“Ballet is a self-destructive art, privileging the will over the body. Great dancers retire in physical ruin; the next generation assumes their roles. That same impulse has been observed politically over the course of Russia’s history. The nation has repeatedly dismantled itself in the service of renewal. Institutions are collapsed, or allowed to collapse, to facilitate their transformation by the ruling powers. The Bolshoi will emerge from this time of troubles to better reflect the nostalgic imperialism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”