MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. Ballet dancers from Russia’s world-renowned Bolshoi Theater won’t be left without pointe shoes, its Director General Vladimir Urin assured TASS on Friday.
Urin refuted reports that such a problem allegedly emerged, explaining that at a meeting of the State Duma’s culture committee he only spoke about excessive red tape during the purchase procedure.
Earlier, a Telegram channel reported that Urin allegedly told the meeting that the Bolshoi Theater’s ballet dancers had been left without pointe shoes.
In fact, the meeting of the lower house’s culture committee discussed a serious issue of import replacement in the field of culture, which was attended by members of ministries, agencies and producers of goods, he explained.
"In my speech, I mentioned that still a large number of goods used by theaters, concert organizations and circuses are not produced in Russia nowadays. I said that for a while, certainly, we’ll have to buy imported goods so that production is not put on hold," Urin explained.
"Let’s bring red tape to a minimum - my speech was devoted to this. This is not about pointe shoes. I just cited this as an example. I did not say that today the Bolshoi Theater’s ballet dancers have no shoes to wear," Urin clarified.
According to Urin, the theater has no right to purchase imported goods in accordance with regulatory documents without the permission of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. He hit out at the need to obtain permission for each item on the list as nonsense.
The Bolshoi Theater’s boss also said he was glad that the production of cultural goods was improving in Russia, while noting that it could take years to achieve the desired results.