Word: bolshoi
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...championship couple defects, Bolshoi style...
...sooner had Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet hobbled home, aching from the loss of three dancers who had defected on the troupe's U.S. tour last month, than Soviet prestige was hit by an even more bruising blow: the defection in Switzerland last week of Figure Skating Champions Oleg Protopopov, 47, and Ludmila Belousova, 43. So alarmed were Soviet officials over the rash of recent defections that they canceled a scheduled 28-concert U.S. tour by the Moscow State Symphony. Before the drastic decision was made, the orchestra's U.S. booking agent, Samuel Niefeld, was suddenly summoned...
...seemed. Winners of four world titles and two Olympic medals in the 1960s, the Protopopovs were hailed for pioneering the ballet style in pair skating. They also appeared to exemplify political orthodoxy. Unlike Bolshoi Ballet Defectors Alexander Godunov and Leonid and Valentina Kozlov, the Protopopovs were Communist Party members. They were showered with official Soviet honors, including the Lenin Prize and the prestigious title Honored Master of Sport of the Soviet Union. Though touring Soviet athletes and performing artists are always scrutinized for any sign of a desire to defect, the widely traveled Protopopovs aroused no suspicions when they left...
Soviet officials are now fearful that the rash of defections that began with the Bolshoi could become an epidemic among the hundreds of athletes who will soon go abroad for international pre-Olympic competitions. Last week party officials were preparing to give prospective travelers special indoctrination lectures. A more forceful method of ensuring loyalty is in store for eleven Soviet boxers who are scheduled to compete in the World Cup Championship matches at New York City's Madison Square Garden this month. Instead of two trainers, as is customary, 18 security men in the guise of coaches will literally...
...when the American Ballet Theater opens its December season in Washington, D.C. Because the Kozlovs are not in a class with the spectacular Godunov, they will probably find a base in a less prestigious American or European company that will be glad to have a pair of superbly trained Bolshoi dancers...