Bolshoi head quits over erotic photos

Gennady Yanin steps down after link to a website with the photos is sent to thousands of email addresses The director of the Bolshoi theatre’s ballet troupe has stepped down after erotic photos of him appeared on the internet in an apparent dirty tricks campaign to force him from his job. Gennady Yanin quietly stepped down last week after an email containing a link to a website with the erotic photographs was sent to thousands of email addresses in Russia and abroad. The website is now down. The Bolshoi’s longtime soloist Yan Godovsky, 37, was named as his replacement this week. He is due to hold the position until the end of the 2011 season, when his contract will come up for renewal. “The current situation is not seen as critical inside the theatre,” a ballet spokeswoman, Yekaterina Novikova, told the state-run news agency RIA-Novosti. “The entire repertoire is set, as is the tour schedule.” Russian critics decried the latest scandal engulfing one of Russia’s leading cultural institutions. “Despite all the vileness of this act, it reached its goal,” wrote Tatyana Kuznetsova, a critic at Russia’s leading daily, Kommersant. Kuznetsova heaped praise on Godovsky for having an “irreproachable reputation, both personally and professionally”. The 234-year-old theatre has seen various scandals in recent years. In 2003, it dominated tabloid magazines for weeks after the prima ballerina Anastasia Volochkova was fired for being too heavy . The theatre itself has been shut since 2005 for renovations that have run over budget and well over schedule. Its reopening, first scheduled for 2008, is now set for later this year. The Bolshoi ballet also lost its artistic director this week, when Yury Burlak’s contract expired on Tuesday. A replacement has not yet been named. Bolshoi Ballet Russia Dance Europe Miriam Elder guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.