This study examines the trends related to dance as a performance art during the early period of the Soviet Union, a time in which art was broadly used for public enlightenment, the promotion of socialist ideology, and national integration and establishment in the 1920s and 1930s. Dance in this period will be investigated with the aim of determining who produced and appreciated dance performance, the format and genre of the dance performances, and the themes and contents of the performances. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, efforts were made to develop a new form of art that would be appreciated and accepted by Soviet people from various social classes and would help to lead the newly born country, based on Lenin’s idea of popularizing art for the general public. It was a critical period that shaped the characteristics, format, and direction of performing arts in the Soviet Union. In looking at this period, three phenomena stand out. First, ordinary people emerged as both producers and viewers of the performing arts, and an amateur performing arts group (Soin Yesuldan) became popular. Second, Estrada and folk dance became popular during this period among the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural people of the Soviet Union, which greatly influenced the birth of a folk dance company with ballet choreographers. Third, at a meeting of the Pan-Soviet Writers Alliance held in 1934, Gor’kii M. declared that socialist realism should be the principle for creating Soviet art. Subsequently, young Soviet ballet masters developed new forms of ballet in which the themes and contents were in accord with the government agenda. Dance as a performing art in the early period of the Soviet Union greatly influenced not only the art movements in other socialist countries but also Minjok and Minjung chum in Korea in the 1980s and 1990s. In this regard, future research should investigate how dance formats and characteristics from the Soviet Union have been accommodated and reflected in Korean Minjok and Minjung chum.

The purpose of this research is to examine the Soviet ballet in the 20th century in terms of socialist realism and to reappraise them. First, I focused on the conditions of ballet in the Soviet era after the October Revolution; how the classical ballet managed to survive; what kinds of works attempted by young choreographers like Goleizovsky and Lopukhov. Then, I investigated that how the Soviet ballet works represented socialist realism. Socialist realism had been the principle of creation during Soviet regime since 1934. It was not only an artistic style but also a propagandistic ideology that promoted the view of Soviet life. Socialist realism tried to show ought to be, such as an optimistic Socialist utopia not the real social problems. This trend was is based on Marxist-Leninist aesthetics. The fundamental principles of this aesthetics consisted of “nationality(narodnosti’)”, “class system(klassovosti’)” and “partizanship(partinosti’)”. I analyzed four Soviet ballets: The Red Poppy (by Glière and Tikhomirov), The Flames of Paris (by Asafiev and Vainonen), Romeo and Juliet (by Prokofiev and Lavrovsky) and Spartacus (by Khachaturian and Grigorovich). The Red Poppy was considered as the first Soviet ballet because it dealt with the theme of soviet “contemporary” life. The Flames of Paris was full of energetic and vivid character dances which symbolized “nationality (narodnosti’)” of soviet aesthetics. “Drambalet” in 1930s’ was the alternative name of the socialist realism ballet, and Romeo and Juliet was called as the genuine drambalet. Also, Spartacus was provided as the model of Soviet ballet. In conclusion, this study examined the way how socialist realism was reflected in the Soviet ballets. The aesthetic values other than the ideology were also interpreted. Finally, the further steps of study about the Soviet ballet in the 20th century can be developed on the ground of history and aesthetics.