By Cynthia Dragoni

What do Catherine de Medici, Louis XIV, Stalin, and Fidel Castro have in common? They all used ballet as a tool of power.

In this episode, we trace the surprising political history of ballet—from Renaissance courts to Cold War propaganda. You’ll hear how dance shaped national identities in France, Russia, Cuba, and the U.S., and how kings, tsars, and revolutionaries all turned to ballet to project order, control, and cultural dominance.

After you’ve had a chance to listen, was any of this a surprise? Let me know in the comments.

Castro and the Bolshoi Ballet (Maya Plisetskaya on his right).

Stay tuned, next week we’re going to jump into the class disparities that gave birth to the tango and dance in the Civil Rights Movement.

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