Red boots
I first saw professional Russian folk dancing when I was a child in the late 1950s, when during Khrushchev’s cultural “thaw” the Moiseyev Dance Company came to New York. The performance I attended (with my family, of course) was in Madison Square Garden, and the place was jam-packed. I already had been taking ballet lessons and loved dance, and I was enthralled by the Moiseyev, as was most of the audience. I developed a desire to learn whatever it was that they were doing, but such dance classes were few and far between and although I took one or two I never had any sustained training in the genre.
But what I wanted most of all, I think, were the red boots that featured so prominently in Russian (and I believe Ukrainian, which was part of the USSR back then) dance. In that part of the world, the pyrotechnics of dance belong to the men. The women and girls are there for decorative charm, grace, lightness, and speed. But oh, the boots!
It looks like a variation of Irish dancing ( shows how much I know), they do give those boots a work out!
Lovely ladies… Lovely, ladies. A darling dance. And, oh, the boots! The boots are on parade.
Seems to me there may have been a Thing for red boots in what amounts to the Permian, in my time frame. Not as high.
I note the women in the still picture all have their mouths open, in an “o”. Is that for breathing, are they singing, or is it part of the presentation?
What n.n wrote at 8:37 p.m. 8/23/25.
All of the dancers, singers, and orchestra are young (15-18?).
You don’t often see that in a company that size.
One advantage the Russians have over the Western ethnic traditional dancers is that they have a pipeline to employment in the Moiseyev company (and possibly others?) lacking in many countries, although don’t quote me on that.
The Riverdance Company, based on Irish tradition but with others as well, is the only one I can think of that might compare to Moiseyev. It’s presentation is now 30 years old, although the performance seems to have changed some over the years.
The 2025 cast is quite young, but not “youth” like the kids in Neo’s video today.
https://riverdance.com/the-show/scenes/
Irish dancing has pretty wild footwork, with different steps than the Russian, but typically keeps the arms immobile, although the soloists have more freedom.
This is the first appearance of the program, in 1994.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0v_pu6miJ8
The final routine again, although I think it’s only the last performance of the original company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoHlrQScWl0
The black costumes are not as exciting to watch as the colorful Russian ones.
Kids all over the world, not just in Ireland, start learning the steps very young, and participate in contests.
YouTube has lots of examples.
Red boots, YES!
When my college age daughter had her eye on a pair of floral embroidered red cowgirl boots I parted with the cash right away.
YOLO.
Pretty spendy but ten years later she is still wearing them.
Too bad she’s a full size smaller than me.
Women and shoes.
My late lamented and lovely mother in law chose USC over Stanford so she could stay in LA and borrow her mother’s fancy shoes. Pretty sure there are worse reasons for choosing a college. Good choice, as she met my father in law the first day there in the registration line. His fraternity was helping. Together from that day on. She was barely 17! What a life. Miss her every day.
Delightful!!
Although I did kinda expect a deeper shade of red for the boots. 😉
Do you have a pair of red boots?
Great Red Boots, lovely smiling, peasant girls each more than just pleasant to look at.
My youngest son took up the contra bass last year so as to play with some local, high quality, Slovak folk dance group. Good enough to tour Croatia & Austria. Not my favorite music, nor quite my dance style, but ok.
This was a great show, and a 3 minute clip was perfect timing.
For 10 minutes of beautiful father prose about baby son, here’s Freddie:
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/i-didnt-know-i-could-feel-this-way/comments
Some clarification may be in order.
On the video, we see not the Moiseyev group, but a children (no older than 18) dance group called Loktev Ensemble.
While impressive, this is no match to Moiseyev, highly professional troupe of adult dancers with real ballet training.
Over the years, Moiseyev’s has performed hundred of different folk (actually, folk-like stylization) dances of the highest quality; not just Russian or Ukrainian, but pretty much from all over the wold. Here is one of their signature pieces, Aragonian Hota from Spain.
https://youtu.be/7wibr3vMnYA?si=mFgAJn29Na6DJmHZ
I miss Nikita.
Those performances always remind me of the Soviet nod to that other development of the last half of the 19th century: Romantic Nationalism. It gilds the conquests of Muscovy and excuses the USSR of the same. It feels fake. Red boots stamping on a human face — forever 🙂
LL:
No, of course it’s not the Moiseyev; these are obviously not adults. But when I saw the red boots, it made me think of my childhood yearning for said boots after seeing the Moiseyev in the late 50s.
I have posted Moiseyev videos here in the past, although I haven’t seen a live performance by them for decades, alas.
Not to be mistaken for The Red Shoes, a better outcome, happier ending.
duck://player/FXzGcnhmc-0
“Romantic Nationalism”
Did this lead to Stalin’s policy of “socialism in one country”? A kind of national socialism, as it were.
@ om – your link didn’t load anything for me, but I also thought of The Red Shoes, which did indeed have a very unhappy ending.
LL’s link was to a dance I hadn’t seen before, very enjoyable, thank you.
My autoplay then opened another Moiseyev performance, which Neo had posted previously (according to my bookmark) in which the girls wore lovely red shoes.
I don’t understand how they can keep up that level of athletic exertion for a single dance, not alone a full show!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXaQpvfWe9Y
Russian dance “Summer”. Igor Moiseyev Ballet
Aesopfan:
Here is a link to The Red Shoes 1948 film that ought to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mHgGU4AbOA
Sorry about the earlier Duck Duck Go link that didn’t work.
@ om – thanks; I saw that movie a long time ago and really liked it, until it got into the last scene and I was like, “You gotta be kidding me! That’s terrible!”
The Wikipedia write-up was quite informative, although I think the connection with Andersen’s fairy tale of the Red Shoes was more like “inspired by” than “based on,” since the only aspect of the story that remained recognizable was the fatal consequence of wearing the shoes, and even that was changed.
The film won 2 Academy awards, 5 nominations, and other accolades; dancers claimed it took too many cinematographic liberties to represent a real ballet (which is true IMO). It was quite innovative for its day, although I think it borrowed some techniques from the earlier Citizen Kane.
Did this lead to Stalin’s policy of “socialism in one country”?
Don’t know if there was a connection. But I am pretty sure that Wilson’s desire to break up Eastern Europe along ethnic lines came from that. From the Fourteen Points (Grok):
Point IX: A readjustment of Italy’s frontiers along “clearly recognizable lines of nationality,” which indirectly affected neighboring regions like parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Point X: The peoples of Austria-Hungary should have “the freest opportunity to autonomous development,” implying support for breaking up the empire into nation-states like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
Point XI: Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated, restored, and given access to the sea (e.g., Serbia’s aspirations). This also supported an independent Poland with access to the sea (Point XIII).
Point XIII: An independent Poland should be established, including territories with “indisputably Polish populations” and guaranteed access to the Baltic Sea (the Polish Corridor).
The Soviets did establish the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (Birobidzhan) in 1934. Stalin intended to deport all the Jews to that infertile land. Pete Seegar, of course, was happy to sing “folksongs” from Birobidzhan. What a tool.