- previous
- 1
- 2
- | single page
Before the company's appearance in Los Angeles, former Times dance critic Lewis Segal reported on unhappiness within the company.
"The administration doesn't want any stars," dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze told Segal. "They want people who can be substituted for anyone else and nobody will notice the difference. To them, it doesn't matter who dances because the house will always be full."
The atmosphere within the Bolshoi can often be strained for various reasons.
"The Bolshoi isn't just a place for art. It's also a place of government," said Serobian, who runs the online site Dance Channel TV.
He said dancers often advance with the company because of connections within the government or to company leaders, and this can cause animosity within the ranks. At the Bolshoi, "you know who is your friend or not," said Serobian.
Fierce competition is common within major dance organizations and was the subject of the 2010 movie "Black Swan," starring Natalie Portman, about a fictional New York dance company.
But an attack of the severity suffered by Filin is a rarity.
Filin has had several surgical procedures to restore his eyesight.
Filin had told Segal he saw "Swan Lake" in terms of "internal conflicts between ideal love, reality and the imperfections of human nature."
In his 2012 story, Segal came to a sanguine conclusion:
"Those internal conflicts and imperfections are very, very evident in the reality of the Bolshoi Ballet 2012. But there's still plenty of hope for ideal love."
Ng reported from Los Angeles and special correspondent Narizhnaya from Moscow. Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report in Moscow.
