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Brazil is widely known for its cultural and religious diversity. Home to a varied range of religions that often mix Indigenous, African, and Christian themes, religious diversity was also prevalent in this region prior to colonization. Often revolving around concepts like animism and a sacred approach toward the natural environment, native religions played a central role in the daily lives of pre-colonial Indigenous communities. Today, many of these practices are being revived in the context of resistance and valorization of Indigenous cultural identities.Detective Work: How to Study Ancient Indigenous ReligionsEthnohistoric Map of Brazil by Curt Nimuendaj, 1943. Source: Museu Paraense Emlio Goeldi.Indigenous groups in Brazil left no written records; oral tradition was the primary means of passing down tales, practices, and myths through generations. This presents a challenge for historians, anthropologists, and archeologists, who rely on a wide range of methods to recover and study ancient native religions.A crucial tool in this type of research is ethnohistory. This branch of the historical sciences combines elements from anthropology, history, and ethnography with a critical analysis of sources such as oral histories, colonial records, and archeological evidence. Starting from close work with present-day Indigenous communities, the aim is to reconstruct and interpret religious practices and beliefs within their historical and cultural contexts, understanding how these practices evolved. Ethnohistorians often immerse themselves in communities to observe and record religious practices and social interactions.Another resource utilized is written records from European explorers from the colonial period. These texts are valuable historical sources, detailing native peoples rituals and beliefs, which seemed exotic to the colonizers. However, a critical analysis is necessary, as the reporters frequently interpreted Indigenous sacred practices through their own cultural and religious lenses.Photograph of cave art at the Serra da Capivara National Park, by unknown author, 2013. Source: Serra da Capivara National ParkArcheological records are also relevant to these types of studies. Archeologists often rely on material evidence such as ceremonial objects, idols, and amulets and combine these finds with the examination of sites and burial grounds that display traces of ritual use. This enables a reconstruction of the rites, offerings, and probable sacrifices practiced in the past. Additionally, analysis of iconography and symbols found in pottery, textiles, and cave art may provide insights into ancient mythologies and cosmologies.One of the earliest and foremost researchers of Indigenous religions and spirituality was German ethnologist and anthropologist Curt Unkel Nimuendaj. Having lived among native communities for several years, his work is essential for the study of native cosmology and sacred practices.The Worldview of Brazils Indigenous PeoplesPhotograph of Indigenous chief Raoni Metukrite by REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino, 2023. Source: Context, Thomson Reuters FoundationIn the vast and diverse landscapes of pre-colonial Brazil, multiple Indigenous cultures cultivated a profound spiritual connection with the natural world around them. Central to their spirituality, their cosmological worldview often recognized nature as a conscious, living being that communicated and interacted with humans.Religion and spirituality were central to native identity. For this reason, Indigenous peoplesboth past and presentclaim that trying to distinguish between the natural, human, and sacred worlds is pointless. In fact, the spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples were integral to their identities and daily lives, with this profound connection to the environment translating into routine activities such as hunting, farming, and social festivities.Although there are differences in the myths, spiritual beings, sacred practices, and rituals carried out among the diverse range of groups, some key ideas are widespread among the tribes of this vast territory.Animism: Nature as a Living BeingPainting of Tupi Woman, by Albert Eckhout, 1641. Source: National Museum of DenmarkThe natural environment was at the core of most native religious practices. As nature was inseparable from spirituality, its conservation was inherent to their belief systemsharming the environment could be considered a disruption of the spiritual balance. This profound respect for nature led to sustainable living practices that these communities maintained during the many centuries prior to the arrival of European colonizers.The sacred character of the environment could be found among all the elements of the natural worldanimals, plants, rivers, rocks, and the land itself were imbued with spiritual essence and life force. Referred to as animism by anthropologists and historians of religion, this sacred concept holds that all elements of nature are embodied with consciousness and a spirit.The animistic worldview sees humans as part of a larger web of life, one in which all elements of nature are interconnected. Humans are able to interact with other sentient natural beings, and Indigenous communities often engage in rituals and make offerings to honor and seek the favor of natures spirits.The Role of Shamanism in Brazilian ReligionPhotograph of an Amazonian Shaman by Amaznia Latitude, 2020. Source: Amaznia Latitude.Contact between European travelers and native peoples has fostered a general fascination with the role of the mysterious religious figures of shamans, who are often shrouded in an aura of mysticism and hold central power in Indigenous communities.Shamans are the spiritual leaders of animistic societies. They act as intermediaries between the human and sacred worlds, performing rituals, healing the diseased, and seeking guidance from the natural spirits. The original term was coined for the figures found in Siberian hunter-gathering groups, and it is used in anthropology for any religious leader engaged in magical, priestly, sorcery, or healing roles. Supernatural, social, and ecological elements of society are all involved in shamanism.The term paj is often used in Brazil to describe individuals engaged in magical activities. The words roots are in the Tupian language, and it is usually used in its original context to refer to a specific type of sacred energy or power that is shared by all individuals and particularly manifested in dreams.The Land Without Evil: An Ancestral Guaran QuestPainting of Siege of Humait, by Victor Meirelles, 1886. Source: Pinacoteca do Estado de So PauloThe Guaran were the most widespread Indigenous group in pre-colonial Brazil and the South American lowlands in general. Studies show that the Tupian-speaking populations who broke off to become the Guaran originated in the territory of present-day Paraguay, on the banks of the Paraguay River. These early groups migrated east, settling on the Brazilian coast, from the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul up to the state of Esprito Santo.Religion was at the core of this territorial expansion. Central to the Guaran cosmological worldview was the idea of the Yvy Mara Ry, translated as Land Without Evil. This mythical, otherworldly place is a symbol of the Guarans ideal state of existence in perfect harmony with the natural and sacred worlds. The quest for this utopian land often involved long migrations, ultimately over thousands of miles.The mythical land could be found sailing eastwards, crossing the ocean. It was reached as a post-death paradise, but could also be found during ones lifetime by practicing the right rituals. These were designed to purify the participant and seek guidance from the spirits, ensuring the success of the journey. They could involve fasting, ritual bathing, shamanic trances and divination, and the interpretation of dreams.The God Tup and ChristianizationFirst mass in Brazil, by Victor Meirelles, 1860. Source: Museu Nacional de Belas ArtesThe idea of a central, omniscient, and omnipotent god-like figure was absent from native religions. However, the sacred figure of Tup commonly stands out when studying the ancient native spiritualism.The indigenous author Kaj Wer explains in his book The Thunder and the Wind that the name Tup is related to a state of wonder and admiration that comes from the encounter with the divine, the word itself probably deriving from an expression that could be translated as wonderous thing.Tup is related in Tupi-Guaran mythology and language to the idea of poromonham an unmeasurable absolute. The figure was able to create words by singing, his music serving as guidance for humanity. He is also related to thunder, as the suffix p was a synonym for thunderstorms booms.It was only with the arrival of the Jesuit missions that Tup would start to evolve from this abstract idea and acquire a god-like figure. The priests would often need to create associations between Christian and native motifs in order to effectively communicate the principles of the colonizing religion.The mythology of Tup was widely explored for this purpose. As Christians recognized the importance of this concept for the Tupi-Guaran, his association with God was emphasized and used to illustrate Christian ideas. This resulted in the modern misunderstanding of Tup as a god-like figure to the natives when the reality was far more complex and abstract.The Dead-Worshiping Culture of the KaingangPhotograph of a Kaingang camp by an unknown photographer, 1922. Source: Projeto Museu Ferrovirio Regional de Bauru.In the south and southeastern regions of present-day Brazil, the Kaingang groups engaged in religious activities that are fascinating to study and explore. One of these was Kiki, a ritual designed to ensure the passage of the tribes members to the numb, the world of the dead. Although death was not interpreted as the end of life, the Kaingang believed that the pathway to the otherworld was not automaticthe souls of the dead could only move forward if Kiki was performed. This would allow the disconnection of the deads spirits from the living world, enabling passage to the numb.Kiki would last approximately ten days and was performed at the beginning of winter, following the harvest of resources such as pine nuts, corn, and honey. It involved three main stages, represented by three big fires in the villages central square.The rituals name derives from the fermented honey drink ingested during the second day of the sacred performances. On the third day, people from neighboring villages as well as the spirits of the dead would come and participate in the sacred dances performed. However, the spirits were strictly advised against drinking the kiki, as the ingestion of the sacred fermented drink would cause them to become trapped, wandering the world of the living forever.Photograph of rock painting attributed to early Kaingang occupation in the south of Brazil, by Valdelino Pontes, 2024. Source: Secretaria do Estado do ParanScholars believe that Kiki, along with the worship of the dead in general, was the strongest expression of the Kaingang culture. The ritual was studied through ethnographic and oral sources, as well as material evidence such as traditional body ornaments and traces of the sacred drink found on pieces of ceramic containers.Amazonian Sacred PracticesPhotograph of the Amazonian indigenous leader Lucio Matapi, by Thomson Reuters Foundation/Fabio Cuttica. Source: Context NewsReconstructing the religious practices of pre-colonial Amazonians is quite challenging. However, ethnographic research with the modern indigenous groups Achuar and Yanomami has provided some glimpses into what the sacred practices may have looked like in ancient times.The spirituality of these Amazonian communities was based on the recognition of a guiding spirit of plants and trees. These supernatural tutors were responsible for vegetation growth and fertility, especially when related to the wild plantsseen as the crops of spiritual beings. The Yanomami named this spirit N roperi, while for the Achuar, this being was called Shakaim. For both communities, the forest as a whole is seen as a sentient, sensitive, and intelligent being.Analyzing the sacred worldviews of these modern-day communities can certainly help visualize how they may have looked in the remote past. The Amazon and its world-renowned biodiversity are the product of centuries of harmonious interaction between humans and nature. Archeological disciplines such as archeobotany and geoarcheology have demonstrated that the natives often altered parts of the vegetation for their own use, changing the location of plants and trees.This practice would never be pursued without a profound respect for nature, avoiding degradation and destruction of the natural environment. It is reasonable to think that this idea of the forest as a sacred world engaged in agricultural activities would have evolved from these harmonious exchanges.Legacy and Preservation: Religions as ResistancePhotograph of a Yanomami engaged in traditional craftmanship, by Cmacauley, 1999. Source: Wikimedia CommonsReconstructing indigenous religion is crucial for several reasons. Spiritual practices are often intertwined with the traditions, languages, and worldviews of native communities and central to their cultural identity. For many indigenous peoples, these religions are more than a set of beliefsthey define and enable their relationship with the land, their community, and the cosmos.Many of the sacred practices of the past are being revitalized by indigenous communities today in an effort to bolster the traditional practices that have been transformed by centuries of colonization. One example is the Kiki ritual; after decades without being performed due to colonization and catechism, it was readopted by the Kaingang community in 1970. This is not just a religious effort, but an act of resistance.Acknowledging and valuing these indigenous perspectives sends a powerful message to all humanity. Amid the environmental challenges the world is facing, recognizing the critical importance of nature is crucial to all. The health of the planet is intrinsically linked to the respect shown to all living beingsa lesson that native communities have spent centuries trying to teach.

A ballet performance is a high art form that can awe audiences. However, audiences only see the result, not the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to become a dancer at a premier ballet company like the Bolshoi Ballet. In the Soviet Union, dancers at the top of their game had access to power, luxury apartments, and foreign travel. The KGB also shadowed them. Famous Russian ballerinas developed techniques like the Vaganova Method or broke boundaries for minority women. Other dancers risked everything to escape and pursue their art. Read on to discover 9 famous and influential ballerinas from Russia and the USSR.1. Aleksandr Gorsky (1871-1924)Aleksandr Gorsky; with Members of the Bolshoi Ballet in Aleksander Gorskys Little Humpback Horse, photographed by C. A. Fischer, 1901. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAleksandr Alekseevich Gorsky almost did not join the ballet. Headed for a career in commerce, he was discovered by accident when he visited the Petersburg Theatre School with his sister in 1879. After studying with famous teachers Platon Karsavin and Marius Pepita, Gorsky joined the Imperial Ballet Company. Within a decade, he debuted his first work, Clorinda.From 1902 to 1924, Gorsky acted as the Bolshoi Ballets creative director, developing new ballet versions of Swan Lake, The Little Humpbacked Horse, The Nutcracker, and Salomes Dance. Gorsky, a talented choreographer who influenced ballet realism, brought Konstantin Stanislavskis method acting to ballet. At the time, the corps de ballet often sat or stood on the stage during performances. Gorsky changed the troupe from static to expressive and active. He also infused classical ballet with folk dance elements that transformed the genre.After the Soviets seized power, ballets existence became precarious due to its aristocratic association. The art form survived by evolving into new experimental forms representing Soviet values. Gorsky, who struggled with mental health, died in a Soviet asylum in 1924.2. Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951)Agrippina Vaganova. Source: Argumenti i FaktiAgrippina Vaganova was not a natural ballerina. Instead, she had to work extra hard to become a star. Born to an Armenian and Russian family, she joined the Mariinsky Theater (later known as the Kirov State Theater) as a teenager. First, she joined the corps de ballet and later became a solo dancer. By 1915, her role as the Goddess Niriti in The Talisman won her the title of prima ballerina.Known for her tremendous flights with long pauses in mid-air, Vaganova became known as the queen of variations. She revived Pepitas and Gorskys variations on The Little Humpbacked Horse, Esmerelda, Giselle, Don Quixote, and Swan Lake.Vaganova with her students. Source: Argumenti i FaktiVaganova became a choreographer, professor, and artistic consultant for the Bolshoi. Just before the Russian Revolution, she quit the stage to focus on teaching.During the 1940s and early 1950s, Vaganova worked as a professor at the Leningrad Choreographic School. Her precise techniques, now known as the Vaganova Method and published in Fundamentals of Classical Dance, became a fundamental ballet textbook.Vaganova received multiple awards during her lifetime, including a Peoples Artist award and the Stalin Prize. Her teaching methods, enshrined in classical ballet technique, are still taught today.3. Vera Karalli (1889-1972)On the eve of revolution: Bolshoi ballerina Vera Karalli, 1917. Source: The Gabrielle Enthoven Collection, Victoria & Albert MuseumBorn in Moscow, Vera Karelli inherited a love of the stage from her parents. Her big break came when Aleksandr Gorsky invited her to join the Bolshoi. Within two years, Karelli debuted a solo role in Swan Lake to thunderous applause. By 1915, she became a full Bolshoi ballerina.Known as Gorskys favorite dancer, Karalli also became one of the first Russian silent film stars. Her renditions of Chrysanthemums, Retribution, and The Dying Swan made film history.Vera Keralli starred in the Russian silent film Les Chrysanthmes (1914). Source: Wikimedia CommonsAs the mistress of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Karelli was one of two women allegedly present at the Yusapov palace the night of Russian peasant healer Grigori Rasputins murder in 1916. In the aftermath, Karelli fell into disfavor with Empress Alexandra and left Russia. When revolution broke out, she chose not to return.In exile, Karelli danced with the Ballets Russes and taught ballet. By World War II, she had her own Paris studio. As she aged, Karelli longed to return to her homeland and petitioned the Soviet government to allow her to live in Russia. Two weeks before she died in 1972, the Soviets finally issued the stateless dancer a Russian passport. Sadly, she never got a chance to use it.4. Tamara Khanum (1906-1991)Tamara Khanum. Source: Armenian Museum of Moscow and the Culture of NationsBorn into an Armenian family in modern-day Uzbekistan, Tamara Artyomovna Petrosyan (later Tamara Khanum) was a singer, dancer, actress, and choreographer.Tamara grew up in a world where Armenians inhabited an ethnic borderland that reflected the conflicted history of Russian colonization in the Caucasus and on the frontiers of Central Asia. Tamara grew up in a radical atmosphere. During the 1920s, the Soviets initiated an anti-child marriage, anti-polygamy, and anti-religious campaign. They also banned the paranja (the Uzbek equivalent of the burqa). As a result, the streets of Tashkent and Samarkand erupted in violent confrontations between Uzbeks and Soviets, who had been sent to tear the veils from womens faces. Tamara soon joined this revolutionary scene.As a teenager, Tamara began dancing with a group headed by Uzbek writer and human rights activist Hamza Niyazi. In 1922, she enrolled in the Tashkent Ballet Company and later graduated from the Central Technical School of Theater Arts in Moscow.During the 1920s and 1930s, Khanum toured with Uzbek ballet groups and ethnic ensembles. She starred in roles such as Halima and Farhad and Shirin, which featured less visible minority voices.Back home in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Khanum played a crucial role in developing the Uzbek National Ballet Theater, the State Uzbek Opera, and a ballet school. During her lifetime, Khanum performed over 600 songs in multiple languages and infused her works with traditional Uzbek dance moves. In 1925, Tamara became one of the first to display Uzbek art at the 1925 World Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. A decade later, she participated in the First World Festival of Folk Dance in London.An ensemble from the Alisher Navoiy Theater performed at the 1925 World Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. Source: Alisher Navoiy TheaterTamara did not just dance. From 1937 to 1948, she worked for the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR. Along the way, Khanum also bucked several Islamic traditions.She fought for womens rights in Uzbekistan. She collected folk dance styles from diverse cultures, such as Jewish, Bashkir, Crimean Tatar, Ossetian, and Uighur, and helped develop them into the first Uzbek ballets. Creative and fearless, Tamera encouraged girls in the audience who came to talk to her after a show to work, study, and make their own marriage decisions.When some men overheard Khanum, they told her, This is not accepted here.Tamara refused to accept defeat. It will be, she exclaimed. It will be accepted here, in Uzbekistan.Tamara Khanum fused ballet with Uzbek folk dance. Source: Armenian Museum of Moscow and the Culture of NationsTamaras fight to empower women and develop ethnic ballet in her homeland succeeded. But activism came with a price.One of Tamaras troupe members, Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva, became an early Uzbek actress. On March 18, 1928, Nurkhon and another teenage dancer, Tursunoy Saidazimova, had made a sensation when they danced onstage without their paranjas.When Nurkhon returned home to visit her family that summer, her brother, Salixoja, was waiting for her with a knife. Her murder, planned by her father and the mullah Kamal Giasov, who had Salixoja swear on the Quran to murder his sister, ignited public outrage. At her funeral, women tore off their veils and threw them in front of her casket.On May 10, 1928, 17-year-old Tursunoy Saidazimova also died at her husbands hands in an honor killing for performing without a veil. At her funeral, the crowd cried as Tamara Khanums teacher, Hamza Niyazi, a poet, playwright, and activist, read a eulogy for the teenage dancer.Uzbek poet, composer, and activist Hamza Niyazi, 1906. Source: Wikimedia Commons; with Tamara Khanum with a group of Uzbek dancers. Source: The US Embassy in UzbekistanIn 1929, Tamara Khanum received tragic news about her beloved teacher. A Peoples Writer of the Uzbek SSR and founder of Uzbek social realism, Niyazi went from village to village, teaching women to read, discouraging violence against women, and supporting womens emancipation. Supporting the Soviet policy of hujum and his own passion for social justice, Niyazi organized a rally in Shakhimardan on International Womens Day. He told women that, according to Soviet law, they no longer needed to wear veils. In response, 23 women took off their paranjas in public and threw them on the ground.On March 18, 1929, a group of men from the village of Shakhimardan attacked Niyazi and stoned him to death. After his death, some revered Niyazi as a human rights activist, while others saw his efforts as anti-Uzbek and anti-Muslim. These Uzbek womens voices are still remembered today, thanks largely to Hamza Niyazis poems.During World War II, Khanum toured the front lines to entertain the Red Army with over 1,000 performances. Khanum and her Uzbek troupe also performed at the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kyiv, as well as in Iran, Turkey, India, Mongolia, and Europe. In 1941, she received the Stalin Prize and the Peoples Artist of the USSR award in 1956.Today, Tamara Khanum is known as the honorary mother of Uzbek dance.5. Galina Ulanova (1910-1998)Galina Ulanova in Moscow by Leonid Zhdanov, 1961. Source: Library of CongressBorn into an artistic St. Petersburg family, Galina Ulanova grew up in the traditions of the Mariinsky Theater. Her fluid technique, expressiveness, and ability to fade a movement into thin air made her a Soviet star.Soldiers, politicians, and authors raved about her performances. The Soviet writer A. N. Tolstoy called Ulanova an ordinary goddess, while Boris Pasternak, the author of Dr. Zhivago, cried during her performances.They werent her only fans. After seeing Ulanovas performance, Joseph Stalin transferred her to the Bolshoi. For 16 years, she reigned as prima ballerina assoluta. In 1951, she won the title of Peoples Artist of the USSR.When the Bolshoi Ballet gave its first Western performance in 1956 at the Royal Opera House in London, Ulanovas performance cemented her reputation as one of the best ballerinas of the twentieth century.6. Olga Lepeshinskaya (1916-2008)Olga Lepeshinskaya next to her portrait. Source: DzenBorn in Kyiv, Ukraine, to a noble Polish family, Olga Lepeshinskaya took a straightforward path to Soviet success. She graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School in 1933, three years before Stalins Great Purge.By 1939, Lepeshinskaya had gained notice as Svetlana in the eponymous patriotic ballet. In this role, she played a heroine who thwarted anti-Soviet saboteurs who seemed to exist everywhere. Another of Lepeshinskayas famous ballet roles, Red Poppy, outraged visiting Chinese communists such as Mao Zedong and caused an international uproar. But the show went on. In 1953, Lepeshinskaya even danced the Red Poppy with a broken leg fractured in four places. The Soviets later edited the ballet to better reflect Chinese culture.Olga Lepeshinskaya dances Dragonfly by Leonid Zhdanov, Moscow, 1959. Source: Library of CongressIn 1943, Lepeshinskaya joined the Communist Party. She danced for the Red Army during World War II and married twice, both times to generals in the Soviet State Security Services (NKVD, then later the KGB). Her first husband, Leonid Reichman, headed the NKVDs Polish office. Reichman oversaw the coverup of the Katyn Forest massacre of 5,000 Polish officers (with a mass killing of almost 22,000 Polish citizens) in 1940 after the partition of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.When the NKVD arrested Reichman in 1951 for his role in the fabricated Zionist Plot, Lepeshinskaya did not let her husbands fall from favor derail her career. She divorced him. They later remarried, but when the KGB arrested the general again after Stalins death, the ballerina divorced him a second time.Thanks to her skill and top-tier connections, Lepeshinskaya gained status as Stalins favorite ballerina. She won the Stalin Prize three times and became a Peoples Artist of the USSR. Lepeshinskayas persona made her the epitome of a Soviet ballerina whose dynamic style and versatility matched her commitment to Soviet ideals and earned her a lasting reputation in the ballet world.7. Maya Plisetskaya (1925-2015)Maya Plisetskaya dances the Dying Swan at the Lincoln Center Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, 1974. Source: NewsweekBorn in Moscow to a Jewish family from Lithuania, Maya Plisetskayas early years were marked by tragedy. The Soviets kicked her father out of the Communist Party and arrested him during the Great Purge, and her mother disappeared into the gulag for several years. Despite her family history, Plisetskaya joined the Bolshoi during World War II. She became a dancer, director, choreographer, and actress.Her modern technique and enormous jumps dazzled audiences in the Soviet Union. But the KGB kept her from performing in the West for 16 years due to political immaturity. In 1951, despite protests from the Komsomol, she won the title of Honored Artist of the USSR.Maya Plisetskaya dances the Dying Swan at New Yorks Metropolitan Opera House, 1974. Source: HuffPostYekaterina Furtseva, the steely Soviet Minister of Culture known as Catherine the Third, banned Plisetskayas un-Soviet performance of Carmen when it premiered at the Bolshoi Ballet in 1967. Furtseva, who once famously mixed up an opera and a symphony, a mistake quickly observed by critics, denounced all ballet as erotica. She would turn up at performances wearing jewels and an astrakhan fur coat to denounce even faint criticisms of Soviet policies as anti-state behavior. Plisetskaya, once called the worlds best dancer by Nikita Khrushchev, won in the end. The Bolshoi Ballets version of Carmen, popularized by Plisetskaya, became a legend.After Galina Ulanova retired in 1960, Plisetskaya became prima ballerina assoluta at the Bolshoi. She danced into her eighties, winning three Lenin prizes and a medal for state service.8. Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948- )Mikhail Baryshnikov performs in The Nutcracker premiere at the New York City Metropolitan Opera House by Frank Leonardo, 1977. Source: Time MagazineBorn in Riga, Latvia, Mikhail Baryshnikov made waves for his technical skills as a dancer at the Kirov Ballet. In May 1974, he joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a guest star for an international trip.In the post-Stalin era, dancers still faced political restrictions on art. Baryshnikov wanted to transition to modern choreography, an evolution impossible at home.On the night of June 29, 1974, Baryshnikov defected while on tour in Toronto, Canada. After the show, Baryshnikov acted fast. While he signed autographs, his Canadian friends waited to pick him up in a car a few blocks away. He later described his act as an artistic choice rather than a political statement. Baryshnikov defected at the right time. Ballet was hot in America, thanks to the dance boom during the 1970s.Baryshnikov soon joined the American Ballet Theater. Then, in 1978, he joined the New York City Ballet. That same year, Kirov dancer Aleksandr Godunov defected during the Bolshois New York City tour. As an artistic director, Baryshnikov participated in award-winning films and television specials like White Nights and Dancers.In 1990, Baryshnikov co-founded the White Oak Project to pursue projects reflecting his passion for modern dance. During his career, Baryshnikov collaborated with other famous artists such as Martha Graham, Rudolph Nureyev, and Margot Fonteyn. Baryshnikov became a celebrated choreographer, director, and teacher who fused classical ballet with pioneering choreographies. His consummate technique and willingness to experiment influenced modern American dance.9. Alexei Ratmansky (1968- )Former Bolshoi Ballet dancer, director, and choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. Source: The GuardianBorn to a Ukrainian-Jewish father and a Russian mother, Alexei Ratmansky enrolled in the Moscow State Academy of Choreography at age 10 in 1978.When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Ratmansky expanded his international repertoire. He developed acclaimed versions of classical ballets. His original creations such as Firebird, On the Dnieper, and Seasons draw inspiration from ancient Greece and Jewish folklore. His reputation as a choreographer for the Bolshoi, Royal Danish Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet grew.During his career, Ratmansky worked at the American Ballet Theater, the New York City Ballet, and as the Bolshoi Ballets artistic director. His ballets have won numerous awards, including a Bessie Award, the Golden Mask Award, and the British National Dance Award.Art, Protest, and ResilienceAt the Dance Lesson by Leonid Zhdanov, 1972. Source: Library of Congress; with Wartime Elegy, 2022. Source: The GuardianFor over 100 years, these dancers evolved as artists, creating pioneering works and techniques like the Vaganova Method that are still taught today. Some famous Russian ballerinas confronted racial barriers and fought for minority womens rights. Other dissident dancers protested political restrictions or chose to pursue art outside their homeland.This phenomenon did not stop with the Cold War.Inside the Bolshoi Theater, 2020. Source: Yahoo News UKWhen news broke about Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olga Smirnova, the Bolshois prima ballerina, left the country, while Alexei Ratmansky walked out of a Bolshoi performance to protest the war. Ratmansky went on to create Wartime Elegy, which debuted at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and is dedicated to the people of Ukraine.

After Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, two sides of the world had contact for arguably the first time: Africa and Eurasia to the west (the Old World) and the Americas to the east (the New World). The arrival of the Spanish, and later the Portuguese, French, and British, initiated an exchange of populations, plants, animals, diseases, technology, and knowledge between these regions for the first timewith dramatic, often unintentional, consequences.The Whos Who of the Columbian ExchangePainting La consagracin de los templos paganos y primera misa en Mxico-Tenochtitln (Consecration of the pagan temples and first mass in Mexico-Tehnochtitlan) by Jos Vivar y Valderrama, 1752. Source: Museo Nacional de Historia, INAH, MexicoThe Columbian Exchange is a historical phenomenon of social, cultural, and biological interchange between Eurasia and the Americas, as well as Africa, primarily studied between the 16th and 18th centuries. However, it also serves to help understand transatlantic economic and sociocultural interchange phenomena up to the 20th century. Although there is some speculation about the earlier contact between indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Vikings or Polynesians, it was not until the arrival of Christopher Columbus in what is now American territory that a systematic interchange between the two hemispheres of the world began.The concept of the Columbian Exchange was first introduced by Albert Crosby in 1972 with his influential book, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. His study was a milestone in the field of historical ecology, introducing the idea that Christopher Columbuss arrival in the Americas prompted the first encounter between the New and Old cultural and biological worlds. Crosby studied the ecological implications of the encounter between the already recorded societies living in Europe and Asia and the newly discovered lands of the Americas.Engraving depicting the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas by Theodore de Bry, 1594. Source: Smart HistoryAlthough the distinction between the New World and the Old World has long been used in history, anthropology, and biology, recent arguments demonstrate how this view is highly Eurocentric, defining history from the perspective of European narratives only and should be revised. This proposed revision invites modern society to understand that the Columbian Exchange entailed the encounter between different animal and plant species, knowledge, and technologies that developed for centuries on both sides of the world over various periods. New World was often used to convey the idea of the Americas as a pristine land, which is far from true. On the other hand, Old World implied that because the region was old, it was therefore more developed, more civilized, and owed more respect.Moreover, it is essential to understand that the way in which these populations were in contact at the time was influenced by highly unequal relations of power, where European culture and society were imposed over local communities. History has shown how this harmed the indigenous lands and communities as many resources were systematically looted, exploited, and shipped from the Americas to Europe. Moreover, Spanish Catholicism was forcefully imposed over indigenous beliefs, and African people were brought by force to the Americas and enslaved.Biological Exchange: DiseaseIllustration of smallpox affecting indigenous people by Fray Bernardino de Sahagn in the Florentine Codex, 1592. Source: Brock University Digital HistoryNot all exchanges took place through specific moral intentions or for economic purposes. For instance, it is widely known that diseases imported by the Spanish and the Portuguese were one of the main factors in indigenous deaths after the encounter. The transmission of new diseases brought from Europe highly affected communities that had been isolated for centuries, causing devastation that exceeded the Black Death in 14th-century Europe.It is estimated that over 80-95 percent of indigenous people in the Americas died within the 150 years after Columbus first arrived in 1492. Indigenous communities were not biologically prepared to resist imported viruses and bacteria, including smallpox, chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, typhus, cholera, bubonic plague, and malaria. Disease was not a one-way street, however. In return, explorers brought venereal syphilis to Europe from the Americas after sexual encounters with indigenous peoples. Syphilis later spread to Africa and Asia at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.Global Cuisine: Plant ExchangeThe first illustration of peppers from Leonhart Fuchss De historia sitrpium commentarii insignes (Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants), 1543. Source: Wikimedia CommonsNumerous plant species made their way from the Americas to the Western world, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, cassava, tomatoes, chili peppers, cacao, peanuts, pineapple, vanilla, and tobacco. Most of these foods would later become popular and a significant part of European and Asian cuisine. For example, less spicy chili peppers became prominent in the Mediterranean diet, while spicier ones took hold in Asia, including India and Korea. Other examples are found in the popularity of powdered sweet chili peppers in Hungary (paprika), peanuts in Malaysia and Thailand, and tomatoes in different Mediterranean countries. Today, some of the largest consumers of potatoes are countries located in the Western hemisphere, such as Germany. Most of these foods, such as potatoes, corn, and cassava, were a more effective resource of calories and vitamins for Europeans than what they traditionally ate, which may have facilitated the population increase on the continent at that time.European discoveries in the Americas led to the intensive exploitation of different plant species, the quina plant being one of the most prominent. The cinchona, or quina plant, gained attention because of quinines medicinal properties, the only effective treatment against malaria. The plants medicinal use allowed European colonizers to survive in environments with malaria, and thereby effectively establish their colonies in other parts of the world, such as Africa. Further, the use of American lands for lucrative crops increased the labor demand, which indigenous and African people were forced to satisfy. These crops included sugar cane, coffee, and bananas.A more recent example of economic exchange under intense power imbalance and exploitation can be found in the case of the rubber tree. In the 18th century, Europeans and the United States discovered the properties of rubber, and industrialization in the Western world increased the demand for more effective materials. Rubber found in the Amazon was extracted and transported to different Western countries. This resulted in the massive destruction of indigenous communities, which were forced to work under poor conditions.Race, Ethnicity, and Cultural ExchangeCuadro de Castas (Castes painting), unknown artist, 18th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsYears of expansion of the Spanish empire over indigenous lands in the Americas, as well as the transportation of enslaved Africans to the continent, resulted in a rich but complex interchange of social, cultural, and religious knowledge. Christianity was imposed as colonizers worked to erase any trace of indigenous beliefs, resulting in a successful project to convert the American continent to a different moral and social structure. This has shaped most modern American societies until the present day. Moreover, to control the increasingly ethnically diverse populations, Spanish rule created a system of castes that organized every possible ethnic/racial combination into different categories with specific higher or lower status. This highly influenced how various ethnic groups saw each other and produced intense social segregation that persists today.Pieter Emmer studied the phenomena around the cultural exchange between America and Eurasia in an influential article titled The Myth of Early Globalization: The Atlantic Economy, 1500-1800, where he describes how the Columbian Exchange also resulted in the imposition of socioeconomic and cultural concepts previously unknown in the Americas, including beliefs surrounding private property, systematic monogamy, slavery, and sin.Human Trafficking: The Slave TradePlan section of the French slave ship La Marie Seraphique by Chteau des ducs de Bretagne, 1770. Source: AeonIt is calculated that over 12 million Africans were transported to the Americas in the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved Africans greatly outnumbered both indigenous people and Spanish settlers in the American territories. A primary driver of this imbalance was the need for laborers to replace the indigenous workforce that died of disease in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies as the demand for labor to sustain cultivation and society increased.While the horrors of slavery are well-known, less discussed are the cultural practices and knowledge these Africans brought with them that still survive in many places of the Americas today. One example is the Voodoo religion, which originated in West Africa and is still practiced today in Haiti and some regions of the US. Moreover, different dances and rhythms based on drums were imported from Africa and are still an essential part of many traditional dances in Colombia, Brazil, and Peru. In the case of Colombia, for example, the dance and music of Cumbia combine singing originating from indigenous communities, drum play from Africans, and the long skirts worn by Spanish women at the time.Columbian Exchange: Lessons LearnedPainting of a noblewoman with her black slave by Vicente Albn, 1783. Source: LACMA CollectionsThe Columbian Exchange was an important phenomenon in world history. Studying it reveals the ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural implications for the Americas triggered by Christopher Columbuss arrival and later exacerbated by colonial and imperialist powers expanding over American Indigenous territories. This encounter and exchange changed and intensely shaped existing American societies and cultures through the abrupt replacement of local indigenous societies with European social structures.This upheaval was combined with an intense exploitation of American land and the use of enslaved African and indigenous peoples to serve as a workforce. The geopolitically and ethnically divided societies in American countries today are a consequence of this historical moment. In the present day, this argument has gained more visibility among feminist, afro-descendant, and decolonial social movements that seek to reveal how history has influenced, in great part, the many social and economic inequalities currently in place in different countries of the Americas.Bibliography:Denevan, William M. 1976. Introduction to The Native Population of the Americas in 1492, ed. William M. Denevan, 112. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Newson, Linda. 2001. Pathogens, Places and Peoples. In Technology, Disease and Colonial Conquests, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries, ed. George Raudzens, 167210. Boston: Brill.Nunn, N., & Qian, N. (2010). The Columbian exchange: A history of disease, food, and ideas.Journal of Economic Perspectives,24(2), 163-188.

Papers invention was a revolutionary breakthrough. Following the invention of paper in 105 CE, forms of communication, learning, and record-keeping were drastically simplified. We track its rich history from ancient civilizations to the present day.What Materials Did People Use Before Paper?Cuneiform Tablet. Source: The New Invisible CollegeThe first instance occurred around 3200 BCE by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Their written language, called cuneiform, evolved from pictographs to characters scraped on clay tablets. The Sumerians recorded all aspects of their civilization. Thousands of cuneiform tablets still exist today. Despite their durability, clay tablets are hard to make.The papyrus plant of ancient Egypt, known for many uses, evolved to become writing material around 3000 BCE. Found both wild and grown by the Egyptians, papyruss lightweight and flexibility proved easier to work with than the blocky clay tablets. Papyrus grew readily in Egypts hot climate, sometimes two to three feet a month, and thus, it is very available for use. Papyruss use spread to Greece and Rome, slowly emerging as the primary writing material.Vellum Tome 15th Century. Source: Penn StatePapyrus, while popular, had competition despite obvious advantages. Papyrus grew in Egypt. So importation would be costly, making papyrus a luxury item. Vellum, made primarily from calf hide, produced locally reduced papyruss dominance.Vellums differences became clear when compared to papyrus. First came durability as vellum lasted longer, folded easier, and stood up to weather changes. Writing on vellum in Roman and medieval times showed the documents importance. These documents, scrolls, and books lasted centuries. More importantly, the vellums smoother surface allowed for better writing and art. Many medieval illuminated manuscripts used vellum over papyrus, among these being the Celtic Book of Kells.Christ Enthroned, from the Book of the Kells, c. 800, Columban monastery of Ireland or Scotland, Source: Trinity College DublinVellums local production versus papyruss importance came into play. Other hides used included goat and sheepskin. The most important pro for vellum came from re-use-it could be scraped and cleaned. Modern imaging found the work of Greek mathematician Archimidesin a 10th-century scroll; the work lay under a 13th-century Christian prayer book!Southeast Asia used their own unique writing surfaces-bamboo and palm leaves. Using styluses or sharp instruments, writers inscribed characters onto the sheets. The bamboo slips had silk backings to form scrolls. The palm leaves were dried flat sheet manuscripts strung with string, mostly for religious scripts.Who Discovered How to Make Paper?Mulberry Paper Frameses. Source: University of the PacificPaper, as the modern era knows (and uses) it, came from Chinas Han Dynasty. Specifically, a court official named Cai Lun in 105 CE. Hemp paper existed before Cai Luns discovery but proved challenging to manufacture. Cai Lun simplified the process by creating a pulp using old rags, hemp, and mulberry bark. Next, the pulp was pressed and dried into sheets. Cai Lun received a promotion to maquis and a fief in 114 CE for this amazing discovery.Why Was Paper a Game Changer?The Silk Road. Source: WikimediaFollowing the invention of paper, the writing game took a drastic turn. Paper slowly became the popular writing medium in China, using silk or hemp declined. By the 4th century CE, people regularly used paper. Use for government records and scholarly works became commonplace. The Imperial government even established a toilet paper fabrication department solely for the Emperor! And like any new secret, the rest of the world would catch on.Evidence pointing to papers dissemination began around the 6th century but soon accelerated. Two primary points are the 715 Battle of Talas and the Silk Road. At Talas, rumors circulated of captured Chinese craftsmen instructing their captors (though disputed by some sources). The continent-spanning Silk Road increased contacts outside the Empire and also spread the existence of paper.The Gutenberg printing press.After the Battle of Talas, the city of Samarkand emerged as the Muslim worlds paper source. This introduction contributed to the Golden Age of Islam. People now found books and learning much easier to come by.Later, particularly in the 12th century, papermaking spread to Europe. The use of parchment and vellum declined. Johannes Gutenbergs invention of the printing press secured paper as the primary material for books, printed works, and administration. Though expensive, paper mills cranked out product to meet demand. Like before, paper impacted the Renaissance by helping distribute knowledge.How Did Industrialization Make Paper Commonplace?20th Century Paper Mill. Source: University of WashingtonThough paper remained a common but expensive item, 19th-century industrialization brought use to the next level. Wood pulp caused costs to manufacture, use, and distribute paper to plummet. As the preferred medium, paper became ubiquitous for books, newspapers, currency, and packaging. Papers evolution from a mash of hemp, rags, and flax to the item spat out from a printer demonstrates its versatility. While useful and available locally, vellum and papyrus couldnt compete, particularly at cost. The time to prepare paper for use pales to the duration for the former materials. The race was decided at the get go by Cai Lun.