Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin to return to Moscow tomorrow

The Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin will return to Moscow tomorrow after six-months of treatment to save his eyesight in a German hospital.

A spokesman for the Aachen University Hospital said earlier today,

Doctors have decided to discharge Filin from the hospital. We believe that he will be able to return to Moscow tomorrow.

While in the hospital he has undergone more than 20 procedures to correct damage caused after the vicious acid attack in January outside his home.

RAI Novosti quoted Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova as saying that she hoped Filin would be able to visit the company next week. He saw his company for the first time after the incident in July when he made a trip to London to see the Bolshoi perform at the Royal Opera House.

Doctor Martin Hermel said that Filin's situation had improved and that he has 80% vision in his left eye and is capable of distinguishing large objects with his right, whereas on arrival he was totally blind in his right eye and only had 10% vision in his left.

Hermel said,

Our present goal is long-term stabilization.

Photo: Sergei Filin soon after the attack

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.