This article is dedicated to analyzing existing cultural tensions between nationalism and neo-imperialism through the prism of oral narratives of ballet training in post-Soviet Ukraine. I present and reflect on the results of a three-month-long ethnographic field study, which took place at a primary state-sponsored ballet school in Ukraine—the Kyiv State Choreographic School. My article seeks to investigate the role and position of Ukrainian state-sponsored ballet at a crossroads of political and cultural crisis, when a new identity may rise from the ruins of a previously constructed cultural monolith of Soviet ballet. I explore the complex history and present condition of classical ballet training in Kyiv, Ukraine, and reveal it as both a contested cultural space and an important barrier to political radicalization. I show that ballet training centers of Ukraine successfully resist co-optation by both neo-imperial and nationalist ideologies, forming robust and inclusive dancing communities that in many ways mirror structures of modern Ukrainian society.

中文翻译：

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乌克兰的芭蕾舞：从不确定性到反抗和独立

本文致力于通过后苏联时期乌克兰芭蕾舞训练的口头叙述的棱镜来分析民族主义和新帝国主义之间现有的文化紧张关系。我介绍并反思了一项为期三个月的民族志实地研究的结果，该研究是在乌克兰一所国家资助的小学芭蕾舞学校——基辅国立舞蹈学校进行的。我的文章旨在调查乌克兰国家资助的芭蕾舞团在政治和文化危机十字路口的作用和地位，当时一个新的身份可能会从先前构建的苏联芭蕾舞文化巨石的废墟中崛起。我探索了乌克兰基辅古典芭蕾舞训练的复杂历史和现状，并将其揭示为一个有争议的文化空间和政治激进化的重要障碍。