Bolshoi must reinstate dismissed ballet dancer

MOSCOW -- Thanks to Russia's Labor Ministry, ballerina Anastasia Volochkova may be back at the Bolshoi for an encore.

Labor officials on Tuesday ordered the Bolshoi Theater to reinstate Volochkova, who was fired two weeks ago amid allegations from other dancers that she was too heavy to lift.

The Labor Ministry ruled her dismissal violated labor law, saying she must be rehired by Oct. 6 and given back wages, said Andrei Pryanishnikov, a spokesman for Labor Minister Alexander Pochinok.

Bolshoi spokesman Katerina Novikova said it was too early to comment on how the Bolshoi would react to the decision. Pryanishnikov insisted the Bolshoi has no choice but to comply.

Volochkova, a stylish blonde who exudes movie-star glamour, was fired amid a contract dispute and claims by theater officials that they could not find partners to dance with her because she is too big.

The Russian press denigrated her with headlines such as "Not even bears could hold her" and discussed her ability as more suitable for pop-ballet performances than the graceful Russian tradition associated with greats such as Maya Plisetskaya and others.

Volochkova, who continues to draw in large crowds for performances outside the Bolshoi, has dismissed the allegations that she was too big and said her numerous partners had never complained. After her dismissal was announced, the dancer said that she weighs about 110 pounds and is 5-feet-6.

But a former partner who quit the Bolshoi this year, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, threw his weight behind the theater in an interview published last week, saying the 27-year-old ballerina had become heavy to lift and that dancing with her meant risking injury.

The Bolshoi has insisted the issue ran deeper than her size, saying it fired Volochkova after she refused to sign a proposed contract.

Volochkova complained the contract ran only through December, instead of the customary one-year deal, and that the Bolshoi refused to promise her parts in already scheduled performances. The Bolshoi had said it wanted to give a free hand to a new ballet director who takes over in January.

After her firing, Volochkova turned to the Labor Ministry, asking them to investigate the theater's decision. Pryanishnikov did not explain the grounds for the order to revoke her firing. But the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Pochinok as saying that the labor inspectorate uncovered "rude violations" of existing Russian labor legislation.

According to ITAR-Tass, Pochinok said the Bolshoi violated the law by dismissing her in September, many weeks after her previous contract expired. By law, the theater was required to give Volochkova at least three days' notice before the contract ran out, he said.

Even if Volochkova is reinstated, it is not clear whether she would dance for the Bolshoi again. The theater has a large corps of ballerinas to choose from and could easily sideline her.

But Volochkova has a significant number of supporters, including the powerful pro-Kremlin political party United Russia, which she has joined.

She also has given no indication that she intends to back down.

"Certainly I want very much to start a lawsuit versus the Bolshoi theater director, specifically for moral damage," she told Russia's ORT television Monday. "And the matter here is not the money. ... I have already decided that if I win the suit, if I win a large amount of money I am going to seek, it will go straight to charity."