Bizarre Russian ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Video Features Nazi Dancing to Sinatra

Image by YouTube

By Maia Efrem April 21, 2016

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A recent episode of Russia’s “Dancing With the Stars” features a Foxtrotting Nazi dancing to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon.”

During the dance, actor Alexander Petrov plays a World War II German soldier chancing upon an abandoned piano as dancer Anastasia Antelava, playing a Russian woman, hides in fear. Within moments, Antelava disarms him and the two launch into a dance. That is, until she is shot dead mid spin. Petrov fires his rifle into the air, but is also killed.

The result is one of the most head-scratching videos we have seen in a while and induced more than a few “what the [bleep]?” comments around the newsroom.

Image by YouTube

Creators of the show, which airs on Russia’s state-owned Rossiya-1, have since apologized for the April 10 telecast of the dance. According to the statement, Petrov choreographed the dance to tell the story of “a tragic, doomed love between a Russian woman and a German, which causes him to drop his weapon and to die with her.”

Either way, we don’t think Sinatra would approve.

Watch the dance here:

Maia Efrem is the former research editor and assistant to the editor and was also responsible for the Forward’s annual Salary Survey. Previously she served as the editor of Blognik Beat, a blog written by students who emigrated from or have ties to the Former Soviet Union. Maia is a graduate of Hunter College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.