A arte à mercê da política: o balé durante a Guerra Fria

Abstract

The present work was developed with the intention of analyzing cultural diplomacy during the Cold War, having as a special approach the political role attributed to ballet during the conflict. The history and advantages of the Soviet Union and the United States in that discipline were unequal, however, as the dispute for international hegemony developed between 1947 and 1991, the political strategies of each nation adapted to the needs of using soft power in its foreign policy. Thus, classical dance becomes a lively and disputed aspect between the two superpowers of the bipolar world. The main objective of the work is to understand how, through the cultural policies of the United States, they managed to appropriate the ballet tradition, which was Soviet. While the specific objectives seek to compare the histories of classical dance between the superpowers, identify the consolidation of ballet as a diplomatic resource in the Cold War and analyze how the advantages of classical dance between the two nations have changed. The results of the research show that the conflict in question did not end, the United States surpassed the USSR in the cultural sphere with ballet.