Oliver Smith's Set Design for Rodeo
After World War II, the U.S. State Department needed propaganda to help combat anti-Americanism and the spread of communism. In 1950, under the auspices of President Harry Truman, Ballet Theatre, traveling as the American National Ballet Theatre, was deployed abroad to perform works ranging from the classically based Les Sylphides to a tale of the western frontier, Rodeo. They appeared in Germany, a European “hot spot” of the Cold War, and in Latin America, where widespread poverty raised U.S. fears that socialism and communism might become popular.
After World War II, the U.S. State Department needed propaganda to help combat anti-Americanism and the spread of communism. In 1950, under the auspices of President Harry Truman, Ballet Theatre, traveling as the American National Ballet Theatre, was deployed abroad to perform works ranging from the classically based <em>Les Sylphides</em> to a tale of the western frontier, <em>Rodeo</em>. They appeared in Germany, a European “hot spot” of the Cold War, and in Latin America, where widespread poverty raised U.S. fears that socialism and communism might become popular.