Bolshoi Ballerina Says She Fears for Her Safety

Jan. 31, 2013

A leading Bolshoi Theater ballerina said she wants to stay in Canada because of threats she has received.

Svetlana Lunkina told Izvestia that she had asked the Bolshoi to extend her leave, as she fears returning to Russia.

The request by Lunkina, one of the Bolshoi's top dancers, follows an attack earlier this month on the theater's artistic director, Sergei Filin, who was badly burned when an unidentified masked assailant threw sulfuric acid in his face.

Lunkina said the threats she received were linked to a conflict between her husband and a business partner over a movie about Mathilde Kschessinskaya, a Russian prima ballerina famous for her talent as a dancer and for her liaison with Russia's last czar, Nicholas II.

(AP)

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