In using the phrase 'Danse Russe,' Williams Carlos Williams makes an overt allusion to a famous dance piece. He does so to add some levity to the scene that he depicts. Though the speaker's actions have little to do with the ballet Williams is referencing, the comparison immediately makes the reader envision a very different sort of dance sequence.
The title of the poem is borrowed from a scene from The Nutcracker, a ballet initially choreographed by Lev Ivanov and Marius Peptipa with music by the famous Russian composer Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky. The Nutcracker recounts the events of a Christmas Eve during which a young girl named Clara goes on a fantastical adventure with a nutcracker that has come to life. They battle the villainous Mouse King and his army before running off into a snowy forest. After traversing this forest, Clara and her companion come to the Land of Sweets, which is under governance by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Fairy thanks them for saving him from the Mouse King and shows them a variety of candy-themed dances. The Russian Dance (or "Danse Russe") occurs when a delegation of dancers bring Russian candy canes to court. The scene is a short one, in which the Russians do a traditional dance to an upbeat and lifting tune. It is a scene filled with leaps, kicks, and spins, giving it a very lighthearted mood throughout.
Williams's use of this allusion proves to be thematically essential to the poem. While initially it might seem to invest it with formality, it actually clarifies what the poem is about. By drawing a parallel to this whimsical scene in The Nutcracker, the poem is positing Williams's speaker as a figure of joyful comedy. He also gives this mundane moment in a small domestic space a more fantastic significance. The reader can envision the speaker twirling like one of the Russian villagers, even though he is simply alone before his mirror. It is a reference that playfully borrows the atmosphere of the ballet's music and dance, while offering a contrasting image of its action.
