At The Bolshoi Ballet, Makhar Vaziev Is Watching You

“Soon after becoming the ballet director at the Bolshoi Theater, Makhar K. Vaziev installed a large flat-screen television next to his desk that allows him to monitor the rehearsal rooms and the two main stages – the screen divided into nine squares. On a recent afternoon, … he watched as Elvina Ibraimova rehearsed onscreen, then called the studio to tweak a variation. … At first, the dancers and ballet teachers were startled at this Big Brother method of remote supervision, he said, but he seems to want them to know that he is always there.”