chast against corruption and low wages turned ugly but hundreds arrested and dozens injured in clashes with police. coming out party talks to ballet star david hallberg about what it's like to be the first foreign premier for the famous boss spotlight is up next. how again a welcome to spotlight show on our t.v. i'll be in all of. the show is david. today are as you see inside the bolshoi theater which up to six years of renovation is opened once

again for opera and ballet but not only the building but the company itself has changed it is changed dramatically for the first time in centuries first first time in the history of the bolshoi a foreigner has been hired as i'm a dancer in the ballet company of the. what is it is it the end of the bolshoi as we know it and as the world knows it or is it the beginning of a new era of this old and famous theater will be talking about it to one of the most famous dances in the world now the principal dancer ballet company. david hallberg is an award winning performer and the united states number one bill a dancer who joined the fabled american ballet theatre at the age of twenty in just a few years became its principal dancer mr holder is journey to moscow to join the . if you to companies truly symbolic until now russia has carefully preserved his

conservative belief school and only exported death was tossed to the west. david welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us pleasure to be here david well first of all i'd like to know how surprising was it for you when you got the invitation from the new artistic director of the bolshoi from from sergei filin i mean to come here for a full time job of the bush. you know it was obviously something i didn't expect. it something i really didn't even dream of the bolshoi theatre has been this mecca of ballet of dance for so long that. i really didn't think it was in my career path in a sense but when he made the offer i was very very surprised i would felt privileged i felt humbled and you know from the very beginning i really tried to ask as many

questions as possible about the offer and to be honest. he could answer all of my questions i mean he was very very prepared to make a substantial commitment to me and the bolshoi theater this is the first time in history when the former takes a full time job a job at the bolshoi when you told your friends. should be a joke this could i mean this could happen i mean an american couldn't be a president of the russian federation and you can be both. you know i mean my friends have remained and will always be very supportive but they realized i think as much as i did that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity this opportunity doesn't happen to many people and many dancers obviously and it was it was it was something that a i had to accept i didn't want to regret. i regret having not made the decision

to come but. may it be the case that you will regret that you decided to accept the offer i explained what i mean you actually are opening a new era in the bolshoi like foreign dancers coming to this stage that means you're closing era of century. you know one thing they're doing i mean you know i mean i guess you could look at it like that there's there's not a in my opinion there's not a closing of doors but really an opening of another door and i'm not coming to own this theater because the theater is already owned. i'm coming really. as an american as a foreigner as an outsider and i'm really rising to this ok jd and taking this opportunity to be the only foreigner premier in the company and i think it's a it's

a very substantial. piece of history you have always been what they call the hero lover and classical and classical ballet are you going to stick to this do this on your all we want to try to soften contemporary. you know there's something to be said for what you're given naturally i feel whatever comes to you naturally as an artist but for me what's most interesting is also to push to push the boundaries a little bit to really to challenge yourself as an artist and so i feel that i will be doing the prince roles i mean i will be debuting sleeping beauty with the heart of but i will also be doing roles that maybe i'm not so much suited for or new works new contemporary works because that's the constant search of the artist i feel. you will be dancing both this stage on the and also in the united states this is going to be a fifth. fifty split or they'll be preference for yeah yeah there will be there

will be a fifty fifty split it was very important for me and also it was that was part of the offer from sergei filin to keep my place at american ballet theater in new york because it's my home it's where i've been for ten years it's what has made my career up until this point and so it was very important for me to stay at abt but also. very important to make a substantial commitment to the bolshoi theatre. veteran he's your coach and he he works in the us and he does you know english enough to to to communicate with you to most different in the way but you know it doesn't harbor my my interest to learn russian because i am in russia you know and i do need to start speaking the language so both an opportunity and a definitely good speakers are very bad language so you've got. my hands full

yes i you living already or you just plain just to pick it up i mean no you know i think i lived in france for a year and the best education is living in the country and so you speak french. language is yes you know like your fellow know because most of them not like the stereotypical. but you know is the best the best way to learn the language and learn the russian language and is really just to be in rehearsal to be every day in moscow just making a fool of yourself and really trying out the language to talk yes exactly ok. did you have to study something did you have to take some special training to fit into the bolshoi company because because russian ballet is different even even from the classical ballet you brought yes you know i don't know if i if i had to study anything but i will be studying some. then when i go to the bolshoi theatre when i

dance with the dancers they have a very different style they have a very signature style of the bolshoi theater and it's something that i really want to learn from that's part of the reason i accept which is not your style today yet you know it's not and it will be a challenge but that's part of the reason i came is be you want to become your style you want to become a bull should a russian dolls or you want to see an american dancing in the balls i want to find a balance you know it's important i think to to stick to what i was taught i was taught american style and french style but it's also important you know to really ingrain yourself in the experience and i won't be i won't becoming a russian i won't be becoming a russian dancer because then i would be imitating an imitation is. it superficial really i really have to be myself how comfortable so far do you feel in

the bolshoi company and people around here because because they're not used to having fire is they they maybe a hostile just as i was in the beginning of this interview and you know. who is this guy think you will think the honesty you know the dancers have really been. very friendly very open there obviously is a language barrier to every day conversation but you can also feel the energy of the room and i haven't yet felt hostility i feel like everyone in the bolshoi most everyone is quite open to this new idea and this new new you know opening of doors and they're supportive of the yes they are i found them to be very supportive. did you have a chance to make any friends like people that you prefer working with or not yet well well i have danced a lot with natalia suppose and. she has danced in new york with abt and i have

danced once with the bolshoi theater with the she is a good partner of mine and a good friend of mine she's a fabulous dancer and we have a great connection but i'm also looking to dance with other you know major ballerina hot is a she is she's a she's a star in well she is she's one of the greatest salary will be different this year but you know she's one of the greatest ballerinas of our time i mean let's be honest and i'm honored absolutely honored to be dancing with her i think it's an amazing experience so you know it's going to be it's really going to be such a challenge but yet i am so open for it through with with. the the show question while trying to fit into into a russian belly company do you feel that the roots of american ballet are russian do you feel it well you know yes of course i mean historically yes of course with balanchine obviously came from st petersburg. with the dancers who defected in

this you know during the soviet union which can barely also year yes of course and . you know the origin comes from friends and then comes from russia so there are definite. major factors you know with russian ballet to america says the spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with us. wealthy british scientists are. trying to explain.

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welcome back to spotlight i'm elder norman just a reminder that my guest on the show today is david hallberg and we're here in the bolshoi theater talking about the new star of the ball show came from the united states first time in the history of this theater the star is from america david let's talk about russian and about your russian brits in the sixty's and seventy's there was a great exodus of a significant exodus of russian soviet ballet stars and. to two different countries in the west and to the united states well. one of the greatest stars. of the russian ballet of the past i think he once was the director of the abt writers very much so so did these people influence you as a young dancer and mean did they did they did they somehow have any impact on your

on your version of your future career if you should dance you know i feel like in in. ballet globally there are very few dancers that have made such an impression on the world then persia car and of course rudolf nureyev and so i think every male dancer who is aspiring to become a professional who is a professional. is very much influenced by by me shows dancing and rudy's dancing and you know we have videos to look at now when he was classically trained and they're still just as influential i mean he still is one of the greatest dancers to have existed yes version of really only ordinary was why i didn't ask about marie of because because you know i don't think you have a chance to see you know i mean i see d.v.d.'s of people as you know do you think that the bolshoi today still is

a reference in the ballet world is it as great a label as it used to be most definitely without a doubt i mean the bolshoi ballet. is still a household name as we say in english meaning that everyone knows the bullshit about when the bullshit comes to america when the bolshoi makes a tour to japan everybody knows the bolshoi ballet and the fact that it is one of the top companies in the world it's without a doubt you know this is a changing in the twenty first century because i mean in the twentieth century even even the critics of the soviet system said well ok outer space and the bolshoi ballet. the russians are going to be able to do use changing it today you just said one of the greatest companies of the world yes well art is a matter of opinion always and so there are french audiences that would say that the person opera ballet is the best company in the world it is by far one of the

best companies in the world but so is the bolshoi so is the marine ski you know. it's just that's the way it is i mean it really is a matter of opinion but in this day and age i feel yes the bolshoi has definitely maintained its its prestige its height its style of training and they've they've definitely kept. their signature style as well which i have much respect for so you're saying that the french are more refined and more simplistic so so the russians they're more aggressive you may know. that so yes i feel that the bulls are still is extremely exciting i mean it still has the excitement that it had in the sixty's and seventy's i believe i remember watching a performance of flames of paris with the tell you in uganda c.d.f. and the whole company just looks so exciting they looked so fresh they looked so committed and that's something that really stuck in my mind when the offer was made it's like i had looked at this performance and i was so inspired it was it was

really great. the main reason for you. spending so much time abroad first in france know in russia is because you want to become part of the european dancing school or because that will make you a great a star back in the states and. young i mean yes they're trying to come back and build the rest of your crew. again i feel that this it's a very global world now and i've always been up for a challenge i've always. travelled elsewhere for experience i went to paris opera school to study. which was a very hard experience being the only american there and i'm very much equating that experience to this experience it might not be as challenging i hope it isn't but. it's it's it's going to be a challenge it's going to be. i'm really going to have to step up to the plate

there's a lot of pressure but also i hope i will leave the experience completely enlightened and more textured as a person those talk about the ceiling and also the walls i mean you you're here in this theater which was close for about five years more than five years and six years of it just opening opening up to reconstruct construction with your opinion i mean the place i first off i'm amazingly intimidated i think it's. i danced in the theater once before the renovation and it was it was a memorable experience then but now having come back joining the company as a premiere doing the premiere of sleeping beauty with it is a it's. it's an intimidating experience but it's so it's spiraling it's and i'm i'm just as ready as i could be you know for this experience after nearly six years of renovations bolshoi theater is finally open again for

bally opera lovers. war and that's. the bolshoi theater cools through innovation in two thousand and five for six years the sounds of music were replaced by the noise of truism hammers that the legendary ball sure had survived major reconstruction one hundred in fifty years as soon as work began the situation appeared to be even worse than expected with foundations that were largely reduced to dust and just the descent to me to correct the run ins through the walls this the it is reopening was in the. show is scheduled for two thousand and eight they had to be combed several times reconstruction did not go smoothly at one point claims of mass and best moment emerged there were investigated by russian prosecutors from then on their innovation was supervised by

the president's office. the bolshoi's highly anticipated reopening eventually to place on october two thousand and eleven the wealthy and the beautiful got there in the stations from the crown one. even three months up to the open in gala get in into the poll show is still a bit of a challenge for most people people hurrying for the bullshit performance right nobility enough to get the tickets which sold out almost immediately after the box office opened its doors until the ticket three subsides those who want we can like you're not going to please come here to enjoy an amazing view of the bones from the fear that one of the greatest of most films and landmarks is finally revealed the green safety net in that's covered it for the last six years those who managed to get inside can feel how seven hundred million dollars renovation brought back the spirit of tzarist russia grandeur to the bolshoi but that doesn't mean everything

remains archaic here the bolshoi now boasts a brand new on the grounds stage which can move up and down while the demand for tickets still exceeds supply the theater introduced excursions inside so that more people can get closer to the magic of their innovated bolshoi. can you remember when did you see a bowl performance for the first time in your life. question that. you know i think i first saw the company perform only a couple of years ago as a whole and of a. we've seen dancers in galleries and things but i saw a balanchine program a couple of years ago and i was amazingly impressed obviously and then i saw flames of paris like i said which was a fantastic experience i mean it's just it was it was so so inspiring you know most

of the artists come to moscow they like to say good words about the russian audiences but the russian spectators were russian that the russian audience is the best in the world. is true or people are trying to be nice and probably be yeah you have to be nice to the public with that yes of course yeah well you know i've been very fortunate to experience many audiences throughout the world cuba japan australia new york everywhere. there's something about the moscow audiences and the russian audiences that i've never really felt before shows elsewhere which is the fact that they have ballet in their cars in their culture they have ballet in their blood they have this appreciation for the art form that. does not it's in comparable throughout the rest of the world you can feel it in the applause you can feel it in what they appreciate and what they show their appreciation for a lot of newer audiences only clap for the big turns in the big jumps and all of

that but i feel the russian audiences really know what they're looking at they really know what to look at they're educated you know they know how to how to watch classical ballet so so so so you think that the people in the people who sit here and watch the they know more about you moves and they in the field they get a better feel. of what it actually costs you to do whatever you do and i think there's a huge appreciation for for you as a ballet dancer and the knowledge that you've made your life out of this and you have been. you know chosen by god also and you've made this huge commitment to this art form there is a major appreciation for that i believe you are pretty ambitious you know so you should think of bringing something to this you should dream of trying to change it your way are you thinking about. i am i'm you know i answer this question

quite humbly believe something on the wall. so leave your science open oh you know i really hope i i leave the experience enriched from the bolshoi. theatre but i also hope that the bolshoi theatre believes this experience and richard as well i mean having learned from someone who does and who doesn't come from the school who doesn't come from the interior and has a different kind of style and way of of doing things and dancing and they're inspired and changed as well because it would be nice if it would become full circle like that rather than me just leaving the experience having gained everything in them then just saying you know with anya you you think the russians are ready to learn from you i certainly hope so because i'm ready to learn from the russians they're not all they're conservative this is one of the most conservative places in the whole world yes but we speak we speak

a similar language i speak english they speak russian but we speak the language of ballet live we do less question probably what's been the most difficult parts of your russian experience so far. i think the most difficult part was making the decision to come. apart from learning russian of course but when the offer was made. it was very important for me to really think through the whole. the whole offer and make a very substantial commitment to the theatre because it really wasn't an easy decision i. i'm moving away from new york new york is my home i'm moving to moscow i don't speak russian i'm the only american in the company and the only foreigner premier you know right now and so it's a huge commitment and it's a huge sponsibility and that was the biggest and that was the biggest challenge you

know and it will be probably the biggest challenge but i'm up for it so probably the world series also i think. ok thank you thank you very much david and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was david hallberg one of the most famous ballet dancers in the world and since recently a part of the bolshoi ballet company and that's it for now from all of us if you want to have yourself part might just drop me a line will be back with more precise comments on what's going on in the outside pressure until then they are to take it thank you.

well. technology innovation. developments around russia we've got the future covered. with the blood still flowing and a body count growing the arab league reportedly wants to carry on monitoring in syria despite being slammed for being totally ineffective. silenced and thrown out iran's english language breasted news program gets kicked off the british airwaves for falling foul of broadcasting was something the channels dubbed the clear act of censorship. the media's want their president out there to protest against corruption and low wages turned ugly with hundreds of arrests and dozens injured in clashes with police.