Dirty Dancing

Did a bitter feud at Moscow's famed Bolshoi Ballet prompt an acid attack on the company's artistic director?

Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for TIME

Filin leaves the hospital on Feb. 4. He has introduced contemporary productions to the Bolshoi repertoire

The snow was coming down in big, shimmery clumps on the night of Jan. 17, when Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, drove to his apartment building in the center of Moscow just before midnight. He was returning home from a gala attended by the city's theatrical elite. After parking near the gate of his building, he was punching in its security code when he sensed someone standing behind him. He turned to find a man whose face was covered with a scarf or mask. Before Filin could turn away, the man splashed a jar of sulfuric acid--a...

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