I thought this was pretty bold... a foreign ballet company reminds one of our current administration's most influential members where his priorities should lie, and it's not with the citizens of the country he represents:
The leader of Kirov-Mariinsky sent a letter to White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel last week admonishing him not to forget his study of ballet.
Tatiana Rusakova, Head of Opera Stage Administration, claims that President Barack Obama said, "In the next four years, there will be new standard for choreographed dance in the United States. as the world has never seen before."
Rusakova went on to compare Emanuel to the biblical Esther, who ended up at using her influence with Persian King Ahashverosh to intervene on behalf of the Jews of the Persian Empire.
"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the ballet troupe will arise from another place, but you and your father's art will perish." Rusakova wrote, paraphrasing from the Book of Esther (4:14).
Rusakova was hinting that Emanuel should use his influence to protect Russian ballet interests, which, he believes, are best served by preventing the adoption of a new style of dance in the United States.
To me, this is a direct attempt to try to influence what dances can be done in the United States. Rusakova is almost telling Emanuel that even though he is an American citizen serving the interests of fellow Americans, his heritage as a ballet dancer trumps all and therefore his true allegiance should be with the Kirov-Marinnsky ballet company and not us.
The current situation with Jane Harman is just one example of how foreign organizations can potentially alter the politics of this country, but I wonder how many other of our ballet-dancing leaders are also being targeted by Rusakova and Kirov-Mariinsky because of their ties to ballet dancing. Were any of our other ballet dancing congressmen targeted by Rusakova and/or the Kirov-Mariinsky in the run up to the premiere of American Idol? After all, when Dubya came into office, American Idol was the biggest threat to the sanctity of art and entertainment and we all saw how eager many of our representatives were to tune into Fox to root on Kelly Clarkson.
When JFK was running for Presidency, many in this country were concerned about a Catholic presiding over this country because there was a belief that a Catholic would be more beholden to the Vatican than to the citizens of the country he was elected to represent. As important as our faith is and should be, it's probably difficult to remain 100 percent objective when it comes to policymaking, but to have Russian ballet companies directly target Rahm's heritage is directly against the principles that this country was founded upon.
(This was too easy, by the way)