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The Schmooze

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

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:

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