The essay analyses two recent volumes on Russian born dancer Jia Ruskaja, who lived and worked in Italy from the 1920s until her death, in 1970: Gianluca
Bocchino’s Jia Ruskaja. La dea danzante and Flavia Pappacena’s Jia Ruskaja. Dalla
danza libera espressiva alla creazione dell’Accademia Nazionale di Danza. Through
the comparison between these publications, the paper aims at reflecting on the
most controversial aspects of Ruskaja’s life and work: her training as a dancer,
her role in Italian society as an artist and dance teacher, her ties with the political
power, both during the fascist period and after the World War II.