet 11 . Involuntarily, Fokine challenged Tchaikovsky ’ s “ big ” ballet Swan Lake, staged in 1877 by the patriarchs of Mariinsky Theatre Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov (author of the most popular second act), which exploited the image of a swan ’ s mysterious and dichotomous beauty 12 . For Anna Pavlova, this small piece was also of tremendous importance. It had become her beautiful brand and brought her worldwide fame, as well as 109 Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history creating thousands of ballet lovers in many different countries (dance historian Jennifer Fisher substantiates that the Swan was Pavlova ’ s trademark in contemporary understanding) 13 . By the end of the nineteenth century, Russian classical ballet had attained an unprecedented flowering in the works of the great choreographer, Marius Petipa (1818 - 1910). It was recognized abroad and surpassed its French and Italian counterparts, which, during the eighteenth century, had been widely acknowledged as the ‘ parents ’ of Russian professional dance 14 . For more than a century (1779 - 1896) a special ballet school in St. Petersburg prepared about 150 professional dancers for the stage, with a repertoire of two leading opera and ballet theatres. Masterpieces, such as Don Quixote, La Bayadère, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and others, were staged in Russia. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the twentieth century, “ the ballet had fallen behind the increasingly rapid pace of Russian cultural life ” 15 , suffering “ from its reputation as an aristocratic bauble ” 16 . For Michel Fokine, its language seemed obsolete. Deeply unsatisfied with the “ old ” ballet and inspired by the American dancer Isadora Duncan ’ s performances in Russia in 1904 and 1905, he started thinking about more simplicity and spirituality on stage 17 . In his short piece, Dying Swan, staged for the young ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1907, Fokine aspired to show the moment of death of a fragile white bird, not able to survive in a brutal world. The image of the swan belonged to the Art-Nouveau style, and the motif of death was critical for the ‘ decadent ’ art movement at the turn of the century. Dying Swan was perceived as something new and revolutionary, although it did not represent a complete break with the established canon. Unlike Isadora Duncan who had completely broken with the ballet tradition, Fokine always stressed that dancers trained in old-school techniques could express much more than a talented dilettante 18 . He used Duncan ’ s innovations: bare feet, flexible upper parts of the body, stage clothes, classical music in performances staged in St. Petersburg and for Diaghilev ’ s project. In this way, then, Dying Swan, together with Fokine ’ s later “ antique ” or “ Greek ” productions, dynamized and modernized Russian classical ballet 19 . This fragile white bird with a long neck inspired artists, poets and critics at the beginning of the 20th century who were “ attracted by its refined beauty, an allegory of fatality, and whiteness ” 20 . The swan had always been depicted in a very romantic way in paintings, drawings, poems, etc. As the representative of this epoch, Fokine used the Art-Nouveau arsenal of emotions and associations. He had no idea that his swan, along with the swans from the Petipa production, would one day be involved in politics. After the Revolution, classical ballet, which was traditionally part of the tsar ’ s court life, became a headache for the new proletarian state. The influential Proletkult 21 called for the destruction of old culture in general and ballet in particular, because it did not fit in a modern avant-garde urban culture and demanded significant funding. Thanks to Anatoly Lunacharsky, the first Soviet People ’ s Commissar for Education and Arts, ballet survived and continued to “ transport the proletariat to a different world ” 22 showing Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and other hits of “ old times ” , which paradoxically turned out to be of great interest to the non-educated proletarian audience. Fairy Tale vs. Reality The development of classical ballet had been part and parcel of the Soviet cultural project, partly because of Stalin ’ s unexplainable love 110 Elena Yushkova (Vologda) of ballet. 23 It was recognized as suitable for expressing the heroic spirit of a new human being, and was supported by the state. In many cities of the Russian Federation and the capitals of the Soviet republics, state theatres for opera and ballet were open. Before the revolution, there were only two theatres in Russia. By 1970, there were already 40, and 16 specialized colleges trained professional ballet dancers 24 . Every republic staged traditional old ballets, adding to the repertoire new ones with a national flavour. Thus, Swan Lake penetrated even into remote parts of the huge country and transported millions of Soviet people of all nationalities to a different world. After Stalin ’ s death, during Khrushchev ’ s Thaw, Soviet classical ballet, which had preserved the strict “ old ” purity due to being isolated from new European and American dance trends, became an object of cultural diplomacy and, to some extent, the face of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 25 Maya Plisetskaya and other renowned ballet dancers successfully presented Swan Lake and Dying Swan staged by Petipa and his opponent Fokine all over the world, destroying the barriers between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world. Even during the war, The Kirov Theatre, which moved from Leningrad to Perm, produced a new ballet Gayane, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Kuibyshev staged Alye Parusa (Red Sails) - both in 1942 26 . This shows how much this art meant to the Soviet people and their leaders. The devastating effects of war did not interrupt the development of Soviet ballet; rather, the principal theatres continued their work even during the evacuation. Ballet, in general, was lucky in Soviet times. Loved and patronized by Stalin and other leaders, it survived, even though socialist realism influenced its aesthetics for the worse. Although the version by Petipa-Ivanov had become a classic, there were several revised versions by Alexander Gorsky in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1920, by Agrippina Vaganova in 1933 in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and by Yurii Grigorovich in the Bolshoi in 1969. There were some other versions, but most theatres used a modernized classical version. 27 Due to the popularity of Tchaikovsky ’ s ballet in Soviet times, the phenomenon of Small Swans Dance, turned into a mass culture piece, and was often the subject of parody. After perestroika, when Soviet heritage was neglected, and artists felt free to mock it, some pieces from the ballet were included in the repertoire of the St. Petersburg Men ’ s Ballet Theatre, founded by the dancer Valery Mikhailovsky. He showed famous ballet scenes performed only by male dancers. One of his hits was the dance of four small swans, performed by four tall and strong men with a faultless women ’ s technique. This postmodern interpretation, full of irony and parody, was close to the Western way of interpreting Swan Lake and challenged the Soviet tradition of glossing over the truth. Ironically, this romantic ballet about fairy tale swans became symbolic of modern Russian political history. During the political crisis of August 1991, the main federal TV channels broadcast the full version of Swan Lake from the Bolshoi Theatre, which greatly confused the audience. People had no idea why this show was taking place without an announcement and what was going on behind it. “ It was supposed to tune a commoner ’ s spirit for an elevated mood or to announce the revival of the genuine statehood ” 28 . Thus, politics and dancing swans clashed. Isadora ’ s grief Alexandra Portyannikova became a part of the Amnesty International project because of 111 Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history her wide popularity in narrow circles. Although she is not a classical ballerina, her training allowed her to perform the famous piece Dying Swan. She is a product of the tempestuous development of contemporary dance in Russia, which took place after perestroika. Portyannikova graduated from the new experimental department of contemporary dance at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg that was opened in the early 2000 s. Together with her colleague, Daria Plokhova, she created a group called “ dance cooperative ” Aisedorino Gore (which could mean the Grief of Isadora Duncan 29 and, at the same time, a play on with the title of the famous children ’ s book by Korney Chukovsky Fedorino Gore 30 ) and became quite known for their talented dance projects and performances. After the fall of the Soviet Union, lots of free dance forms poured into the country. American modern dance, German expressionist dance and European contemporary dance gave a strong impulse to the new Russian dance, while pure classical ballet was almost neglected, becoming little more than a commercial product for export. Since then and until the early Putin era, dance developed very fast and reflected the formation of the new Russian man - free-thinking, creative, open to the world, interacting with numerous new trends. Contemporary dance became a serious alternative to ballet, which was perceived as an old-fashioned, dead formalistic art unable to express the dramatic change in mentality. Contemporary dance developed in small amateur groups and became so noticeable that a professional magazine Ballet wrote about it in almost every issue in the 1990 s. Festivals of contemporary dance took place in many cities in Russia and the nearby countries (the most popular was held in Vitebsk, in the former USSR republic of Belorussia). By the end of the 1990 s, critics were drawing attention to the high professional level of these groups and their integration into the Russian cultural landscape. In 25 years, this genre has been firmly established, and choreographers received prestigious Golden Mask Awards (the main prize for a theatre production in Russia) many times. As choreographer Gennady Abramov noted, Russian contemporary dance focused on the search for the essence of being, existence, it tried to push the limits of the human body, to overcome the boundaries of consciousness, to reach the Absolute 31 . Abramov himself, who had a background in medicine, explored the human body. He showed the “ miracles of plastic expressiveness ” 32 , presenting surprising body positions not for acrobatics ’ sake, but to awaken philosophical thoughts in the audience. His premise was that ballet had lost its ability to connect movements with the inner life of the human body and spirit. Thus, his experimental performances aimed to restore the wholeness of the contemporary human being. His students continued his work after Abramov ’ s death in many new groups. The most interesting example of the new dance movement is the work of Evgeny Panfilov, a talented dancer-experimenter from Perm; to this day, the theatre named after him is still one of the leading nonclassical dance theatres in Russia 33 . He produced many impressive and sometimes even shocking performances, which his theatre kept in its repertoire after Panfilov ’ s early death in 2002. In 1992, he staged Eight Folk Songs to the music of the contemporary Perm composer, Igor Mashukov. The plastique of the dancers was sharp like the music, which was based on folk music but peppered with irony and arranged in a modern way. They aspired to convey simple, almost primitive life, naïve eroticism, and to free the folk dance from its à la russe clichés. Challenging the polished pseudo-folk joyful acrobatic and balletic dance of Igor Moiseev, this plastique was unpolished, sometimes 112 Elena Yushkova (Vologda) ugly, raw and non-acrobatic. Leg inversions differed from standard ballet practice; movements were not refined as in Western modern dance or Judson Church experiments. It was the essence of people ’ s life, stylized but not glamorous at all. Panfilov ’ s works were not limited to the folk theme. His project The ballet of the fat attracted the attention of the public. Parody and irony penetrated the traditional territory of absolute beauty and technical perfection. He mocked the holy of holies of Soviet art - classical ballet - and did it with great talent and wit. Of course, his target was the formalism of the ballet, presented in numerous repetitive patterns. His very fat women were artful and did the usual balletic work quite skilfully. They danced with subtle young men in lace corsets to music from the ballet Corsair and popular songs. By humiliating Soviet ballet, Panfilov was striving for freedom of expression. Not only did he protest against the strict canons, but he also mocked mass culture, balancing between good and bad taste. In Moscow, Alla Sigalova focused on the intense emotions of outstanding personalities - Salome, Callas, Othello and the Russian peasant rebel Emelyan Pugatchov - whose stormy lives were retold through the medium of expressionist dance. Alexander Pepelyaev, for his Moscow Kinetic Theatre, turned to non-choreographic literature, for example, the prose of Kafka, Cortázar, Borges and the Russian absurdist writers. Pepelyaev ’ s productions impressed critics with their strict graphic lines and a strained nerve. In 2016, the choreographer, who has worked in different countries for the last two decades, received the Golden Mask Award for his ballet Café Idiot based on Dostoevsky ’ s novel. Tatiana Baganova from Ekaterinburg used the palette of convulsive, irrational and spontaneous movements to capture the human being ’ s sense of estrangement from his/ her body, the absence of identity. Her Svadebka to the music of Igor Stravinsky has become a legend of Russian contemporary dance. In 2013, she was invited to the Bolshoi Theatre to stage The Rite of Spring. All these and other notable choreographers have changed attitudes towards the human body, as well as the goals of dance and the lexicon of the dancer. They aimed to express unconscious impulses, the absence of harmony in the human soul, the sense of disconnection between man and the world, disharmonic rhythm, irony, and skepticism. “ Pluralism and openness, a lack of universal canons for ‘ what ’ and ‘ how ’ ; the modernist orientation toward constant novelty and relevance; the negation of all myths and ideologies; and finally, a focus on crossing and blurring boundaries of all kinds are the basic components of contemporary dance ” 34 . By the mid-2000 s, contemporary dance had become a fully-fledged member of the Russian dance world. Nevertheless, contemporary dance has not become a mainstream dance trend in Russia, although there are special venues in several big cities for people who work in this sphere and many specialized dance festivals. The public still prefers classical ballet, but this genre, for all its traditionalism, has undergone some notable changes. Dying Swan in the protest movement The huge mass protests of 2011 - 2012 in Russia were the last attempts of society to oppose the authoritarian regime and to express disagreement with the endless reign and limitless power of Putin. Political actions in 2013 had less resonance and led to mass arrests and lawsuits against protesters. Under these circumstances, the artistic resistance acquired new functions - to wake society and to criticize the regime when there is no other way to do it (except the 113 Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history Internet). Artists can express the idea that “ [i]t should be different (Theodor W. Adorno) - even when there is no apparent alternative to that which is being propagated as the one and only solution ” 35 . The performer, as well as a theatre director or an actor, “ can criticise untenable ideological positions and dissolve patterns of order and doctrines of any kind ” 36 being protected by his/ her scenic images even when acting on the street. The Dying Swan street performance was not widely covered by the press, but it had a certain significance. It illustrated the possibility of challenging the authorities in a less harmful way than Pussy Riot and Petr Pavlensky did, and shaking the ongoing social lethargy without provoking aggression from ultra-conservative circles. In this case, politics and dance generated a very special energy. In new Russian political conditions, when freedom of speech has become suppressed again, dance could be a very effective form of saying something which cannot be expressed with words thanks to its huge symbolic potential. The Swan in handcuffs successfully represented the process of the death of the last rights and freedoms in the country and protested against it. “ Fokine ’ s Dying Swan depicted the death of a nineteenth-century ballet icon ” 37 , but in contemporary Russia, the Swan showed the death of possibilities for any democratic development in the near future. The “ manifestations of femininity ” of this performance were even more evident than Pussy Riot ’ s, which were “ entirely new ” for the “ hyper-masculine and misogynistic culture ” of the “ petrostate ” 38 , but much less provocative and rude. This short requiem to freedoms performed without an audience in terrible weather conditions was a real theatrical critique accepted even in authoritarian Russia since the critical part was not straightforward but hidden under the layers of historical and aesthetic connotations. Notes 1 For a discussion of Russian art in the protest movement of the last decade, see: Birgit Beumers et al. (eds.) Cultural forms of protest in Russia, London and New York 2018; Lena Jonson (ed.) Art and Protest in Putin ’ s Russia, London and New York 2016; Mischa Gabowitsch, Protest in Putin ’ s Russia, Cambridge 2016. 2 See Pussy Riot, Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer For Freedom, New York 2013; Masha Gessen, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, New York. 2014; Bert Verwelius, Pussy Riot Unmasked, Kempen 2014; see also Alexandra Yatsyk, “ Biopolitics, believers, bodily protests: the case of Pussy Riot ” , in: Beumers, Cultural form of protest, pp. 123 - 140. 3 Much has been written about Pavlensky ’ s self-harming actions. Short descriptions in English can be found here: https: / / www.theguardian.com/ artanddesign/ jonathanjonesblog/ 2015/ nov/ 09/ pyotr-pavlensky-is-setting-russias-evil-history-ablaze [accessed 28 September 2017]. 4 Official website of Amnesty International in Russian - https: / / amnesty.org.ru/ node/ 2769, [accessed 28 September 2017]. 5 See the full text of the Russian Federal Law of 20 July 2012 г . 121-FZ https: / / rg.ru/ 2012/ 07/ 23/ nko-dok.html, [accessed 28 September 2017]. 6 See Russian official sources: http: / / www. consultant.ru/ document/ cons_doc_LAW_10 699/ 8a73d26dba7976d6c43cc94aa1515368fef256f0/ , https: / / rg.ru/ 2013/ 06/ 30/ zashitasite-dok.html, http: / / www.garant.ru/ news/ 481391, [accessed 28 September 2017]. 7 See https: / / amnesty.org.ru/ node/ 2769/ , https: / / amnesty.org.ru/ node/ 2782/ , [accessed 28. 09. 2017]. 8 See the official website of the Russian performing group Aisedorino Gore in which A. Portyannikova is an active member: http: / / www.isadorino-gore.com/ #! -arachiveruwinter-spring-/ c1zhl, [accessed 28 September 2017]. 114 Elena Yushkova (Vologda) 9 https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=9suKQh7s5oc [accessed 28. 09. 2017]. 10 See Tim Scholl, From Petipa to Balanchine: classical revival and modernization of ballet, New York 2005, p. 16. 11 For a discussion of Fokine ’ s innovations, see Galina Dobrovol ’ skaya, Mikhail Fokin. Russky period, St. Petersburg 2004, pp. 39 - 49; Vera Krasovskaya, Istoriya russkogo baleta, St. Petersburg et al. 2008, pp. 210 - 212; Elizabeth Souritz, “ Isadora Duncan and Prewar Russian Dancemakers ” , in: Lynn Garafola and Nancy Van Norman Baer (eds.) The Ballets Russes and Its World. New Haven/ London 1999, pp. 108 - 114. 12 There is a vast amount of literature on the Swan Lake ballet. Only a few books can be mentioned here: Cyril W. Beaumont, The Ballet Called “ Swan Lake ” , London, 1952; Alexander Demidov, Lebedinoe ozero, Moscow 1985, and many others. 13 Jennifer Fisher, “ The Swan Brand: Reframing the Legacy of Anna Pavlova ” , in: Dance Research Journal 44/ 1, Summer 2012, pp. 51 - 67. 14 Alexander Plescheev, Nash balet, St. Petersburg 1886, pp. 10 - 20. 15 Scholl, From Petipa to Balanchine, p. 16. 16 Ibid., pp. 10 - 11. 17 See endnote 11. 18 Dobrovolskaya, Mikhail Fokin. Russky period, pp. 43 - 44. 19 For a discussion of the “ liberating aesthetic of Michel Fokine ” , see Lynn Garafola, Diagilev ’ s Ballets Russes. New York and Oxford 1989, pp. 3 - 49. 20 For a discussion on Art-Nouveau iconography, see Dmitry Sarabianov, Stil ’ Modern: Istoki, Istoriya. Problemy, Moscow 1989, p.150. 21 Proletkult (proletarskaya kultura - proletarian culture) was an experimental Soviet artistic institution which arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolution of 1917. The organization was a federation of local cultural societies and avant-garde artists. Proletkult aspired to radically modify existing artistic forms by creating a new, revolutionary working class aesthetic which drew its inspiration from the construction of modern industrial society in backward, agrarian Russia. 22 Christina Ezrahi, Swans of the Kremlin. Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia, Pittsburg 2012, p. 20. 23 See Jennifer Homans, Apollo ’ s Angels: A History of Ballet, New York 2010, p. 341. 24 See Elizabeth Souritz “ Balet ” , in Bol ’ shaya Sovetskaya Encyclopedia, vol. 2, Moscow 1970, pp. 570 - 572 25 Homans" Apollo ’ s Angels, pp. 341 - 343 26 Souritz, “ Balet ” , p. 571. 27 For a discussion of different versions of Swan Lake in Russia and USSR, see Demidov, Lebedinoe ozero, pp.215 - 359. 28 Natalia Shadrina, “ Ballet v Rossii bolshe chem ballet ” , in: official website of the Bolshoi Theatre: http: / / www.bolshoi.ru/ performances/ 36/ detai, [accessed 28. 09. 2017]. 29 Isadora Duncan (1877 - 1927) - the American dancer and founder of free dance at the beginning of the 20 th century. In Russia she was called Aisedora Dooncan and was a very important part of Russian and early Soviet culture. Now there is a new wave of interest in her dance in Russia. Duncan hated disharmonic sharp movements and dance clownery. The title indicates the group ’ s anti-Duncan style. 30 The grief of the old woman Fedora was caused by the mass escape of her utensils from her house because she did not clean them. 31 See Elena Yushkova, Plastika preodoleniya: kratkie zametki ob istorii plasticheskogo teatra v Rossii v 20 veke, Yaroslavl 2009, pp. 249 - 250; Ekaterina Vasenina, Sovremennyi tanets: Dialogi, Emergency Exit. Moscow. 2005, pp. 6 - 17. 32 Yushkova, Plastika preodoleniy, p. 249. 33 See the official website of the theatre: http: / / www.balletpanfilov.ru, [accessed 28 September 2017]. 34 Natalia Kuryumova, “ Russian Contemporary Dance ” , in: Joanna Szymajda (ed.) European Dance since 1989: Communitas and the Other. Abingdon et al. 2014, pp.147 - 161, p.148. 35 See the announcement of the conference Theatre as Critique - http: / / www.theater- 115 Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history wissenschaft.de/ theatre-as-critique, [accessed 28. 09. 2017]. 36 Ibid. 37 Scholl, From Petipa to Balanchine, p. 57. 38 Alexander Etkind, “ Genres and Genders of Protest in Russia ’ s Petrostate ” , in: Cultural forms of protest in Russia, p.7. 116 Elena Yushkova (Vologda)