Bolshoi Theatre director warns of 'star illness' among immodest ballet dancers The reign of Anatoly Iksanov, the previous director, saw years of public feuding between performers and management, culminating in an acid attack on the ballet's artistic director, Sergei Filin, in January. "I'm trying not to dramatise it," he said. I think we will be somehow able to solve the situation. The main thing is to create a normal, artistic, creative atmosphere. In the theatre, if you have such a great bunch of talented people with egos, you always will have passion so I don't rely on having this quiet, nice life. He did plan to tackle the problem of dancers seeing themselves as stars, however, he said. "To my regret I have to say this star illness does exist and to fight with this I surely must," he said. If you start to think you're a star it means that your personal culture or your education is not high enough. You should not speak or think about yourself as a star. If a person comes and has a meeting with a young choreographer, for example, if the person doesn't think of himself as a big star but really wants to collaborate, then he will be working as one with the choreographer on an equal level. So I think that the creative atmosphere really depends on it. If a person's ambitions are to secure his position as the greatest dancer in the world (this is not good). You should prove yourself with your daily work.