Sergei Filin

[Marissa]

Thank you Clarissa. I saw that article and was very curious about what was in it. It is a huge relief to hear that his blindness is only temporary and that he at least has some vision in his left eye.

[Clarissa]

"Sergei Filin did suffer grievous harm", twitted Ismene Brown about her new article

 

http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2013/5/13_Dmitrichenko_faces_12_years_jail_as_Filin_grievous_bodily_harm_confirmed.html

[Clarissa]

Moscow. May 20. INTERFAX.RU - Sergei Filin has undergone a surgery involving eye tissue transplantation. This operation took place two weeks ago at the University clinic of Aachen . Doctors say that recovery could be long. His eyes are permanently closed, so the donated tissue could take root.http://www.interfax.ru/world/news.asp?id=307608#.UZqksXrtZko.twitter

[Clarissa]

Nikolay Tsiskaridze shares his opinion on the Filin's case in the recent interview to Бизнес Online Tatarstan news site  http://www.business-gazeta.ru/article/80429/

 

Quote:

 How, do you think, will the story with Sergei Filin end?

- I do not know, it is not interesting to me . All that 's happening lately, is just a farce, it seems to me. And besides, in recent months, all the time they mention my name, and I think they use my name for the promotion. No one reads the news, because they are not interesting, but, using my name, they attract attention. It is ridiculous.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Clarissa

[Marissa]

Thanks Clarissa. I've been wondering when they were going to do the eye tissue transplantation. I'm glad that it's been done and I hope and pray that is was successful and that his vision will be restored.

[Clarissa]

Thanks Clarissa. I've been wondering when they were going to do the eye tissue transplantation. I'm glad that it's been done and I hope and pray that is was successful and that his vision will be restored.

 And here you can find more about it, there are some new articles written by Ismene Brown: http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Blog.html

[Marissa]

Thanks again, Clarissa.  Looking at those photos of Sergei's burned face, I can't believe that anyone could question the severity of his injuries. 

[Clarissa]

A few lines from the interview with A. Ratmansky:   

 

Have you been in touch with Sergei Filin [artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet] after the acid attack on him in January and what do you think about it now?

It’s terrifying. He’s a very strong person I think he’ll be back.

Maybe this thing will shake the Bolshoi and they will make some changes within the work ethic and it will help the company to get stronger and better. It’s a big institution. It functions and it functions well even during this terrible accident

What is Sergei’s condition now?

I talked to him last week and he mentioned right now he is opening his eyes and he will have a few more surgeries and keep doing that. He sounded very optimistic.

 

http://dancelines.com.au/qa-ratmansky/

[Farfallina]

RIA Novosti just published an article saying that next week SF will undergo the 17th operation on his eyes. They quote Anatoli Iksanov that he is constantly in touch with SF, that he is in good spirits, but there still is no prognosis when he will be able to return to Moscow.

 

The link is to a German article.

http://de.ria.ru/society/20130530/266217279.html

[Clarissa]

Read this post by Ismene Brown, here she translates  Sergei Filin's message to his friends and supporters on FB .http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2013/6/6_Filins_cry_from_Facebook.html

[Marissa]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/dance/article3795397.ece

 

I don't have a subscription so I was only able to read the first paragraph but this is certainly very depressing and upsetting news.    And it makes me even more angry when I read about Tsiskaridze and Dmitrichenko and his supporters claiming that Filin is faking or exaggerating his injuries. The thought of him spending the rest of his life blind just makes me sick.

[Clarissa]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/dance/article3795397.ece

 

I don't have a subscription so I was only able to read the first paragraph but this is certainly very depressing and upsetting news.    And it makes me even more angry when I read about Tsiskaridze and Dmitrichenko and his supporters claiming that Filin is faking or exaggerating his injuries. The thought of him spending the rest of his life blind just makes me sick.

 

 

This article gives a new number, which is strange, because a couple of days ago Sergei Filin said, he has 10 percent of vision on his left eye. There is a person in the same hospital with Sergei, treating his eyes after an acid attack too, so his wife said, Sergei eyes are stitched all the time.  Let us remember that the results of the transplant tissue operation usually  become obvious in a few weeks time . Let's l hope he will be able to see, because his treatment goes according the plan. Personally, I believe, doctors will find a solution, even if they  need to do the same operation one more time.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Clarissa

[Marissa]

I sure hope so, Clarissa. Even if they can only restore vision in his left eye at least he would be able to see.

[Wulff]

Not good news, I fear. According to an article in today's "Times" Sergei has now lost 95% of his vision and the prolonged treatment at the specialised clinic in Germany has failed to halt the deterioration. A spokeswoman for the Bolshoi, Katerina Novikova said that he was now blind in his right eye and had very little vision in his left. According to the Bolshoi he is determined to return to work as a matter of pride "at least for a while" He still participates in the daily decisions, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to work out how he would fully resume his former responsibilities unless his sight improves.

[Sim]

I wonder how Tsiskaridze feels now, having accused him of exaggerating what happened to him? I'm afraid his behaviour throughout this tragic episode has put me off him even more than his previous arrogance did.

[Anjuli_Bai]

What an utter tragedy.

[LinMM]

The whole thing is just completely unbelievable.

[MAB]

Sim, if you read this thread back you will discover that some of the regular contributors to the forum commented on the remarkably unblemished appearance of Filin's face just a couple of weeks after the alleged incident.  There was also comment on how surprising this looked compared to a young London girl who had suffered an acid attack around the same time.  Filin's face looked a little swollen but otherwise okay, had I not been told what had happened I would have said he had just had a chemical peel which is a cosmetic procedure.  Early reports about his eyes were very positive too, in fact the more I read about this case the more confusing it becomes. 

 

Under the circumstances I don't think there is anything unusual about Tsiskaridze's comments.  He was merely voicing what many people were thinking, but he is a major casualty in all this because he has just lost his job.  I wouldn't call him arrogant, though he is outspoken and opinionated and has discovered that being an Edward Snowden figure is a dangerous route to go down.  The Bolshoi management had been trying to off load him for months and now they have succeeded.  When I saw his name wasn't included in the list of dancers for next month's London tour, I knew what would happen next.  In Britain he gets a bad press no matter how well he dances; only Clement Crisp (God bless him) has reviewed him fairly.  Audiences love him though and there have been demos in his support outside the Bolshoi all this week and he may yet take a legal route to get his job back.  I am well aware of the extent of Nikolai's popularity as I have followed his career since his early appearances at the RAH back in 1993 and on my trips abroad to see him (Paris, Moscow ,Monte Carlo, Barcelona, to name a few)  I've met many of his travelling fans from all over Europe.  We all know and love the real Nikolai Tsiskaridze, not the monster a biased press has created.  

 

 

[Clarissa]

I would suggest everybody to read this article by Ismene Brown and her translation of the interview with Nikolai published by Figaro. Ismene Brown translated it to English, but there you can find a link to the French newspaper. Without reading this recent interview we can't discuss much - there Nikolai Tsiskaridze says it all....http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2013/6/11_Tsiskaridze_tells_Le_Figaro__Its_a_disgrace.html

[Sim]

MAB, I have never doubted his talents as a dancer.  I have seen him dance a few times and really enjoyed his performances.  I know that all kinds of politics go on in ballet companies just like in other companies, but I think that with a case like this, it would have been more prudent for him to say nothing if he didn't want to come out in support of the AD.  Whether he (and others) liked it or not, the fact of the matter was that Filin was at the helm of the Bolshoi, and to come out and say the things he did was, at best, unwise.  Silence would have been the best option here I think.  I never doubted that the prognosis for Sergei was not good, and although physical appearances might have looked like he had a chemical peel, how many photos showed his eyes?  We only had the doctors' statements to go on, and these have said over and over again that saving Filin's sight would be very difficult.  Tragically, it seems that they were right.  I have seen a couple of people die from cancer; even though they looked ok from the outside, inside they were being eaten up.  So to make statements saying that Filin looked ok when it was the eyes that were affected seems churlish to me.....if you aren't a medical person, you shouldn't say such things until you know all the facts and can actually have looked into those dead eyes.  I would still like to hope for a miracle, but it doesn't look like one will happen.

[Clarissa]

Sim, what you say is right, but still I think the contemporary medicine is able to restore Sergei's vision. For me it looks like the  biggest problem is the time issue. Let us hope the Bolshoi will not invite a new artistic director before Sergei to be back.

[Marissa]

Is there something that can be done to halt the progressive effects of the acid? It's been six months since the attack so I would have thought that the acid would have done all the damage it was going to do by now, especially with all the treatment Sergei's been receiving.  The fact that his doctors had in the beginning been so optimistic about his recovery and had promised him they could save his left eye, makes this latest update on his condition all the more discouraging and heartbreaking.  Clarissa, I really hope you're right about contemporary medicine being able to restore Sergei's vision.  As for the Bolshoi replacing him with a new artistic director, surely they wouldn't do that as long as there's a chance he can recover enough to return?

[Clarissa]

Marissa, as far as I know, there was a complication caused by invasion of the blood vessels into a tissue implant. There was an information that yesterday (or day before yesterday) Sergei had one  unscheduled operation on his eyes. 

[Marissa]

Thanks Clarissa. Where did you find out about the complication from the blood vessels invading a tissue implant?

[Clarissa]

This is a typical complication and that's what some people who has a contact to the Aachen clinic say. This is not official. Let us hope doctors will sort out all these problems.

[Amelia]

According to the newspaper “Zavtra” Angelina Vorontsova who was mentioned a few times on this topic has submitted her application for resignation from the Bolshoi Theatre:

 

http://zavtra.ru/content/view/vorontsova-pokidaet-bolshoj/

 

As a farewell gesture to this very promising ballerina here is a recording of her performance in “The Flames of Paris” with Denis Rod’kin:

 

We will see him dancing it in London in August but, alas, without her.

[Clarissa]

Voluntary withdrawal of Angelina Vorontsova is probably due to the fact that Dmitrichenko is in jail and her teacher, Tsiskaridze, will not work in the theater.

The newspaper "Завтра" at the very mocking tone said about the situation in Bolshoi.  "Завтра" calls everything that happened in the theater " a love-industrial novel" with "King, Queen and Jack" involved.(For those not informed: there was no romantic interest between S.Filin and A.Vorontsova)

I would not trust this source of information that much. Well,  earlier, Tsiskaridze (in his interview to Le Figaro) was talking about the possibility that Angelina will leave the Bolshoi)

P.S. The newspaper "Завтра" ("Tomorrow") - is the nationalist newspaper, led by  the " Russian-Orthodox -Communist"  writer Prochanov. This newspaper, for example, informs readers about the terrorist attack in Boston in the spirit of the theory of conspiracy. You can see the picture here:

 http://zavtra.ru/content/view/podozrevaemyij/

Edited June 27, 2013 by Clarissa

[Clarissa]

According to the newspaper “Zavtra” Angelina Vorontsova who was mentioned a few times on this topic has submitted her application for resignation from the Bolshoi Theatre:

 

 

Latest news: Kazakhstan - Astana: "Bolshoi, this time is represented by Karim Abdullin and Angelina Vorontsova, whose name  now is related to the notorious "acid story"

  http://www.kazpravda.kz/c/1372379125

[MAB]

So what exactly are you saying?  That because this story is published in a paper you disapprove of it isn't factual?

 

"Russian-Orthodox-Communist" sounds like an oxymoron to me - I was under the impression that communists regard religion as "the opiate of the people".  As for conspiracy theories, I thought that is par for the course in Russia.  I occasionally watch Russia Today (an absolute hoot at times) and they wheel out one conspiracy theory after another.

 

Clearly the paper in question must have some merit though if it is published as far afield as New Zealand.

[Clarissa]

MAB, I have found this article from "Zavtra" in the internet, so it is visible and readable around the world. Even more than that, I saw the same link at the Russian ballet forum. This newspaper was named there as an untrustworthy  source of information.. As you can see, later I posted a link to another article, which says Angelina Vorontsova represents Bolshoi in Kazakhstan.  As for oxymoron - I am completely agree with you. But may be you don't know that Stalin was the first to re-open orthodox  churches, during the war. He was using churches for his own reasons ( too long story to discuss). Prochanov is , obviously, a Stalinist , but these days this title is out of fashion.  So, "Russian -orthodox- communists"  is not my invention, this is what they say about themselves. I was also shocked. 

[Clarissa]

Well, now Komsomolskaya Pravda says Angelina Vorontsova  does not want to renew her contract with Bolshoi, due the "insufficient amount of work and the lack of creative growth" , she added that she has got some good propositions from other companies: 

 

http://www.kp.ru/online/news/1474056/

[Beryl H]

I read that Angelina Vorontsova would be resigning at the end of the Bolshoi Season 3 days ago in the July issue of Dancing Times, usually a very accurate source of information, there's also a good article by Graham Watts about the general Bolshoi situation.

[Marissa]

I saw this news posted on another forum - Iksanov has been fired. No reason given. I wonder if this means Tsiskaridze will get his job back.  And what will it mean for Filin?