Overweight' ballerina files lawsuit against Bolshoi Ballet

She won the case! Here is her story:

A ballerina is suing the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre after she was fired amid allegations she was too heavy for male dancers to lift.

Anastasia Volochkova, who is five feet six inches tall and weighs less than eight stone, has filed a lawsuit in a Moscow court seeking lost wages and compensation for moral damage.

The Bolshoi Theatre fired the 27-year-old dancer last month over a contract dispute.

Volochkova's sacking came amid allegations that her weight made it difficult for the Bolshoi to find roles for her. She says talk of her weight has been "humiliating and absurd for Russian ballet."

Russia's Labour Ministry said the dancer's sacking violated Russian labour laws and called on the Bolshoi to reinstate her.

But the ministry acknowledged the final decision rested with the theatre, and the Bolshoi has refused to budge.

"Unfortunately, I have to do it because I am seeking justice and want to assert my rights as well as the rights of other artists," Volochkova said.

"Being on the Bolshoi staff means so much to me, and I believe that my dismissal was illegal."

Volochkova's lawyer Lev Zubovsky, says the ballerina is seeking damages in "merely a symbolic sum." The Bolshoi Theatre has not commented on the case.

© Associated Press

What is "8 stone" in lbs? I cant comment until I knwo really. I think they should be able to fire who they want though. I mean, they're paying the bills. They have the right to make the choices....

1 stone = 14 pounds, so 8 stone is 112 pounds.

poem

I read this funny poem for my English class about dancers... part of it went like this and it reminded me of her.

At 112 pounds I am
the heaviest dancer in my dance class.

Most girls would kill to be that weight!

Good on her!

Anastasia Volochkova is 109 pounds.

I cannot decide where I stand on this one.

On one hand I have always said I would rather see a more shapely dancer/skater/gymnast than what tends to be seen nowadays because I think anorexic looking people do not give good vibes to the young women who are watching them.

On the other hand, she is in a unique position where her weight has to be a factor for consideration.
As slim as these dancers are, most of their weight comes from muscle which is heavier than fat anyway so provided she wasn't carrying extra weight in the form of fat, there really isn't anything she could have done to make herself lighter. The ballet company have to consider what's in their best interests. If their male dancers are having problems lifting her, then they are risking permanent serious injuries to themselves and to her by trying. Perhaps a better way for the Bolshoi to handle it would be to have found a male dancer capable of lifting her with ease to employ rather than firing her.

If I try looking at it from all angles I find I cannot see that the decision itself was a wrong one but that they handled it quite badly.
That is of course provide that the reason she was fired was as stated and not because they have some absurd clause in her contract that says she must remain five stone for her entire career.