firing of dancers by Grigorovitch

[silvy]

I read today in an old thread about a phase in the Bolshoi history when various dancers were fired from the company. To be honest, I knew little to nothing about that. Can anybody please give more details (names, etc)? Or else, where I should look them for.

Thanks a lot and sorry for bothering

Silvy

[FauxPas]

There was a big contretemps in the early eighties (c. 1983) when Grigorivich wanted to premiere his own choreography to the Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet". Mikhail Lavrovsky (son of the original choreographer), Vasiliev, Maximova, Plisetskaya and others were concerned that the Leonid Lavrovsky choreography would be dropped from the repertoire. They wanted it to at least alternate with the new version. The fight turned ugly and Grigorivich made a new rule that all dancers over 49 had to retire, thus getting rid of the old guard who were standing in his way. However, his wife Bessmertnova was exempted from this rule...

[silvy]

Thank you Faux Pas - do you know the names? Or where can I get that info?

Also wonder if there is a history of the Bolshoi in the form of a book, etc.

silvy