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Persecuted by the KGB, a Jewish master soared to new heights in the West

JL;DR SUMMARY Valery Panov, a renowned Russian Jewish dancer who passed away at 87, epitomized resilience in the face of Soviet-era antisemitism. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Marc ChagallJewish CultureJewish IdentitySoviet UnionJewish EmigrationKgbBalletValery Panov

Places mentioned

Vitebsk, Belarus
"Born in Vitebsk, Belarus, celebrated as the hometown of the painter Marc Chagall, Panov was the son of Matvei Shulman, an industrial supervisor, who assimilated to the Communist ethos of his time."
Leningrad, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
"This state-sponsored ill-treatment continued for two years, but left Panov undaunted, in part due to strong support from international Jewish groups that displayed an activist solidarity rarely seen in later, more resigned decades."
Israel
"Ambitious to express himself as a dancer and choreographer in ways that were impossible in the USSR, in 1972 Panov and his second wife, the non-Jewish ballerina Galina Panova, applied to emigrate to Israel; the Communist authorities responded by firing him from the Kirov ballet, imprisoning him for ten days for hooliganism, and even attempting to poison him."
New York, United States
"In 1974, a public celebration in New York of Panovs birthday was organized by a committee featuring Jewish arts world celebrities Barbra Streisand, director Herbert Ross, Beverly Sills, Mike Nichols, dancer Nora Kaye, actress Hermione Gingold, writer Paddy Chayefsky, Hal Prince, Theodore Bikel, and Joel Grey."
Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
"And in 1994 Panov created the ballet Dreyfus Jaccuse to music by the Russian Jewish composer Alfred Schnittke at the State Opera in Bonn, Germany."
Ashdod, Southern District, Israel
"The previous year, he had opened a ballet school and company in Ashdod, Israel, where he remained based."

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