Dancing In the Sexual Discourse

Limitations of Gender Subversion in Three Works of The Ballets Russes

This dissertation presents a psychosexual and gender analysis of three ballets that were created
by the Ballets Russes – Schéhérazade (1910), Le Spectre de la Rose (1911), and Petrushka
(1911). The aim of this work is to show how these ballets, which can be seen as provocative
and subversive to gender norms, were made in the constructs of the common gender perception
of 'masculinity' and 'femininity', and on the other hand to show how these 'queer' characters
were placed in an honourable place in popular culture since its premiere to the present day.