Stalin and ballet's Golden Age

 In the storm of meetings, debates, and humiliating self-criticism that followed, Asafiev condemned Shostakovich's score for the ballet as "Lumpen-Musik" and Vaganova dutifully denounced The Bright Stream for having strayed from the "correct path" of art. Shostakovich retreated, and Lopukhov never made another important dance.

"Ballet Fraud" unleashed a panic. Dancers and ballet masters scrambled to interpret the official pronouncements and to create or revise their productions to suit Stalin's elusive tastes. As the Terror spread, dram-balets took on ever more ideologically strident tones and obvious themes. The stakes were high. Although dancers were spared the worst of Stalin's horrors, the sense of danger was acute and pervasive -- and not only for Lopukhov, whose past difficulties had made him an easy target. One morning in 1937 Vaganova arrived at the theater to find a note posted on the door stating that she had "resigned" her position as director; she quietly withdrew into teaching. The ballerina Marina Sernenova's husband (a high-ranking diplomat) was arrested and killed; Semenova was put under house arrest but eventually released (she was Stalin's favorite dancer). In 1938 Meyerhold's theater was shut down, and when he dared to speak out he was arrested, tortured, and shot; his wife was found stabbed to death in their home. Fear cast a pall over art, but the effect on dance was not always immediate or apparent. Whatever they were thinking at the time -- and we really don't know -- Ulanova, Chaboukiani, and many others continued to dance their hearts out. Artists who were there will tell you that, the Terror aside, this was ballet's golden age.
 
Apollo's Angels: a history of ballet by Jennifer Homans. 2010. Page 357.