March 20, 2013

"Bolshoi ballet was 'giant brothel' claims former dancer."

"Anastasia Volochkova... fired from the Bolshoi in 2003 for being too heavy... made the allegations...."
"Ten years ago, when I was dancing at the theatre, I repeatedly received such propositions to share the beds of oligarchs.

"The girls were forced to go along to grand dinners and given advance warning that afterwards they would be expected to go to bed and have sex," she alleged.

"When the girls asked: 'What happens if we refuse?', they were told that they would not go on tour or even perform at the Bolshoi theatre. Can you imagine?"

40 comments:

Xmas said...

In case you're wondering "Too Heavy" is 109 lbs. (According to the interwebs).

James Pawlak said...

Considering the usual sexual orientation of male ballet personnel, I wonder if this applied to male prostitution.

Shouting Thomas said...

Please tell me about the existence of any art form where the emphasis is on stage performance that is not a "giant brothel."

I would say this has been the reality for about 5,000 years.

Kirk Parker said...

"Can you imagine? "

Why yes, yes I can.

glenn said...

Kinda like being a WH intern during the Clinton administration.

William said...

Eat your heart out, Charlie Sheen....I remember reading the Alan Bullock book about Hitler and Stalin. The founder of the Kirov Ballet--if I have the name correct--founded this ballet group to supply him with sex partners. So it's part of the ballet tradition in Russia. Perhaps under such a system ballet here would not suffer from lack of patronage and support. At any rate, the whole concept of having paid sex with ballerinas is so much more uplifting and ennobling than having sex with porn stars that I'm surprised it has not caught on here with our more aesthetically oriented billionaires.

Shouting Thomas said...

The notion that the brothel atmosphere of the performance arts is created only by demand from the top is bullshit.

The vast majority of the performers are quite happy to use their sexual attractiveness to whore, and are equally implicit in creating the brothel.

It's what everybody wants. At some point, people get tired of it and complain. So what?

Nomennovum said...

Men like slender women.

Fred Drinkwater said...

"The Curtain" c. 1880 by Degas depicts this. Hardly news.

edutcher said...

Supposedly, it's been the practice for centuries that, if you're a guy and still like girls when you're accepted by the Bolshoi, they do their damnedest to fix that on the grounds they don't want the ballerinos chasing the ballerinas.

Nomennovum said...

Men like slender women.

Some men like slender women.

Most men like built women.

FIFY

Nomennovum said...

This is not news and this is not confined to the Bolshoi. Look at Hollywood. Who here disbelieves in the reality of the casting couch? How is Hollywood a different animal from those Ruskie dogs?

Nomennovum said...

Most men like built women.

"Built" is ill-defined, educhter.

Barbie is slender and Barbie is built. A fat chick with bigs tits is built. Clarify.

Mary Beth said...

James Pawlak said...

Considering the usual sexual orientation of male ballet personnel, I wonder if this applied to male prostitution.

3/20/13, 6:42 PM


Are you sure about that? It's been a few years since I've known anyone associated with the ballet, but at that time all of the male dancers for the Louisville Ballet were straight.

There were gay men who worked for the company in other jobs.

Henry said...

Can you imagine?

19th century Parisians could.

edutcher said...

Nomennovum said...

Most men like built women.

"Built" is ill-defined, educhter.

Barbie is slender and Barbie is built. A fat chick with bigs tits is built. Clarify.


Google Ashley Graham.

I can't see too many guys turning her down.

Nomennovum said...

Ashley Graham does nothing for me. Too heavy.

Google "Victoria's Secret."

Nomennovum said...

And most men, given the choice, will go with the Victoria's sSecret girl over Ashley Graham.

Nomennovum said...

Extra s for "sexy."

edutcher said...

Nomennovum said...

Ashley Graham does nothing for me. Too heavy.

Google "Victoria's Secret."

And most men, given the choice, will go with the Victoria's sSecret girl over Ashley Graham.

Extra s for "sexy."


No, scrawny.

Nomennovum said...

Screwrific.

Dr Hubert Jackson said...

In America people say screw the ballet, in Russia the ballet screws you.

JAL said...

Like Kirk @ 6:46.

Yes I can.

Bob Loblaw said...

This practice is unchanged from the earliest communist years (earlier, for all I know), and with Beria if you refused to put out nobody would ever see you again.

edutcher said...

PS I'm assuming Christina Hendricks is also too heavy for you.

rcocean said...

The Bolshoi became a "brothel" under the Soviets. I wonder if the "oligarchs" are former Commies.

Nomennovum said...

PS I'm assuming Christina Hendricks is also too heavy for you.

Not quite yet.

traditionalguy said...

Do they use 7 veils?

Chip S. said...

I had a straight friend who enrolled in an elite dance academy between HS and college. He told me that all the female students were told that they were responsible for keeping the guys straight.

It worked in his case, but a lot of guys apparently fell thru the cracks.

edutcher said...

It's interesting how some guys get defensive over the fact that, since they like skinny girls, all guys supposedly do.

Most guys like a woman with some flesh on their bones.

Some guys don't.

In the immortal words of Mr T, "I pity the poor fools".

PeteRR said...

I read a book by an ex-GRU operative talking about the Soviet olympic athletes. His claim was that the men were all Spetznaz saboteurs and the women, especially the gymnasts, were required to have sex with senior red army officers.

PeteRR said...

I read a book by an ex-GRU operative talking about the Soviet olympic athletes. His claim was that the men were all Spetznaz saboteurs and the women, especially the gymnasts, were required to have sex with senior red army officers.

edutcher said...

The mission of Spetznaz was, in times of war, to assassinate Western leaders.

The Olympic teams, cultural groups (such as the Bolshoi), and any other contacts with the West were fronts.

As one piece noted during the 80s, any of the Russian movie stars, athletes, performers, or diplomats that shook hands with Ronald Reagan may have been the men assigned to kill him.

sojerofgod said...

Hmmm. reminds me of something i read somewhere..... Oh yes. HUNGER GAMES!!!

Kirk Parker said...

Wow, you guys all fixated on the weight thing are really going down a rabbit hole.

These ladies weren't just sex partners, they were ballerinas-cum-sex-partners. Big difference. A "built" built woman might be just as good as an anorexic one in bed--nay, likely to be much better, actually--but try throwing a 150-pounder around on stage instead of a 90-pounder! That's a different story.

Lawyer Mom said...

When the girls asked: 'What happens if we refuse?' they were told that all their bank accounts would be transferred to Cyprus.

glenn said...

Men like slender women.


I liked Gene Tierney

ed said...

Note to self: go to the ballet more.

ed said...

"In the immortal words of Mr T, "I pity the poor fools"."

In the immortal words of Gary Busey in "DC Cab":

"Why are women are so uptight? They've got half the money and all the pussy."

Nomennovum said...

ed, "Why are women so uptight? They've go half the money ...."

They "want it all," of course.

Aridog said...

Kirk Parker sez ...

...but try throwing a 150-pounder around on stage instead of a 90-pounder!

Whot? The hell
you say.