Bolshoi acts as oligarch brothel, says ballerina

 
20 March 2013

A Bolshoi prima ballerina who was sacked “for being fat” has accused the company of acting as a “giant brothel” for wealthy supporters.

Anastasia Volochkova, who won a lawsuit over her treatment, said dancers were threatened with not being allowed to perform if they declined to go to bed with patrons.

The accusations are the latest blow to hit the Bolshoi, which is still reeling from an acid attack on its artistic director Sergei Filin.

Speaking on a TV chat show and then repeating the claims on the Russian News Service radio station, Volochkova, 37, claimed she “repeatedly received such propositions to share the beds of oligarchs” when she worked at the Bolshoi.

“The girls were forced to go along to grand dinners and given advance warning that afterwards they would be expected to go to bed and have sex,” she said. “When the girls asked: ‘What happens if we refuse?’, they were told they would not go on tour or even perform at the Bolshoi theatre.”

Anatoly Iksanov, the company’s general director who fired Volochkova in 2003 for being too heavy, said: “I don’t comment on dirt and ravings.”

The claims came after Bolshoi dancers Pavel Dmitrichenko was charged with ordering the attack which left Filin fighting for his sight.

More than 300 theatre staff have signed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin suggesting the dancer had been pressured into confessing.

Dmitrichenko admits agreeing that a contact should beat up Filin but denied ordering an acid attack.

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