Dirty Dancing

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

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Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for TIME

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

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Walking me through the theater on a recent afternoon, Tsiskaridze stops at light fixtures, doorknobs and picture frames. "Does this look like gold to you? Does this look like crystal? Touch it! This is what Iksanov did to our theater!" In the past year Tsiskaridze's sneers at the quality of the renovation have echoed throughout the Russian media as the Bolshoi has settled back into its historic home after six years in an adjunct theater. Tsiskaridze felt that the craftsmanship was poor enough for Iksanov to be dismissed, and he said so to anyone who listened, which infuriated his boss.

Over the years, their feud has rippled throughout the company as performers and their teachers have felt pressure to take sides. Two of the most gifted young dancers to study under Tsiskaridze, Anzhelina Vorontsova and Denis Rodkin, whom he has trained since they came to the Bolshoi, say they believe they have been docked pay and refused roles because of their affiliation with Tsiskaridze. "It kills me," says Rodkin. "You have to choose between your loyalty and your ambition here." Other dancers say their seniors discourage them from even taking classes with Tsiskaridze for fear it could hurt their chances of winning a role. Iksanov says these are groundless fears.

In November, about a dozen Tsiskaridze supporters, including directors of other prestigious theaters in Moscow, made a last-ditch effort to end the standoff. They sent a letter appealing to Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, to appoint Tsiskaridze general director of the Bolshoi instead of Iksanov. The public bickering at the nation's proudest cultural landmark has long annoyed the President, who has sought for it to exude the same stoic strength he flaunts during his bare-chested publicity stunts. Putin ignored the letter, and that same month the Culture Ministry, which oversees the state-owned theater and usually backs Iksanov, extended his contract until 2014. "Tsiskaridze should have resigned after that letter," says Katerina Novikova, the Bolshoi's press secretary, who is loyal to Iksanov. But Tsiskaridze has no intention of resigning. When we met recently at a Georgian restaurant down the street from the Bolshoi--Tsiskaridze is a native of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi--he was as defiant as ever. "I am the Bolshoi," he says, digging into a plate of khinkali, a kind of meat dumpling. "This is my home. Nothing will make me leave my home."

Burning Passions

The letter to Putin seemed to only inflame the tensions at the Bolshoi. Filin's consistent effort to renew the repertoire, bringing in contemporary dancers and choreographers from abroad, continued to ruffle feathers among traditionalists. This winter he began to face a campaign of harassment. After the acid attack, he told reporters that he had received prank calls in December that left his phone ringing at all hours of the night. His e-mail account was hacked, police say, and his messages were posted online. A few days before the attack, two of his car's tires were slashed, and on the eve of the attack, he apparently went to Iksanov to ask for help. "He told me that he feels like he's on the front line here," Iksanov said at a press conference the day after the attack. "I told him, 'We all feel like we're on the front lines.'"

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