Maya (1999)

A captivating documentary on Maya Plisetskaya, the Bolshoi’s prima ballerina who braved the regime with her art. Maya Plisetskaya’s life bears witness of the violent history of the sovietic regime. Born in a Jewish family, Maya Plisetskaya is received, after her parent’s deportation to the goulag, in her aunt’s home at the age of 13. In 1943, Maya Plisestkaya joins the Bolshoi as prima ballerina, and though always acclaimed by the public, she was always oppressed by the regime: frequent interdictions to go abroad on tour, family threatened in case of her defection to the West, and so forth. But dance was her mean to cope well in the face of adversity. Maya Plisetskaya lived for dance, she did not give in, despite and against any hardship.