Bolshoi Ballet in newspapers: China tour and scandal

The Bolshoi Theatre Ballet is touring in China in May but it will skip Hong Kong, in "the latest example of top performers skipping Hong Kong in favour of nearby cities," the South China Morning Post newspaper said on 29th April 2025. The newspaper said the company had much less tours to other countries since the breakout of the war in Ukraine 2022 and China extended the invitation. (Personal note: Bolshoi and the Mariinsky Theatre had summer residences at the Royal Opera, now The Royal Ballet and Opera, in London. The Royal Opera cancelled them immediately after the breakout of the war.)

A 27-year old ballerina recently debut as a main role of Anyuta. But critics were unimpressed by her "clumsy and vulgar" performance. The Times newspaper reported on 4th April 2025 that she happened to be a daughter of "a former top Russian government official who now heads the Kremlin-backed VEB bank." The newspaper also said some ballet critics were offered money to write positive reviews about her.