His first steps will be closely watched inside and outside the theatre. The Bolshoi has a special status in Russia, where it is considered a national treasure and a symbol of Russian culture if not of Russia itself. And as a state theatre, it has close links to the Kremlin.

Vaziev took over after a period of scandal and bickering under his predecessor Filin, who lost much of his sight as the result of an acid attack organised by a disgruntled dancer in January 2012. The attack shocked the international ballet world and exposed infighting within the famed company.

Vaziev was brought in by the theatre’s new general director, Vladimir Urin, who after months of negotiation persuaded him to leave a flourishing career in the West at Milan’s La Scala and return to Russia.

Despite breaking his contract at La Scala, Vaziev says he parted on good terms with a company that he says is still very dear to him. He has been credited with reviving La Scala’s ballet company and his traditionalist repertoire was popular with Italian audiences.

Still, Vaziev insists it was time for him to return home to the tradition he grew up in as a dancer. He says he brings few lessons back from his time in the West, other than being firmly convinced there is nowhere in the world that ballet is danced better than in Russia.

He says the success of the Russian tradition is based on its strict school and a performance repertoire where the company dances a lot of different ballets in a fast and frequent rotation.

“I know very few ballet companies in the world who are capable of dancing ballet at the highest level. Do you know why? Because if you only dance Swan Lake once a year or once every three years, I can tell you straight away – you have no chance of dancing it well. That’s just the way it is,” says Vaziev.

Vaziev was trained in St Petersburg’s Mariinsky, not at the Bolshoi, and his outsider status may be a potential strength.

Originally from Alagir, a small town in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, he was accepted in 1973 at age 12 to the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg, then Leningrad. After graduation, he stayed on at the Mariinsky, becoming a principal dancer before taking over as ballet director in 1995, a position he held until 2008.

He comes to the close-knit world of Moscow ballet without old alliances, which observers say may mean he can do what needs to be done to revive the company’s confidence.

The company will be on tour in London this summer, where Vaziev says British audiences will not see obvious signs of a new regime. They will see what they came for – classical ballet from the Bolshoi.

Vaziev may represent a safe pair of hands, but he is keen to counter accusations of dusty traditionalism at the Bolshoi. His company will be open to all genres of dance, he says, as long as the result is world-class.

The fact that ballet is a young, athletic discipline means dancers bring a modern sensibility to the classics, a process he believes automatically refreshes the traditional repertoire.

All that is needed to ensure this is honesty and openness so the dancers can work, Vaziev says, choosing his words carefully in a statement that was the closest he came to describing his solution to ridding the theatre of the rivalry, corruption and infighting that seems to have characterised the past few years.

He says his main task is to create an environment at the Bolshoi where the most talented dancers can flourish.

“You must be honest, don’t bully or humiliate anyone – and the rest is just hard work,” he says.

Associated Press