Janice Ross, a professor of theater and performance studies at Stanford, has studied how ballet gave voice to political protest and challenged the Soviet regime in the works of Russian choreographer Leonid Yakobson (1904-1975), particularly in his well-known Spartacus.

As reported in Stanford News, “The key to understanding Yakobson's personal and professional life was Irina Yakobson, his widow, who gave Ross extant films, photographs, and writings pertaining to her husband's work. Ross recently donated these items to Stanford University Libraries, which now holds the world's largest archival collection of film footage and photographs of Yakobson's ballets.”

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/october/russian-dance-scholar-100413.html