THE SIREN'S (CONTINUED) CALL
Dance Lens Dispatch & Deep Dive on Preljocaj's Modern Scheherazade.
In this edition:
-The Deep Dive: Angelin Preljocaj’s 2013 Les Nuits & ballet’s continued orientalist fantasies.
-Special! Marquee TV 1 month for $1 Dance Lens special.
-Obituary: Yuri Grigorovich, a monument in Soviet ballet, passed away at 98.
-What To See: Andrew Veyette’s farewell performance.
By Cynthia Dragoni
THE DEEP DIVE
Orientalism—the West’s fantasy of cultures ranging from the Middle East to North Africa and Asia—was loudest in the 18th and 19th centuries, peaking during an era of rabid colonial expansion. But it was, and in many ways continues to be, present in art, fashion, and dance. This is true not just in historical work that hangs on modern walls, but in the creation of one of dance’s most respected contemporary voices: Angelin Preljocaj. His 2013 ballet Les Nuits embodies the fear and the fantasy that the “Orient” has held for Western viewers for centuries. The work is replete with scenes invoking the siren call of the baths, the harem, the harem woman—juxtaposed with all-too-familiar themes of misogyny, violence, and sexual power dynamics. Les Nuits is a modern, often jarring, sometimes hypnotic take on the story of Scheherazade—the heroine and omniscient storyteller in the ancient literary work 1001 Nights, also known as Arabian Nights.
SPECIAL! Les Nuits has just been added to MARQUEE TV’s library with a special DANCE LENS offer of 1 month for $1! If you watch it please let me know what you think.
Orientalism in ballet, as in wider society, is complex. It contains both fear and fascination—two sides of a coin—and dates back centuries, even into medieval times depending on how you want to look at it. “Saracen” is a medieval term for a Muslim, often conflated with evil and darkness; the Saracen knight in Raymonda (1898) tries to abduct the innocent countess. In Le Corsaire (1856), the seemingly goofy Turkish Pasha, while mildly amusing, is on the market for an odalisque. Odalisques were enslaved servants at the bottom of the harem hierarchy—the “best” of whom would eventually have the honor of becoming a concubine. His shopping spree is one of the famous scenes in classical ballet, featuring a few of its most iconic variations (solos): the three Odalisques, dancing to advertise their virtues to a would-be buyer. Interestingly, these solos are frequently performed out of context in ballet competitions and school performances, where children and young teenagers perform the dances in the traditional exposed-midriff tutu. The conditioning of our young women is so deep and subtle that their teachers—subject to the same histories and conditioning—don’t even consider the original context of the roles these young girls are playing.
Odalisque costume image
We then move to the radical work of the Ballets Russes (I’m skipping La Bayadère because it needs its own article—of which there have been many). The legendary company that bridged ballet from East to West and from the classical into the modern. The Ballets Russes’ production of Scheherazade (1910) was—as with many of their works—both a scandal and a sensation, featuring overt sexuality and interracial coupling. Scheherazade was by no means an attempt to recreate the full story of Arabian Nights, but rather a deliberately shocking and erotic excerpt. Bakst’s costume designs are said to have catalyzed the Orientalist craze in Parisian fashion—and beyond. The costumes influenced the famed fashion designer Paul Poiret, bringing the taboo fantasy of the serpentine harem woman into French and English drawing rooms. It’s now often studied through critical and postcolonial perspectives for its role in supporting colonial Orientalist fantasies, even as it’s admired for its extra-contextual beauty and design.
This fancy-dress ensemble was made for and worn to Poiret's 1002nd Night party in 1911. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The original collection of tales, framed by Scheherazade’s cunning and brilliant storytelling, is a tapestry of influences—not only from the Middle East, but from regions connected to it through trade, migration, conquest, and warfare, with motifs and themes from Persian, Indian, Greek, Turkish, and Central Asian cultures, as well as allusions to historical events like the Mongol invasions and the Crusades. These were true folktales—as in, of the people—passed down orally for centuries before ever being written down. They encompass the magical, the bawdy, and the directly erotic; in fact, many of these stories were considered plebeian or at worst vulgar—ill-fit for polite company.
The enduring Western mix of fear, desire, and fantasy surrounding the "Orient"—particularly Arab and Muslim cultures—has threaded its way through the collective imagination since the time of the Crusades. Les Nuits exists as a contemporary iteration of this legacy, reframing age-old fascinations through a modern lens of eroticism, power, and violence.
SPECIAL! See Les Nuits here on MARQUEE TV with a special Dance Lens offer 1 month for $1.
The sketch of a costume of Blue sultans for the ballet "Scheherazade". Leon Bakst 1910
OBITUARY
Yuri Grigorovich, Titan of Soviet Ballet and Longtime Bolshoi Choreographer, Dies at 98.
Grigorovich shown with Bolshoi Prima and wife Natalia Bessmertnova.
Yuri Grigorovich, the Soviet choreographer whose grand, ideologically charged ballets helped define the cultural image of the USSR and shaped the Bolshoi Ballet for over three decades, died on May 19, 2025. He was 98.
Grigorovich was one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century. His bold, emotionally charged works became cultural ambassadors of Soviet identity, balancing propaganda and artistry in ways that captivated domestic audiences and, in many ways, astonished the West.
Born in Leningrad in 1927, Grigorovich trained at the Leningrad Choreographic School (now the Vaganova Academy) and danced with the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky) before turning to choreography. His 1961 ballet The Legend of Love for the Kirov marked his breakthrough, but it was his move to the Bolshoi Theatre in 1964 that cemented his legacy.
As chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995—and later its artistic director—Grigorovich created a string of iconic productions that fused classical ballet with Soviet epic. His ballets Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible, Legend of Love, and The Golden Age became hallmarks of the Bolshoi’s repertoire, distinguished by their grandeur, psychological complexity, and mass scenes evoking revolutionary fervor.
Grigorovich’s style was bold, theatrical, and highly physical, with a penchant for heroic male roles and emotionally intense female leads. His stagings of Giselle, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet offered formidable reinterpretations of the classics.
His work was not without controversy. While lauded for his vision and technical rigor, Grigorovich was also criticized for authoritarian leadership and for aligning too closely with state cultural policies. The very same qualities that led to his success were also his undoing. He was dismissed from the Bolshoi in 1995 during a turbulent period in the post-Soviet transition but returned in the 2000s as the theater sought to reclaim its legacy.
Grigorovich’s longtime muse and wife was the great Bolshoi ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, who originated leading roles in many of his ballets. Their artistic partnership helped shape the Bolshoi’s international image through the late 20th century. Bessmertnova died in 2008.
Until his final years, Grigorovich remained a powerful presence in Russian ballet, overseeing productions and mentoring dancers. His impact on ballet—artistically, politically, and institutionally—remains both profound and complex.
WHAT’S TO SEE
On May 25th, NYC Ballet Principal Dancer Andrew Veyette will take his final bow after a 25 year career.
When a dancer retires, they take with them the aesthetics of a generation. It’d be like having your last chance to see a great sculpture or painting. Sure there are reproductions, but we never step into the same river or theater twice. Andrew is a charismatic and compelling dancer, a dynamic yet understated prince and the lineup (shown below) is varied and fun—you won’t be sorry!
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