'Fat' Ballerina Loses $1 Million Damages Case

[Casshew]

A top Russian ballerina, sacked for being too heavy, lost a damages claim for $1 million against the chief of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater.

Prima ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, fired by the theater in September for being too bulky for her partners to lift, sought the damages from the Bolshoi's general director Anatoly Iksanov for harming her personal and professional reputation.

The case at a Moscow court centered on a newspaper interview with Iksanov headlined "No one wants to dance with Volochkova."

"The Basmanny court turned down the ballerina's claim, considering that the published information was not damaging to her honor, professional reputation and dignity,"

http://windowtoromania.com/wtr/fnews.asp?nc=1&fnwcod=3290

 

[BirdieBoo]

However when I was in ballet classes in high school I was "encouraged" (subtly) to keep my weight around 112 for performances, and I was 5'8".

One thing about it is, if the male can't lift you easily, no matter how tall you are, BOTH performers are at risk for injury. And given the slipperiness of costumes, (satin, silk) and the fact that the man may be wearing gloves as part of his costume, it just makes the lifts that much more difficult.

There was one girl I performed with who was not fat, but "curvy" and all the guys complained about her.

There were a couple of girls that had problems with diet pills and bulimia there too.

Ballet is a non-aerobic form of excercise, and many performers smoke heavily to suppress appetite.

It seems to just be part of the "culture" of ballet that it is better to be extraordinarily thin(IMO)

However, I think that this girl had a strong personality, and may have had some problems getting along with the others in her company, and it may have been easier to fire her over weight issues than "artistic differences"