Υπό τη σκιά του Παρθενώνα: Χορός στο Φεστιβάλ Αθηνών στην περίοδο του Ψυχρού Πολέμου (1955–1966) by Steriani Tsintziloni (Στεριανή Τσιντζιλώνη) (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Υπό τη σκιά του Παρθενώνα: Χορός στο Φεστιβάλ Αθηνών στην περίοδο του Ψυχρού Πολέμου (1955–1966) by Steriani Tsintziloni (Στεριανή Τσιντζιλώνη) Katia Savrami (bio) Steriani Tsintziloni (Στεριανή Τσιντζιλώνη), Υπό τη σκιά του Παρθενώνα: Χορός στο Φεστιβάλ Αθηνών στην περίοδο του Ψυχρού Πολέμου (1955–1966) [Under the shadow of the Parthenon: Dance at the Athens Festival during the Cold War (1955–1966)]. Athens: Kapa, 2023. Pp. 236. Paper €19.09. In her recently published book, Steriani Tsintziloni explores the role of dance in “cultural diplomacy,” a term largely associated with international communication outside of traditional diplomatic channels. Tsintziloni applies phenomenological qualitative methods and draws on archival sources to analyze a series of ballet performances presented at the Athens Festival in the 1950s and 1960s. These performances formed part of cultural and educational exchange programs, organized by the USA and the USSR, that included tours of their ballet companies to both Western and non-Western countries. It can be said that, for the political leaders of the two superpowers, dance served as a diplomatic tool for maintaining global peace and preventing the use of nuclear weapons. The book consists of a prologue by Stacey Prickett (honorary senior research fellow in Dance Studies at Roehampton University, London); an introduction; five chapters devoted to political, social, and artistic issues surrounding Cold War diplomacy in Greece; an epilogue; and a bibliography in Greek and English. It is also supplemented by two indexes that include the names of dancers and choreographers, as well as the titles of the ballets, for the American, Soviet, British, Balkan, and French companies that performed, during the period under discussion, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This iconic Roman theater, it turns out, hosted some of the world’s leading ballet names during the Athens Festival’s first decade of existence. The introduction begins with Rudolf Nureyev’s legendary defection to the West in 1961. This historical and political episode provides Tsintziloni with an ideal vantage point from which to reflect on how dance served as a powerful cultural and diplomatic tool in the context of the Cold War conflicts discussed here in interdisciplinary terms. The author stresses the necessity of examining the Athens Festival ballet performances during this period, noting that they constitute an under-researched area in the history of dance in Greece, and she situates her book’s conceptual framework at the intersection of three fields: Cold War and cultural diplomacy, the history of dance, and the Greek reception of the dance performances under consideration. Chapter 1 explores in detail the history of the Athens Festival and its significance for the modernization of the performing arts in postwar Greece, a topic that has not received adequate attention in performance studies. The founding of the Festival by the Greek state was framed within a political and cultural [End Page 314] rhetoric of promoting Greece as the cradle of Western culture and, therefore, as an ideal place to present native and non-native performing artists in dialogue with Greece’s glorious past. The Festival’s programming agenda thus included, among other priorities, the reconceptualization of Greek cultural identity, the revival of ancient Greek drama, and the attraction of a mass audience through the festivalization of culture. Linking culture and tourism seemed to be imperative for the recovery of Greece's economy, which had been devastated by World War II and the ensuing Civil War. Chapter 2 traces the development of ballet in the USA and the USSR during the twentieth century. Tsintziloni highlights the ideological attitudes involved in creating a uniquely American and, equally, a uniquely Soviet style of ballet after 1945. American neoclassical ballet largely emphasized the abstraction arising from the dancing bodies’ freedom of expression, while Soviet classical ballet emphasized the linear telling of a story and the virtuosity of its ballerinas. The last part of this chapter elaborates on initiatives by several Greek artists to incorporate ballet and/or modern dance techniques into their work with the dance companies they had established since the late 1940s. Artists from the emerging Greek choreographic scene thus sought to adapt to dance practices that had long existed in Western culture. Chapter 3 analyzes the works performed at the Athens Festival from 1959 to 1966 by Jerome Robbins’s Ballet: U.S.A., the American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, and the Royal Ballet. It also analyzes the works...