When Boris Eifman started his dance company in 1977, he was spurned by Soviet authorities. ” ‘Back then, the authorities looked on me as a pornographer, not a choreographer.’ His crime was not to dissent from Soviet politics, but to choreograph in a style that challenged the orthodoxies of Soviet ballet. Today, Eifman Ballet Theatre is one of Russia’s prime cultural exports, and Eifman, its 56-year-old director, cuts an engaging ambassadorial figure.”