Victoria Hallinan’s The Moiseyev Dance Company Tours America: “Wholesome” Comfort During a Cold War is an important addition to the growing field of studies concerning cultural exchange amid the Cold War. In her work, Hallinan examines the Moiseyev Dance Company’s development as a reflection of Soviet values and analyzes the company’s 1958 tour of the United States. She contends that the dance company appealed to Americans’ ideals of an unpretentious multicultural and heteronormative country and that cultural exchanges, such as the Moiseyev’s tour, permitted individuals, in this case Americans, to transcend the Cold War narrative of diametrically opposed systems and to view the Soviet dancers as sharing many similarities with Americans.

Hallinan begins her book with a discussion of the objectives of the Moiseyev Dance Company, officially referred to as the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of the USSR. Igor Moiseyev, the founder of the dance company, created this ensemble, which portrayed the image of a peaceful and united Soviet Union. Hallinan chronicles Moiseyev’s early work staging successful parades, and his efforts attracted the favorable attention of the KGB and Iosif Stalin. In particular, Stalin appreciated the dance company’s work, and according to Moiseyev, Stalin’s patronage assured the company’s success. Hallinan notes that Moiseyev’s decision to study and reproduce more stylized versions of folk dances remained in alignment with changing policies regarding nationalities within the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 40s. The Moiseyev Dance Company became a positive symbol of Soviet cultural achievement, and during World War II, the company performed repeatedly for highly impressed audiences throughout the Soviet Union. Even after Stalin’s death, the Moiseyev Dance Company continued to favorably reflect Soviet policies, thereby prompting Soviet officials to send the dance company on tours to immediate post-war eastern Europe, as well as to China and the Middle East. These successful tours, relates Hallinan, led to other tours, such as visits to Great Britain and France, where enthusiastic audiences and critics again praised the Moiseyev Dance Company.

Having established the Soviet view of the Moiseyev Dance Company’s value, Hallinan then examines the 1958 tour of the US. Through an analysis of critics’ reviews, ordinary Americans’ letters to Igor Moiseyev, the number of sold-out performances, and the need to add additional ones, Hallinan supports her contention that during the company’s multi-city tour, Americans repeatedly expressed their interest in the dance company and lauded the dancers’ outstanding performances. Soviet officials and Moiseyev considered the tour to be successful, and the relatively small number of protestors, mostly in the form of picketers, did not distract from either the Americans’ or the Soviets’ perception of the tour’s popularity.

Americans’ continued fascination with the dancers appeared in newspaper accounts covering the dancers’ shopping trips, a visit to Disneyland, and views regarding American food. Such stories prompted Americans to begin to view the dancers as sharing similar hopes and interests, which according to Hallinan, weakens the standard Cold War narrative since Americans began to no longer view the Soviet people as their complete opposites. At the same time, the author argues that though the Moiseyev Dance Company portrayed an idealized view of the Soviet Union, Americans responded positively to this perception since it provided a reassuring view of a multicultural and peaceful state amid the contentious questions concerning gender and race in the US of the 1950s. Hallinan writes that American critics’ references to the male dancers’ “athleticism” (142) and their descriptions of the “grace, beauty” (143) of the female dancers aligned with the heteronormative values of American society. Regarding race, Hallinan views the Moiseyev Dance Company as providing a type of “escapism” (175) amid the reality of racial strife as evidenced in events, such as the Little Rock Crisis.

Hallinan uses a variety of archival and primary sources in her work, and since some of these sources, such as biographies and memoirs, may have been influenced by Soviet and early post-Soviet politics, she provides a cautious reading and analysis of these materials. Her mentioning of the Moiseyev Dance Company’s subsequent tours to the US demonstrated the company’s continued appeal, though a more thorough discussion of the reception of the 1970 tour would have strengthened this discussion. Overall, Victoria Hallinan’s The Moiseyev Dance Company Tours America provides readers with an understanding of the important role of cultural exchange in influencing individuals’ views.