Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, an icon of Russia's arts, has again hit the headlines of Russian newspapers. The theatre's artistic director, Vladimir Vasiliyev has fired troupe head Vyacheslav Gordeyev, putting an abrupt end to a drawn-out power struggle between the two world-renowned dancers.

On Wednesday, Vasiliyev told journalists, he would not renew the contract of Gordeyev, as they had not been able to resolve their differences over Bolshoi's artistic direction.

``It's just impossible for me to work with him,'' Vasiliyev said. ``He did not work with a team-spirit, in which all conflicts find a consensus solution, and so far that's not happened,'' Vasiliyev said, accusing Gordeyev of irreconcilability.

Vasiliyev and Gordeyev, both hail from a well-known generation of Bolshoi dancers of the 1970s and 1980s. Gordeyev's dismissal is the latest in a series of internal power struggles that has dogged the ballet company ever since the two of the greatest figures in Russian dance came to Bolshoi more than two years ago, dividing the artistes into camps.

When Vasiliyev succeeded controversial artistic director Yuri Grigorovich in 1995, he promised a ``new era'' at the Bolshoi. He had also vowed to revive the theatre's ``past glory'' by persuading the Russian artists who had left Bolshoi and gone to Western countries in search of a better career, to return to the ballet.

Vasiliyev's promise, however, still remains a distant dream. Not a single leading soloist, director or conductor has returned to the crises-ridden Bolshoi. ``They couldn't think up anything new,'' said world-famous ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, commenting on Gordeyev's dismissal.

``They are just creative impotents.'' Plisetskaya left Bolshoi several years ago and now lives in Munich. According to experts, the Bolshoi's repertoire is still plagued by a sterility of ideas.

In the past two years, Vasiliyev himself produced new versions of Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet with mixed reactions from audiences, while Gordeyev's Last Tango, which was recently premiered at the Bolshoi, utterly failed, said ballet critics.

The Bolshoi is currently passing through a financial crisis. Recently, Vasiliyev said at a press conference, the theatre will not be able to add new productions to its repertoire because money is not coming from the Government. ``We just don't have the money for new productions,'' he said. ``If the money doesn't come, we just would not be able to open the new season.''

The cash-strapped Russian Government has allotted about $12 million to the theatre for 1997, which according to Vasiliyev, was hardly enough to meet the Bolshoi's wage bill. Bolshoi is expected to stage its first premiere of the new season with Prokofiyev's Love for Three Oranges by Peter Ustinov. As for its own new productions, it all depends on the availability of funds, says Vasiliyev.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.