At the end of the twentieth century in the USSR and in Russia, the ballet "Swan Lake" received special significance, it became associated with important events in the socio-political life of the country.
How did it happen?
In the early eighties of the twentieth century, a series of mourning events fell upon the USSR. Within just three years, one after another, three general secretaries of the CPSU died at once - at that time, this was the main post in the country, corresponding to today's post of president. In 1982, Leonid Brezhnev died, he was replaced as General Secretary by Yuri Andropov, and just two years later, in 1984, Andropov passed away. After Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko became the head of the CPSU, a year after his appointment to the highest leadership post, he also died.
In those days when the country was in mourning for the next deceased General Secretary, of course, all entertainment programs were canceled on television and radio, films in a light, comedy genre were not shown. Instead, they broadcast records with concerts of classical minor music.
When once again a lot of classical music suddenly appeared on TV instead of previously announced programs and films, the population already understood that something had happened, even before the sad event was officially announced.
Swan Lake and the State Emergency Committee
In 1991, at the end of the existence of the USSR, the August coup took place in the country. The State Committee for the State of Emergency was formed. The members of the Committee removed Mikhail Gorbachev from governing the country of the first USSR and introduced a state of emergency. In the first hours of the coup, the planned order of the work of television and radio was again violated. Instead of the planned programs, repetitions of the statements of the participants of the State Emergency Committee to the citizens of the country and between them - classical music sounded on the air, the ballet "Swan Lake" was shown on TV.It was then that the stable association of the ballet "Swan Lake" with emergencies in the life of the country arose. Of all the classics that were broadcast on the air, the people most remembered "Swan Lake" and this ballet turned into a meme, its mention received an additional subtext.
Black Swan
The photo for the poster shows a black swan. The mention of the black swan also has a special meaning. A black swan is called unexpected events that were not predicted by anyone but occurred and are capable of radically changing the situation, leading to unexpected consequences.Photo: Dorothe Wouters / unsplash.com/photos/5Tk07JxMAyA