Vasiliev

And the "Big Fire," the mother of all fires, which seems to possess a will of its own and goes awry when the Bolshevik Commandant Vasiliev attempts to burn Rasputin's corpse.

Dora Levy Mossanen: Fires, Opals and the Romanovs Dora Levy Mossanen 2012

And the "Big Fire," the mother of all fires, which seems to possess a will of its own and goes awry when the Bolshevik Commandant Vasiliev attempts to burn Rasputin's corpse.

Dora Levy Mossanen: Fires, Opals and the Romanovs Dora Levy Mossanen 2012

But it was Osipova and Vasiliev's move from the Bolshoi in November that really grabbed the headlines.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012

He had offered the dancers a "market price", he said, and thrown in an apartment in Moscow, where 25-year-old Osipova and 22-year-old Vasiliev, an off-stage couple, would continue to live.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012

Next, he tells me, is a new Duato ballet for Osipova and Vasiliev.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012

A month earlier, Vladimir Kekhman, general director of the Mikhailovsky theatre, had persuaded the Bolshoi Ballet's brightest stars, Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova, to join his company in St Petersburg.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012

In another dance-world shocker, we just learned that Hallberg's buddies, the dance couple in life and on stage, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, will leave their home at the Bolshoi and transfer to another troupe in Moscow, the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

Debra Levine: David Hallberg, Matinee Idol, in Bolshoi Ballet "Sleeping Beauty" Simulcast This Weekend Debra Levine 2011

In another dance-world shocker, we just learned that Hallberg's buddies, the dance couple in life and on stage, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, will leave their home at the Bolshoi and transfer to another troupe in Moscow, the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

Debra Levine: David Hallberg, Matinee Idol, in Bolshoi Ballet "Sleeping Beauty" Simulcast This Weekend Debra Levine 2011

If Osipova and Vasiliev have won any freedom at all, it is the freedom to make more money for Danilian.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012

For world-ranked dancers such as Osipova and Vasiliev to transfer to such a company was unheard of and was a huge coup for the Mikhailovsky.

Who's pulling the strings in Russia's ballet revolution? 2012