 Pussy Riot is a collective formed in August 2011. Their name is in English and is written in the Latin rather than Cyrillic alphabet. It usually appears thus in the Russian press, but sometimes the name is transliterated as "Пусси Райот". It comprises around 11 performers and about 15 people who handle the technical work of shooting and editing their videos, which are posted on the Internet. Their costumes are usually brightly colored dresses and tights, even in bitterly cold weather, with their faces masked by balaclavas, both while performing and during interviews. During interviews they use nicknames such as "Balaclava", "Cat", "Seraph", "Terminator", and "Blondie". In an interview with Gazeta.ru, a band member described their two-minute concerts as performance art, creating images of "pure protest, saying: super heroes in balaclavas and acid bright tights seize public space in Moscow." Another band member, who goes by the pseudonym Garadzha, told the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper that the group is open to women recruits with limited musical talents. She said: "You don 't have to sing very well. It's punk. You just scream a lot."
