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What does the double debut of two Crime and Punishment ballets, the first in St. Petersburg in September 2024 and the second in New York a month later, say about the current perception of Russian high culture in the global arena?

From its origins in the seventeenth-century court of Tsar Alexis of Russia, Russian ballet has historically served the interests of its ruling elite. It should come as no surprise, then, that this September, the St. Petersburg-based ballet company of  premiered a ballet based on the 1866 novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In his 1880 Pushkin speech, Dostoevsky espoused the 鈥渦niversality鈥� of Russian culture, a sentiment that continues to be advanced by the Russkiy Mir Foundation established under President Putin鈥檚 2007 decree.

In a twist worthy of Dostoevsky鈥檚 The Double, however, the same novel served as the source of a second adaptation that premiered a month later in New York. The Crime and Punishment ballet by  was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre (ABT), designated 鈥淎merica鈥檚 National Ballet Company鈥� by a 2006 act of Congress. ABT鈥檚 ballet made its Washington debut at the Kennedy Center this February. 

The almost concurrent appearance of two Crime and Punishment ballets on the world stage begs the following questions. How does a canonic piece of Russian literature serve an avowedly American company? And what does this cultural synchronicity suggest about the current state of US- Russian relations? 

Just as Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky has become a 鈥溾�� in the ballet world, Russian writers such as Dostoevsky have been reconsidered 鈥�.鈥� While Dostoevsky denotes for many the imperialist reach of Russian soft power, a closer look at the author鈥檚 life and times illuminates the continued relevance of his work. 

Dostoevsky鈥檚 ancestry, incorporating Lithuanian nobility, Ukrainian Uniate clergy, and Muscovite merchant lines, attests to the 鈥溾�� in the Russian empire, according to scholar Joseph Frank. Born in 1821, Dostoevsky came of age in the aftermath of the failed Decembrist uprising of 1825. This abortive revolt resulted in the execution, exile, and martyrdom of aristocratic officers and dissidents who sought to align Russia with a more democratic and liberal Europe. 

The ensuing police state of Nicholas I overshadowed the artistic and intellectual communities in which Dostoevsky first achieved fame as a Realist writer. In the wake of the European revolutions of 1848 and his participation in a secret revolutionary society of the Petrashevsky Circle, Dostoevsky was arrested in 1849 and imprisoned for several months in the notorious Peter and Paul Fortress, where Peter the Great鈥檚 own son was tortured to death.  

Following his imprisonment, Dostoevsky was subjected to a mock execution, a form of tsarist sadism to discourage Russian radicalism. His death sentence was commuted at the last moment to four years in a Siberian prison camp and six years in the Russian Army. This period spent in close quarters with peasant-convicts, combined with the patriotic backdrop of the Crimean War, instilled in Dostoevsky the 鈥溾�� identified by Slavist Caryl Emerson, and influenced the conception of what would become his most famous work. 

The 1866 publication of Crime and Punishment ensured Dostoevsky鈥檚 position in the canon of world literature. Dostoevsky develops the central theme of the novel鈥攚hether 鈥渆xtraordinary鈥� individuals have the right to commit violent acts of transgression to achieve greater good鈥攖hrough the schismatic psychology of former student Rodion Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov鈥檚 decision to 鈥渨ade through blood鈥� in the manner of Napoleon drives him to the double murder of an unscrupulous pawnbroker and her devout sister. 

While wandering through the city of St. Petersburg in the delirious aftermath of his crime, Raskolnikov is confronted with two foils. The Westernized Arkady Svidrigailov represents the cultural degradation of the Russian elite, whose lecherous crimes lead to the mortal sin of suicide. The prostitute Sonya Marmeladova embodies the Orthodox ideal of agape and whose noble self-sacrifice serves as a model of redemption.

The Russian production of Crime and Punishment by Eifman foregrounds the divergent paths of Svidrigailov, in a deathly dance with the ghost of a young girl he has defiled, and Sonya, whose body forms a cross above the extended torso of Raskolnikov. These choreographic gestures reveal the deep engagement of Eifman, who previously adapted Dostoevsky鈥檚 The Idiot and Brothers Karamazov and has described his work on Crime and Punishment as a .

Eifman鈥檚 ballet is immediately recognizable as a work of Dostoevsky in which the city itself is a character. With his production team, Eifman has designed a visual aesthetic that reflects the psychology of the city. Key philosophical components of Dostoevsky鈥檚 work are conveyed through visual metaphors. Raskolnikov dons Napoleon鈥檚 tricorne hat as he contemplates whether he has the 鈥渁uthority鈥� to commit murder. An abstractly-rendered staircase, Raskolnikov鈥檚 path to murder the pawnbroker and her sister, hangs menacingly over the stage.

The American version of Crime and Punishment by Pickett relies on video installations and cryptic surtitles to convey the narrative arc of Dostoevsky鈥檚 novel, which has been transplanted to a surreally-Stalinist setting with Socialist Realist costumes and jazzy speakeasies. A scene of Sonya reading the Gospel with Raskolnikov is marred by a prop Bible decorated with a Latin rather than Orthodox cross. This cultural vagueness is compounded by the choreography for Sonya featuring her palms pressed together in European prayer pose rather than crossing herself with three fingers in the Orthodox fashion.

ABT鈥檚 casting of Raskolnikov features alternating male and female dancers in the role. In her review of the New York premiere, critic Gia Kourlas characterized this cross-dressed Raskolnikov as 鈥�.鈥� Female dancers in male roles have appeared as stage attractions since the , and the 鈥溾�� trend was popularized in the nineteenth century as a means of enticing a new audience to the Paris Op茅ra. 

In an interview with the New York Times, choreographer Pickett describes looking for dancers 鈥�.鈥� While her intention may have been to humanize Raskolnikov, the result of his gender fluidity is limiting. Director Bonas notes that 鈥淸h]e鈥檚 not lifting anybody,鈥� which diminishes the choreographic impact of the duets between Raskolnikov and Sonya.

Of course, there is a rich tradition of balletic, operatic, and cinematic adaptations that remain true to their literary sources with altered contextual and plot details. The Dostoevsky biographer Frank once told me of his experience in midcentury Paris: upon wandering into a cinema showing an untitled Japanese film, he realized he was watching a retelling of The Idiot set in Japan. According to Frank, Akira Kurosawa鈥檚 1951 film featured cinematic storytelling that didn鈥檛 require linguistic or geographic cues to convey the core concepts of Dostoevsky鈥檚 novel.

An American production of Crime and Punishment achieves exactly what Dostoevsky suggested in his 1880 glorification of Pushkin: a testament to the 鈥渁ll-humanitarian and all-unifying Russian soul鈥� and to the 鈥済reat, universal harmony, of the brotherly accord of all nations abiding by the law of Christ鈥檚 gospel.鈥� 

Shortly before his creation of Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky himself gestured to the imperious quality of ballet in his portrayal of Jules Perrot鈥檚 Romantic ballet Undine, in which the principal ballerina extends her leg 鈥渁s if it were the out-stretched hand of Falconet鈥檚 monument.鈥� By juxtaposing ballet and Etienne Falconet鈥檚 famous equestrian statue of Peter the Great, commissioned by Catherine the Great to , Dostoevsky suggests the power of ballet as equal parts armament and arbiter of our times. Two new stagings of Crime and Punishment execute both initiatives and augur a new era of US and Russian thinking about culture.

 The opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the author and do not reflect the views of the Kennan Institute.