MOSCOW, April 11 - RAPSI. Bolshoi Theatre premier dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze who requested that the theater withdraw disciplinary action against him believes the management's refusal to amicably settle the dispute is a PR move.

Bolshoi Theatre spokesperson Alina Kudryavtseva says the plaintiff knowingly proposed unacceptable terms for an amicable agreement with the theater. Therefore, the dispute is unlikely to be settled out of court.

When asked about his next step, Tsiskaridze said, a trial will follow.

Late last January, Tsiskaridze told RIA Novosti that he had been regularly harassed by Bolshoi Theater management. The dispute between management and the dancer escalated after an assault on Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the ballet company. Tsikaridze was rumored to have been involved in the incident.

A month later, Tsiskaridze filed a lawsuit against the Bolshoi demanding revocation of the two disciplinary actions imposed on him in February. During that hearing, at the Tverskoy District Court, theater representatives suggested the issue be settled out of court as an amicable agreement. Nevertheless, the next hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 12.

Earlier, the Bolshoi Theatre was in dispute with ballet dancer Anastasia Volochkova. She joined the dance company in 1998. Her on-again off-again argument with theater administration continued between 2000 and 2005. In September 2003, Volochkova was officially fired on the grounds that she failed to meet physical fitness requirements and an inability of the dance company to select a suitable partner for her. The court upheld Volochkova's lawsuit against the theater and she resumed her work there. She soon left the theater, although technically she remains a prima ballerina for the dance company.