Sergei Filin had been receiving intimidating phone calls for a while, and had had his tyres punctured and his email hacked, but the acid attack that has shocked the dance world is beyond all reasoning. While police are not ruling out a personal vendetta, it is almost certainly an attack by someone who wants him removed from his position as head of the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet.
Gennady Yanin, who was a previous frontrunner for the job, was dropped after a successful smear campaign about his homosexuality and some explicit internet photos. At the time, Anatoly Iksanov, general director of the Bolshoi Theatre, said,
There are some people in the theatre who would like to take the job of artistic director, and they must have played a role in this mean intrigue.
The Filin attack goes way beyond ‘mean intrigue’.
Nikolay Tsiskaridze, another contender for the job in 2011, lost out to Filin. Soon losing this opportunity he was also dismissed as a teacher at the Bolshoi school, apparently for having criticized the restoration of the legendary theatre, though the official version was that a working dancer couldn’t have enough time for teaching commitments.
Tsiskaridze was furious,
I’m absolutely sure that this step by the Bolshoi Theatre proceeds exclusively from the desire to take revenge and teach a lesson to others.
… [continue reading]
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