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01 DEC 16
Bolshoi Theatre chief Vladimir Urin has deepened the confusion about the current access to Bolshoi Ballet classes by the acid attack dancer, Pavel Dmitrichenko, by failing to rule out his possible return to the company itself.
Three years exactly since Dmitrichenko was convicted and sentenced for organizing an attack on his boss, the Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, the RIA Novosti news agency reports that Urin has only dismissed the possibility 'for now' of Dmitrichenko's returning as a dancer - and only because he is not judged to be in good enough ballet shape after his release from prison.
Urin appears to concede that if Dmitrichenko does recover the required ballet fitness, he could apply for a vacancy like any other dancer.
There is no other reason mentioned in the item relevant to Dmitrichenko's return, no reference to moral consequences or company discipline, given that his victim, the part-blinded former artistic director Sergei Filin, remains on staff at the theatre heading its choreographers' programme.
Here is a translation of this curious item, which by its very non-commitment, seems to be a signal of some kind - though which way it should be read I can't guess.
Urin: question of a vacancy
Bolshoi Theatre chief Vladimir Urin has denied that there is any question at the moment of the return to the Bolshoi company of former soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko. It had earlier been made known that Dmitrichenko, on being released from jail, was permitted to work at the Bolshoi in order to get back to ballet shape.
Urin said: ‘He (Dmitrichenko) asked for the chance to work in class. That permission was granted. But the question of his return to the Bolshoi company does not arise, because he is not in the right ballet shape required of a Bolshoi artist. If he does manage to get back in shape, then the question would be decided should there be a vacancy.’
He said that Dmitrichenko could enter the theatre only on a general basis. ‘He can apply for the opportunity to return on the same general basis of young graduate dancers. But this is for some day in the future,’ said Urin.
Dmitrichenko was jailed for five and a half years for the attack on the Bolshoi ballet’s artistic director Sergei Filin, and was released on parole. The attack on Filin took place in Moscow on 17 January 2013; acid was thrown in his face, resulting in hospitalisation with third-degree burns to his face and eyes. Filin underwent more than 20 operations on his eyes.
Filin's attacker back in class at Bolshoi
The outsider who got inside the Bolshoi
Dmitrichenko paroled for good behaviour
' If he does manage to get back in shape, then the question would be decided should there be a vacancy'
Urin: no Dmitrichenko return – for now
Dmitrichenko in court, pic Andrei Stenin/RIA Novosti