ibaya Wrote:I wonder if the sunburst vs. lyre badge has anything to do with the venue. The sunburst badge indicated assignment to an honor guard in a capital or hero city. If they were performing outside the country, the lyre would have been worn(?).
Interesting theory...though you have to remember, the 'Total Balalaika Show' was set in Helsinki--indeed, the show was performed right next to the Finnish Parliament Building.
In retrospect, I think the Red Army Choir was always considered the "equivalent" of an honor guard company, in some degree--the photographs from the 1970s/early 1980s simply predate the usage of sunburst badges on honor guard units (uniforms still have alguilettes and enlisted caps still have golden cords). Perhaps the honor guard status had been revoked by 1994--or it might have had to do with the fact that, in 1994, their performance was in celebration of the final units of the Allied occupation leaving Berlin?
As for the female members of the ensemble (who primarily make up the dancing portion, as it is an all-male choir), you rarely see them in uniform anyway--they, along with their male counterparts in the dance ensemble, wear traditional Russian attire of a various types (during the Total Balalaika Show, Cossack's Dancing attire seemed very common, I think).
