Russia's most prestigious theatre company, the Bolshoi Ballet, is falling apart faster than a Russian made airplane. First, there was an attempted coup and acid attack on Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin. Then, leading male dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko admitted to masterminding the attack, only to later confess in a note from prison to his ballerina girlfriend that he had not ordered the acid attack and had been "forced to accept many things." There is a power struggle between principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze and General Director Anatoly Iksanov. And now, former soloist, Anastasia Volochkova, has claimed female dancers were forced to sleep with wealthy patrons and that the Bolshoi theatre is one giant brothel. If real life was like the Black Swan combined with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, this would be it. Only in Russia.
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