Fadeyechev Bolshoi's new artistic director.

TBILISI, Georgia--At the Paliashvili Opera House, dressed as a bald, kimono-clad Kabuki character, the Bolshoi's elegant Alexei Fadeyechev danced onstage for the last time in June. In August, he took up his new position as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet.

In a tearful speech at a postperformance party, Nina Ananiashvili, his onstage partner for the past ten years, paid homage to Fadeyechev, praising him for his excellence in performing, for his reliability in partnering, and for his great friendship. Her company, Nina Ananiashvili and Stars of the Russian Ballet, was in Tbilisi performing Alexei Ratmansky's Charms of Mannerism and Dreams of Japan, during a week dedicated to the Georgian dancer Vakhtang Chaboukiani.

Fadeyechev left the stage at the peak of his dancing career. A danseur noble, he imbued his roles with exacting placement and elegant line. He will be best remembered for romantic roles, such as the Poet in Chopiniana, Desiree, Albrecht, and Siegfried, though he also demonstrated dramatic flair and powerful dancing in roles such as Ivan the Terrible and Spartacus.

Fadeyechev graduated from the Moscow School of Choreography in 1978 in the class of Alexander Prokofiev, along with Andris Liepa and Irek Mukhamedov, and in 1988 received his diploma from GITIS as a pedagogue and ballet master. Throughout his career as a principal of the Bolshoi, he has been coached by his own father, Nikolai Fadeyechev, who partnered Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya. From his father Alexei has received the schooling and tradition of the Russian style.

Fadeyechev's new position has been unfilled since the dramatic dismissal of the last artistic director, Vyacheslav Gordeyev, by Bolshoi theater director Vladimir Vasiliev last summer. Vasiliev himself had come under criticism in the years following his acceptance as director of the whole theater in 1995, and there has been continual and bitter in-fighting in the ballet company. The firing made headlines around the Russian capital, and Gordeyev threatened to sue. Nothing has come of the proposed court case, and, in the interim, Alexander Bogatiriev has been holding the fort.

Fadeyechev has had considerable experience abroad, performing with the Bolshoi and as a guest artist with companies such as the Royal Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, the National Ballet of Finland. He has a good grasp of English and a well-timed sense of humor. Though he declined to make an official statement about his plans for the company before he starts, when asked what he was looking forward to in his new job, he responded seriously: "To be the boss of my father! Now he will have to do what I say!"--then burst out laughing.

Fadeyechev says he will not miss dancing. "I'm ready to do something different. I hope I will succeed, and I will certainly try my best." The day that his appointment was announced, a freak hurricane struck Moscow, lifting the roof off the Bolshoi, which is already in dire need of repair. When asked if he thought the event was an omen, he answered, "Maybe. But I knew exactly what to do--collect a few buckets to catch the rain pouring onto the stage."

Fadeyechev has a huge task before him--it will require more than a few buckets to prevent further damage to the theater's reputation after the years of backstage unrest. Many eyes will watch to see if he will be allowed just to patch over the problems or whether he will be given an opportunity to restore the Bolshoi Ballet to its former and harmonious glory.