It had halted ballet on Rudolf Nureyev

Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre was battling to calm a storm of speculation on Monday after cancelling the world premiere of a ballet about star dancer Rudolf Nureyev just three days before opening night. The ballet was to open Tuesday at the legendary Moscow theatre, with a bevy of international critics in the audience.

But on Saturday the Bolshoi said the premiere had been postponed with no future date set.

‘Poor performances’

On Monday, the theatre’s general director Vladimir Urin announced that the premiere would now be held on May 4, telling a packed news conference that he and artistic director Makhar Vaziev had pulled the show because of poor performances in rehearsals.

“In terms of the quality of the ballet, we realised it was bad,” Mr. Urin said, adding that the theatre’s management was “completely despondent”. But a rehearsal on Saturday nonetheless showed a “very serious leap in quality”, he said, and the ballet will now have its premiere on May 4.

The ballet has been hotly anticipated given Mr. Nureyev’s legacy, after his defection to the West and his death from an AIDS-related illness in 1993.

It was created by one of Russia's most innovative theatre and film directors, Kirill Serebrennikov, whose home and Moscow theatre were recently searched in a probe into alleged embezzlement of state funds.

Rumours have swirled that Mr. Urin was furious at the show’s artistic content — reportedly featuring nudity and male dancers in drag — or that he received a call from government officials to pull the show.