Bolshoi Ballet Director Injured In Acid Attack

Sergei Filin, center, poses with members of the Bolshoi Theater company in September 2011. (Mikhail Metzel/AP)

The artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, 42-year-old Sergei Filin, may lose his eyesight, after a masked man threw acid in his face as he was leaving his apartment building in Moscow late Thursday.

Filin, a former Bolshoi star, became director of the famed Bolshoi Theater two years ago.

He immediately drew fire decisions he made, such as hiring American ballet star David Hallberg as a principal dancer, and giving Hallberg the starring role on the night the company’s theater re-opened after extensive renovations.

• Related: H&N interview with David Hallberg (June 2012)

A Bolshoi spokesperson told Russian television, “We never imagined that a war for roles… could reach this level of crime.”

• Russia Today: Masked Moscow attacker throws acid at face of Bolshoi Theater’s artistic director
• Dance Magazine: Inside Sergei Filin’s Bolshoi Ballet

Guest:

• Luke Jennings, dance critic for The Observer in London. He tweets @LukeJennings1.