Dying Swan fights for human rights: a case from recent Russian history

Protest movements in contemporary Russia are being seriously threatened by the state. Nevertheless, some street performances in the last few years have become milestones of artistic resistance to growing authoritarianism. Young talented artists performed all of these actions, although the level of challenge was different – from shocking to public morality to just ironic and theatrical. Between two of the most striking performances: by Pussy Riot in 2012 and Pavel Pavlensky in 2016, there was one less provocative and less resonant performance, created by Amnesty International. It was shown in January 2014 in Moscow and was entitled Dying Swan. The young performer Alexandra Portyannikova danced the famous piece, first staged by the Russian choreographer Michael Fokine in 1907, with handcuffs on her arms in the open air, when the temperature was below -20°C. The performance aimed to draw the attention of the audience to the situation of human rights and freedoms in Russia. All these performances strongly criticized the Russian political regime by means of epatage, challenge and shock.