Orientalism

Abstract

As Edward Said (1994a, 1994b) has shown, the Orient had acted as a setting for Western fantasies for centuries, but always a location that served to reassert the rightness of Western values. As Orientals, the Russian Ballet were excluded from the codes of decency and decorum that governed the behaviour of audience members, which allowed the Ballets Russes much leeway in both the plots of the ballets and in the manner they were performed onstage. However, as Orientals, they were subject to the audience’s Orientalism, meaning that they could find themselves quickly condemned as excessive and alien.