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CP25026727 — Artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet Sergei Filin, center, attends a traditional annual meeting of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. Filin suffered severe burns to both eyes when a man threw acid in his face in January, an attack that exposed a fierce struggle for power within the famed theater. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Bolshoi’s Filin, victim of acid attack, returns to Moscow theatre after treatment in Germany

Sep 17, 2013 01:09:00

MOSCOW – The Bolshoi ballet’s artistic director has returned to the famed Moscow theatre after months of treatment in Germany for burns he suffered to both eyes when a man threw acid in his face.

The January attack on Sergei Filin exposed a fierce power struggle within the theatre. The general director and his rival, a principal dancer, were both ousted in the aftermath.

Filin appeared Tuesday for the ballet company’s traditional gathering to kick off the new season, but said he was not yet ready to resume work and would be travelling back and forth to Germany for continued treatment.

Filin wore tinted eyeglasses, not the dark shades of months past. His vision was reported to be 80 per cent restored in his left eye, but to remain poor in the right.

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