Northern (N): Soviet Union (NS). Proposals for Ballet Exchanges between the Soviet Union and the UK

A file of correspondence and press material concerning cultural relations with the Soviet Union. The documents discuss an invitation from the Society for Cultural Relations with the U.S.S.R. to a number of British dignitaries to travel to Moscow "to see the ballet". The discussion covers the question of what guidance the Foreign Office should issue regarding this invitation; the decision that the Foreign Office could not give advice to refuse the invitation; and the recognition that, for those who decide to go to Moscow, this visit would "certainly be exploited for Communist propaganda purposes". The documents also include a comment on a potential visit to London by the Bolshoi Ballet Company of Moscow; a series of articles in the British press about this possible visit; and a discussion of a Soviet invitation to Ninette de Valois, a famous British ballet dancer, to visit the Soviet Union.