Ask Responses: Tsiskaridze
Hello Melmoth. I was wondering, you often post videos where you state that they are from Tsiskaridze's personal archive. But since he doesn't have any social media, where do you get these videos from? Also thank you for this amazing and educational blog! :)
The videos are from this YouTube channel. The person running it has worked with Nikolai for many years and acts as a sort of conduit for him online.
Thank you so much for uploading the clips of Nikolai! I had no idea what he would be like (mostly because of a bad documentary I had seen ages ago where he works with a British choreographer) but it seems that he not only portrays himself well but is warmly welcomed by the audience. Now I get what you mean when saying that a dancer can be overall cultured and interesting! Do you feel his public persona has changed much since he became a teacher? He seemed very much "young" in that documentary.
I’ve written about “Strictly Bolshoi” before. Please read about it here. It may answer some questions. I still find it baffling that people use that documentary as an apparent “proof” that Tsiskaridze is an asshole. If anything, “Strictly Bolshoi” is a spectacular showcase of Wheeldon’s incompetence (in that particular situation / time period). For the record: I adore Wheeldon and his work.
Nikolai’s public persona has undergone some changes since he took over at Vaganova. He clearly understands that Tsiskaridze the danseur and Tsiskaridze the rector must be two different people. That being said, his overall personality hasn’t changed. I’d say he has simply learned to play by the rules and proved that he’s adaptable. He’s still intelligent and eloquent, he’s still outspoken and feisty, he still regularly puts his foot in his mouth, and he clearly hasn’t become very good at politics. Yet.
In terms of him being warmly welcomed by the audience: 1) Studio audience at a talkshow as big as Urgant is always energetic (think Conan or Jimmy Kimmel); 2) Tsiskaridze has always been well-liked in Russia. This is partly due to the fact that he’s seen as an outspoken underdog who dedicates his life to fighting for what’s right (this is true). But it also has to do with his intelligence and intense charisma.Â
Funny story: I once caught my mother, who is outspoken about her dislike towards Tsiskaridze, watching one of his interviews. When questioned, she responded that, though she doesn’t like him, she can listen to him speak for hours. Funnily enough, that kind of sums Nikolai up. Even in “Strictly Bolshoi”, the crew are at one point forced to admit that Tsiskaridze is a very genuine person.
I'm sure you've done this before but can you explain the drama with Tsiskaridze, Angelina Vorontsova, Dimitrichenko, Filin, and the acid attack? Do people really think Dimitrichenko did it or was it a set up?
I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened. It doesn’t help that everyone directly involved in this drama has changed their story at least once since it happened. Ismene Brown followed the events pretty closely as they unfolded in 2013, and you can read an almost day-by-day account on her blog.
As of right now, Filin still blames Tsiskaridze for the attack, Dmitrichenko maintains his innocence and insists that the whole thing was a plot by the Bolshoi management to get rid of him and Tsiskaridze (Dmitrichenko gave an interview upon his release from prison in 2016, which is worth a read), and neither Tsiskaridze nor Vorontsova have spoken about the attack in years.
The “official” version is that Dmitrichenko, who was Angelina’s boyfriend at the time, was unhappy with Filin’s refusal to cast Angelina in principal roles and with his overall management of the company, so he hired a thug to “rough Filin up”. The thug in question decided to get creative and threw “acid”* in Filin’s face instead. Depending on who tells the story, Tsiskaridze either actively encouraged Dmitrichenko to organise the attack (so not his style) or served as an inspiration for Dmitrichenko’s actions.Â
*It wasn’t acid. The liquid, whatever it was, (somehow) was never found, and Filin’s injuries aren’t consistent with an acid attack. This is actually the biggest issue I personally have with the whole story because acid is one of the worst weapons used in violence against women. A quick google search of acid attack victims will show that whatever the liquid thrown into Filin’s face was, it, thankfully, wasn’t acid.
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