Sergei Filin’s return to the Bolshoi after the acid attack. Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA. Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet since 2011, has had a rough few years. In 2013, he suffered an acid attack organized by a dancer who was unhappy with his casting decisions, and he continues to struggle with […]

Inside Yuri Possokhov’s latest premiere for his home company Photography by Quinn Wharton Bolshoi principal Yekaterina Shipulina lets loose in rehearsal. Possokhov demonstrates a partnering sequence on Shipulina. Yuri Possokhov left the Bolshoi Ballet in 1992 on a quest to dance more current work. He ended up developing a passion to choreograph that work himself, […]

Where is the company headed after a tumultuous year of scandal? Dance Magazine asked noted dance critic Ismene Brown for her take.   The Bolshoi’s historic theater. Photo by Thinkstock.   The world-famous Bolshoi Ballet became world-infamous last year. In January 2013 its artistic director was attacked with sulphuric acid, maimed and part-blinded—due to a […]

Participating in new work is a rare luxury at the Bolshoi, yet this past April, just two days after starring in the live HD broadcast of Marco Spada, Olga Smirnova found herself experimenting for the first time in the Bolshoi’s Studio 1. Oblivious to the chatter around her, she looked intently at choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot […]

Big Dancing in Small Parks  NEW YORK CITY  SummerStage is back, offering free outdoor performances in all five boroughs. This month, the Francesca Harper Project performs Harper’s Modo Fusion: Art Prototype, a foray into the world of beauty pageants that fuses dance with music and film in the East River Park, Aug. 16. In a […]

When Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin was verbally threatened by a disgruntled dancer last December, he had no way of foreseeing the nightmare that would follow. His email was hacked, his tires slashed, and on January 17 his face was doused with sulfuric acid, leaving him writhing in pain just outside his home. Shock rippled […]