Sergei Filin

Ballet career

Filin was born in Moscow. He started dancing at age seven at the children's ensemble V. Lokteva of folk dances. At this time, he appeared with Oleg Popov in the film The Sun in the Bag. At the age of nine, he was accepted into the Moscow Choreographic Institute. In 1988, he joined the Corps de Ballet of the Bolshoi Ballet Company in Moscow.

He was promoted to the rank of principal with the Bolshoi Ballet Company in 1990. He was also a principal dancer with the State Ballet of Georgia and guest soloist with the Vienna State Opera. His dance partners have included Galina Stepanenko, Nina Ananiashvili, Svetlana Lunkina, Maria Alexandrova, Svetlana Zakharova, and Natalia Osipova.

Among his repertoire, Filin danced as Colas in La Fille Mal Gardée, the Teacher in The Lesson, and as Classical Dancer in The Bright Stream, a role for which he received the prestigious award Golden Mask.

In December 2004, Filin suffered a severe injury while performing on stage at the Bolshoi Theatre. This incident put his career on hold for several months, before returning to the dance scene in the second half of the following year.

On March 18, 2011, he was appointed to serve as the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. In this capacity, he has led the Bolshoi Ballet Tours in Paris, Japan and North America.

Acid attack

On January 17, 2013, Filin was attacked with acid by an unknown assailant, who cornered him outside of his home in Moscow. He suffered third-degree burns to his face and neck. While it was initially reported that he was in danger of losing his eyesight, his physicians stated on January 21, 2013, that he would retain eyesight in one eye.

A confession to the attack was made by a man named Yury Zarutsky on March 5, 2013. He stated that Bolshoi Ballet Company dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko had hired both him and another man called Andrei Lipatov to attack Filin. According to Zarutsky, Lipatov drove him to Filin's home where he threw the acid in Filin's face. Following the confession, a spokesman from the Russian Interior Ministry stated that investigators considered the case closed. By March 7, all three men confessed to the crime. Dmitrichenko confessed to arranging the attack, but maintained that he had not instructed the two men to use acid.

The attack came after a lengthy period of infighting and rows within the Bolshoi Ballet Company. Various motives have been presented by Russian police officials, primarily focusing on "personal hostile relations linked to their professional activities". Russia's television news and tabloid journalists surmised that Dmitrichenko was angry when Filin chose another dancer rather than Dmitrichenko's girlfriend, ballerina Anzhelina Vorontsova to portray Princess Odette, also known as the Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Dmitrichenko stated during a bail hearing that he was frustrated with the inequitable and "unjust" allocation of funds distributed to dancers in the company. When he voiced his frustration, Zarutsky suggested that they "beat up" Filin. In the courtroom, the judge questioned Dmitrichenko whether or not he would like to apologize to Filin. Dmitrichenko defiantly responded with "For what?" At that point, the judge denied bail, which resulted in incarceration for six weeks, while investigators and attorneys prepared for the trial. The three men who confessed to the crime faced a maximum sentence of 12 years. Dmitrichenko was sentenced to six years in prison, but he was released early for good behavior in May 2016. In October 2016, Dmitrichenko was granted a building pass to the Bolshoi Theater, and returned for morning exercises.

Roles

Honors and awards