Buxom Ballerina Beats Bolshoi

Russia's Labor Ministry put the dispute over a top dancer's firing from the Bolshoi ballet back in the spotlight on Monday, calling her dismissal illegal and saying she should be back at the barre at the renowned theater.

The ministry's Federal Labor Inspectorate reviewed a complaint from dancer Anastasia Volochkova and determined that the Bolshoi violated the law when it dismissed her, said Andrei Pryanishnikov, a spokesman for Labor Minister Alexander Pochinok.

"The Bolshoi Theater personnel department has breached the law," the Interfax news agency quoted Pochinok as saying. "The inspectorate said that Anastasia Volochkova should be restored to her position."

Pryanishnikov said the ministry's finding did not necessarily mean that Volochkova's reinstatement would be mandatory. He did not give details about the grounds for the inspectorate's decision.

Volochkova, 27, was fired from the Bolshoi Theater two weeks ago amid a contract dispute and claims by theater officials that they could not find partners to dance with her because she was too big.

The ballerina said that the theater offered a contract through December, instead of a customary one-year deal, and that it refused to promise her parts in already scheduled performances.

The Bolshoi has said it wants to give a free hand to a new ballet director who takes over in January, when the contract would have expired. The controversy spilled into the open in early September and attracted a lot of media attention.

Volochkova has dismissed the allegations that she was too big and said her numerous partners had never complained. After her dismissal was announced, she said that she weighs about 110 pounds and is 5 feet 6 inches tall.

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