Dancing for Stalin

Nina Anisimova was born in 1909 in imperial St Petersburg. One of the most renowned character dancers and choreographers of the twentieth century, she won her way into the hearts of her audience over many decades. Yet few knew that her exemplary career concealed a dark secret.

In 1938, at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror, Nina vanished. Only a handful of people knew that she had been arrested by the secret police, accused of being a Nazi spy and sentenced to forced labour in a camp in Kazakhstan.

Trapped thousands of miles from home and surrounded by the horrors of the Karlag camp – without winter clothes in temperatures of minus 40 degrees – her art was her salvation, giving her a reason to fight for her life.

Dancing for Stalin is a remarkable true story of suffering and injustice, of courage, resilience and – ultimately – triumph.

About the Author

Christina Ezrahi is an award-winning historian of Soviet cultural politics and Russian ballet. Before undertaking her doctoral studies at University College London, she studied International Relations at the universities of Princeton and Oxford, and worked in Moscow for the United Nations. Her first book, Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia (University of Pittsburgh Press) was awarded the 2017 prize for Best Dance Book published in France.

Christina appears in the media as an expert on the relationship between Russian politics and ballet and has recently acted as historical advisor to Ralph Fiennes on a film about Rudolf Nureyev. Born in Munich, Christina lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and two children, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is also a trained classical dancer.