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Dance

Why did a Russian ballet dancer throw acid in his boss’s face?

Plus: the kamikaze rudeness of Rudolf Nureyev hits the big screen

12 December 2015

9:00 AM

12 December 2015

9:00 AM

Bolshoi Babylon

Key Cities, from 8 January 2016

Rudolf Nureyev — Dance to Freedom

BBC2

The 16th June 1961 and 17th January 2013 are two indelible dates in the annals of Russian ballet. Two events that left the world gobsmacked — the escape of a Cold War fugitive and an acid attack by a subordinate on his boss — all enhanced in strangeness and sensational interest because they came out of the ballet world, a world largely closed to the rest of us.

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