More Barbs For Bolshoi Ballerina

A dancer who quit the Bolshoi ballet this year threw his weight behind the theater in its battle with a top ballerina who was fired last week, saying in an interview published Wednesday that Anastasia Volochkova had become heavy to lift and hard to work with.

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

Yevgeny Ivanchenko, who left the Bolshoi this summer, told the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta that he had stopped dancing with Volochkova in part because of concerns about his physical condition.

"I think it became difficult to work both with Volochkova at the Bolshoi and here," Ivanchenko said, referring to the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where he continues to dance. "I decided to protect my health."

Asked whether it was hard to dance with Volochkova because of her weight, he said, "The last time - yes. In principle, it was possible to suffer an injury."

Volochkova's one-time partner had few kind words for the dancer, saying that his comments in a televised interview in which he appeared to praise her were taken out of context.

He also said that he had been asked during that interview whether anyone else could dance with Volochkova, and had replied that "in principle anyone could dance with her, as long as they feel like lifting her."

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

Volochkova has danced in heavily promoted performances outside the Bolshoi, and many Russians see her more as a show biz figure than as a classical ballerina. She faced criticism from the Russian press when her rift with the Bolshoi management became public two weeks before her dismissal was announced.

Ivanchenko said the Bolshoi had the right to hire and fire people as it wishes and criticized Volochkova for making public comments about her dismissal.

"Of course there's nothing good about this," Rossiiskaya Gazeta quoted him as saying. "The Bolshoi Theater is the Bolshoi Theater. And one should not cast it in the light that everyone there is bad, that they force everybody out."

"If I were in Nastya's place, I wouldn't have done that," he said, using the short name for Anastasia. "Everything should be resolved quietly and calmly."

By Steve Gutterman