This tutu solid flesh: chapter 2.

WHEN WE LAST looked in on sacked ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, her suit for reinstatement at the Bolshoi Ballet had swayed Russia's federal labor inspectorate to recommend that the company restore her position and award her the equivalent of $6,500 in back pay and damages. So far, the Bolshoi's management has refused to heed the recommendation, and Russian culture minister Mikhail Shvydkoi has cautioned the sweets-slurping assoluta that, despite her possible rehiring, she can no longer expect to dance the principal roles in Swan Lake with the company. Our antic Anastasia has not been happy since she was dismissed in September, after she refused to sign a new contract, amid management assertions that she was too heavy to be lifted. Contrary to earlier reports, the dancer, who claims that she weighs only 109 pounds, refused to submit to a New York Times-sponsored weigh-in. Meanwhile, the vivacious Volochkova has not been idle. She has performed twice recently in the Kremlin, partnered, oddly, by Yevgeny Ivanchenko, the cad who groused publicly about her excessive weight in the first place. Never at a loss for words, the ballerina removed her spoon front her carton of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey long enough to inform the BBC that "Ballet is not an art of kilograms, it is an art of the soul." Does the new Bolshoi boss, Alexei Ratmansky, share the same philosophy? Will sales of trusses rise in Moscow? Will the fickle Anastasia switch her affections to Haagen-Dazs? Stay tuned.