Abstrakt
Text describes the Czech ballet scene after World War II via the oral history method. Using this method in research is crucial as it offers a unique and unrepeatable opportunity to capture rare memories of artists that would otherwise be forgotten.
We interviewed a group of active dancers who are the focus of our research, as well as choreographers and dance teachers. This topic, the way we approach it, has not been given enough attention by historians or theatre science.
We found it very interesting to follow, analyse and interpret differences between the questions we had prepared ahead of the interviews, and questions that emerged during the actual interviews based on provided information. We also studied differences related to the gender of the interviewees and their location in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The differences between the two countries at the time they formed one republic (The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic) are very interesting. The communist regime in this Eastern Bloc country has much to offer to a more focused research concentrating on the cultural politics of the country, its censorship, theatre environment and artists.
To what extent were the differences and the overall situation affected by Soviet Union interventions? What was based on the initiative of individual officials of the communist cultural politics?