Classical dance and Mediterranean imaginaries: Jia Ruskaja in Fascist Italy.

This article examines the career and influence of Jia Ruskaja (Evgeniya Borisenko, 1902–1970), a Russian-born dancer and choreographer who became a prominent figure in Italy’s dance scene during the 1930s and 1940s. Ruskaja, author of *La danza come un modo di essere* (1927), directed Milan’s Teatro alla Scala dance school and later the Royal School for Classical Dance in Rome, where she integrated ballet training with modern dance inspired by ancient Greek aesthetics and Mediterranean cultural identity. Supported and subsidized by the Fascist regime, her schools aimed to educate young women in a disciplined, ideologically aligned physical culture that combined classical ballet technique, rhythmic gymnastics, and a modernized interpretation of “classical dance” as a form of cultural and political expression. The article situates Ruskaja’s work within broader Fascist educational reforms, the revival of ancient theatrical traditions, and the regime’s gender politics, highlighting the complex interplay between modernism, nationalism, and classical heritage in Italian dance during this period.