#burlaka

Many legends surround the conflict between Yuri Grigorovich and Maya Plisetskaya. Grigorovich was never known for being a gentle person, but neither was Maya. According to her brother, Plisetskaya could be incredibly cruel and abrasive even to her own family, to say nothing of her friends and colleagues. She had burned a lot of bridges during her life, often for trivial reasons. I would also add that, from what I have observed over the years, ballet folk tend to be emotional, which can exacerbate an already stressful situation.

From what I have read - and I am basing my answer mainly on the information available in the book recently published by Maya’s younger brother, Azari Plisetsky - the animosity between Plisetskaya and Grigorovich primarily stemmed from two facts:

Grigorovich frequently cast Natalia Bessmertnova over Maya and generally favoured his beloved wife over Plisetskaya;

In 1988 Grigorovich forcibly retired Plisetskaya, Vasiliev, Maximova, Bessmertnova, Lavrovsky and Timofeeva.

I can see how favouritism on Grigorovich’s part would infuriate Plisetskaya, especially since she played a significant role in Grigorovich’s relocation from the Mariinsky to the Bolshoi.

On the other hand, I find that Grigorovich’s controversial move to retire the brightest stars of their generation from the Bolshoi actually made a lot of sense. At the time of this momentous historical event, Maximova and Vasiliev were both forty, Timofeeva was fifty-three, and Plisetskaya was sixty-three. These great dancers were way past their prime, and their continual presence in the company actually prevented younger dancers from advancing further in their careers. Furthermore, Grigorovich didn’t spare his wife from the cut.

So there you have it.

Grigorovich served as the Bolshoi’s artistic director from 1964 to 1995. He didn’t exactly depart from the company of his own free will either. In fact, few of the Bolshoi’s A.D.s ever escaped their position unscathed*. He returned to the Bolshoi in 2009 as the company’s ballet master, and Yury Burlaka succeeded Ratmansky as the Bolshoi’s Artistic Director that same year. I think Maria Alexandrova summed up Ratmansky’s tenure pretty well when she said that Alexei struggled in the role because he is a creative and all he ever really wanted to do was to stage ballets; he wasn’t that interested in managing the company.

In 2011, after Burlaka left the post of Artistic Director, Gennady Yanin emerged as the frontrunner for the position, only to be removed from the race in the most brutal fashion. It’s unclear who was responsible for the vile smear campaign against Yanin, but the person who, as we know, ended up benefiting from it the most was Sergei Filin.

*Grigorovich did manage (against all the odds) to secure the future of a young dancer called Nikolai Tsiskaridze shortly before he was forced out. So we have him to thank for setting that ‘lil bit of ballet history in motion.