office, a theatre insider told the German publication Der Spiegel that tickets are often sold to mafia dealers, who in turn sell them on the black market for double the face value. Performance quality has been criticized by the former music director Alexander Vedernikov (2001-2009). He has claimed the Bolshoi Theatre was putting "bureaucratic interests before artistic ones." July 8, 2017, three days before the premiere, the Bolshoi Theatre called off the premiere of a ballet about legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev. The Director General Vladimir Urin claimed it was due to the bad quality of the dancing, however the principal dancer Maria Alexandrova claimed it was the first sign of a 'new era' of censorship. It was the first time a show has been pulled in such a way since the collapse of the Soviet Union, sparking rumours about the motivation behind it. References Footnotes The Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre used to exist in Saint Petersburg. It stood next to the Circus Theatre (rebuilt in 1860 as the Mariinsky Theatre), but was replaced in the 1890s by the present-day building of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It was at St. Petersburg's Bolshoi that the first great Russian operas, Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila, premiered. In a bit of ideological editing, the Bolshoi Theatre appears to be "destroyed" by the device of a split screen in Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. External links Official Bolshoi Theatre website Official Bolshoi Theatre webpages YouTube Official Bolshoi Theatre webpages Facebook Official Bolshoi Theatre webpages VKontakte Official Bolshoi Theatre webpages Twitter Official Bolshoi Theatre webpages Instagram Bolshoi Theatre in Theatrical Russia Annual Dictionary For Ballet Lovers Only: Bolshoi dancers of the past and of today in biographies and photos Chief Conductors Bolshoi Theatre School in Brazil website Bolshoi Delights Cuba Audience Photo Feature, Havana Times, Feb 15, 2010 Reconstruction of Bolshoi Theatre, Pictures The New Stage of Bolshoi Theatre, Pictures The Bolshoi Theatre at Google Cultural Institute Category:Tverskoy District Category:Tourist attractions in Moscow Category:Theatres completed in 1825 Category:1825 establishments in the Russian Empire Category:Neoclassical architecture in Russia