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Pavel Dmitrichenko - Back In Class


Cygnet

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What a strange world the Bolshoi is.  I just cannot imagine this at any other company.  If a dancer contracted with a criminal to "rough up" the AD of POB, RB, RDB or any other recognized company, he would not be in class.  Nor any other legitimate profession. 

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It deeply offends me. And, for the first time, as terrible as the situation has been, I find that it offends to the point I am reconsidering plans to see the Bolshoi in NY this summer. I doubt I could put something this ugly and this recent out of my head.

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11 hours ago, Drew said:

NY Times Story below.  I rather doubt things happened exactly as described in article (that is, in its quotes from Dmitrichenko), but still Vaziev's role in this leaves a decidedly sour taste in my mouth:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/arts/dance/out-of-prison-for-acid-attack-dancer-has-a-building-pass-from-the-bolshoi.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

 

can you summarize for those of us who are stuck behind the NYT paywall?

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2 hours ago, kbarber said:

can you summarize for those of us who are stuck behind the NYT paywall?

 

According to Dmitrichenko, he was granted permission to take company class by Makhar Vaziev. He and Filin have already crossed paths in the theater. Filin has not commented on the situation. His sister Elena Filina, who has spoken previously on his behalf through social media, responded to a request for comment by "unfriending" the reporter who asked. Press secretary Katerina Novikova has confirmed that Dmitrichenko has been given permission to take class, but that the matter of his returning to work at the Bolshoi is not under discussion at present. However, the article ends with speculation about Dmitrichenko returning to dance Ivan the Terrible during the Grigorovich 90th-birthday festival, which begins in January. [Ivan the Terrible is scheduled to run February 24-26.]

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8 hours ago, kbarber said:

 

can you summarize for those of us who are stuck behind the NYT paywall?

 

The part of the article to which I was specifically referring concerns what Dmitrichenko claims happened with Vaziev. Here is a quote:

 

"Mr. Dmitrichenko said he got his new Bolshoi pass when he happened to encounter for the first time the company’s new artistic director, Makhar K. Vaziev, on a Moscow street.  Mr. Vaziev offered the pass after Mr. Dmitrichenko, a former soloist, explained how he was trying to return to the profession, Mr. Dmitrichenko said."

 

Whatever actually happened, presumably Dmitrichenko couldn't take class at the Bolshoi there without Urin's approval and Vaziev's.

 

For the rest: the article summarizes a lot of what you likely know from elsewhere concerning the case itself and Dmitrichenko's and others' gripes with Filin and Dmitrichenko's claim that the case against him was fabricated. Also, reports on the the continued "balkanization" of the Bolshoi, unhealed wounds etc. (thought it does always strike me that these summaries leave out what seems to me not unimportant information concerning the Bolshoi's history, the trial, acts of harassment that preceded the acid throwing and that no-one to my knowledge has denied (slashed tires etc.) and indeed Filin's contributions to the Bolshoi as a director in the short time he was able to do anything).

 

The article quotes some as suggesting this is a maneuver by management to appease the Dmitrichenko faction without actually giving Dmitrichenko a job--a rationalization that I find very peculiar. 

 

"Ethically dubious decision" indeed...though I'm not able to be quite so urbane in my language!

Edited by Drew
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11 hours ago, kbarber said:

 

can you summarize for those of us who are stuck behind the NYT paywall?

 

The New York Times is inviting readers to take advantage of its reporting, analysis and commentary from the lead-up through the aftermath of the 2016 election. Readers will have unlimited access to NYTimes.com for 72 hours from 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, November 7 until 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 9.

 

The above paragraph is a quote from the New York Times

 

You can read the article in its entirety soon. And, you can read about the election, too. 

Edited by Stecyk
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9 hours ago, Drew said:

 

 

The article quotes some as suggesting this is a maneuver by management to appease the Dmitrichenko faction without actually giving Dmitrichenko a job--a rationalization that I find very peculiar. 

 

 

 

I don't find this too peculiar considering one of Dmitrichenko's biggest supporters is Grigorovich. 

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Oh for crying out loud. At the time of the Filin attack, Ratmansky wrote a Facebook post in which he criticized, among other things, the Bolshoi "klaka," meaning claque, not cesspool. I'm going to assume that a French journalist confused "claque" with "cloaque," and it may have been an honest mistake, but I am frustrated that journalistic laziness allows this mistranslation to persist.

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Wasn't able to read the article (seems to be behind a paywall)...but as irritating as it may be for the mistranslation  of Ratmansky's words to be repeated, I have to say that any theater that would entertain the possibility of  Dmitrichenko's return after all the things he admits to having done -- leaving aside whether he may have softened his role in the particulars of the acid throwing incident -- well, that theater would sound to me very much like a cesspool. 

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11 hours ago, Drew said:

Wasn't able to read the article (seems to be behind a paywall)...but as irritating as it may be for the mistranslation  of Ratmansky's words to be repeated, I have to say that any theater that would entertain the possibility of  Dmitrichenko's return after all the things he admits to having done -- leaving aside whether he may have softened his role in the particulars of the acid throwing incident -- well, that theater would sound to me very much like a cesspool. 

 

So what would you prefer him to do, beg on the streets?  In the UK ex-convicts reoffend because of employers' reluctance to give them work.  Are you someone that thinks punishment must continue for life, even after a prison sentence has been completed- or do you just feel that way about Dmitrichenko?

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Sure, if one of my employees has permanently disabled another and was convicted for it, i would welcome him or her back into my company with open arms, simply because he had specialized skills that have been dormant for years in which that is generally a career-ender in itself, and when I had a feeder system with new talent coming up the pipeline.

 

Perhaps his friend Tsiskaridze could offer him a job at the Mariinsky, or a friend through Grigorovich could help him be placed, because I'm sure outside the Bolshoi, he would have a less polarizing influence.

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6 hours ago, Mashinka said:

 

So what would you prefer him to do, beg on the streets?  In the UK ex-convicts reoffend because of employers' reluctance to give them work.  Are you someone that thinks punishment must continue for life, even after a prison sentence has been completed- or do you just feel that way about Dmitrichenko?

Not at all. He has done his time (as one says in the States). Let him get a job elsewhere  --  someplace he has not visited such terrible destruction and where his mere presence isn't the reopening of old and unhealed wounds and will not be a sign to others that arranging physical attacks on your colleagues is not considered a block to employment. For myself, I admit I prefer not to work somewhere where a colleague guilty of that level of harrassment (and worse) would be allowed to return to the job linked directly to his crimes. 

 

If he feels he must dance to work--There are dance companies and schools all over Russia where, at any rate, he could have a fresh start if he wants to try his luck with them. (Though I believe it is not uncommon for many who return from prison to find they need to change fields. I rather feel for those who do show remorse and an eagerness to reform, but in those cases I still don't expect their original employers to take them back especially when their crimes involved their FELLOW employees.)

Edited by Drew
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2 hours ago, Helene said:

Sure, if one of my employees has permanently disabled another and was convicted for it, i would welcome him or her back into my company with open arms, simply because he had specialized skills that have been dormant for years in which that is generally a career-ender in itself, and when I had a feeder system with new talent coming up the pipeline.

 

Perhaps his friend Tsiskaridze could offer him a job at the Mariinsky, or a friend through Grigorovich could help him be placed, because I'm sure outside the Bolshoi, he would have a less polarizing influence.

 

What if he had committed a violent sexual assault, would you feel the same?
 
In most organizations, if an employee initiates a physical altercation, he or she is gone, permanently. In many cases, if an employee melts down in an extreme temper tantrum, he or she is gone forever, too.
 
If a lawyer is convicted of fraud, he or she is likely disbarred for life. Most professions, in fact, expel their members if they are convicted of a criminal offence. Those who commit crimes must find an alternate career.
 
As Drew suggests, he is free to chose another profession or find another employer or both.
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Just now, Helene said:

Clearly my sarcasm was not effective.

 

Dis-barre-d is his case would be appropriate.

 

Ah, I am not familiar enough with your writing and your humor to catch your sarcasm. My mistake.

 

And, I like your "dis-barre-d." Very good.

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From an interview with Makhar Vaziev. (Sorry about my clumsy translation.)

 

Quote

It’s known that after his conditional release Pavel Dmitrichenko was allowed to rehearse at the Bolshoi Theater. Have you seen him in rehearsals and are there plans to reinstate this dancer into theater’s troupe?
 

Of course I’ve seen him. Pavel turned to me. We talked. He came to see me here, in the office. At first he seemed struck by this. He probably thought he would not be allowed into the theater again. I make no judgments about what happened. It’s not my affair. At the time I was working in a different country. A person was given a punishment, served it, came back. I treat him as an absolutely normal person. He turned to me: is there a possibility of returning to the theater? I said: “There’s absolutely no discussion of such a possibility today. If you want to prove yourself, then that’s another matter.” “Yes, I would like to!” “So it’s a matter of getting into shape?” “That would be my dream.”
 

He worked here for many years, and some think that we ought to have told him: no, go to another theater to get back into shape, and then come so that we can have a look at you? It seems to me we did the rational thing. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and desire with which he works, and taking into account the long hiatus he had, it’s simply amazing. He puffs, works like an ox. About the perspectives of returning: it can only be in accordance with the usual procedure. That’s it. In this sense he ought to have the same possibilities and rights as everyone else.

 

http://www.mk.ru/culture/2017/03/02/glava-baleta-bolshogo-teatra-vmeshatelstvo-cerkvi-v-iskusstvo-ochen-opasno.html

Edited by volcanohunter
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