MOSCOW, May 16 (RAPSI) - The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow will hear an appeal from Bolshoi Theatre premier dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze who is requesting that the court overturn a ruling that only partly satisfied his previous lawsuit against theatre management's reprimands, court spokesperson, Yekaterina Korotova, told RAPSI.

The date of the hearing has not been set.

In late March, Tsiskaridze filed a lawsuit against the Bolshoi Theatre, asking a Moscow court to annul two official reprimands issued against him by theater management in February for giving interviews to the press.

When the parties failed to settle the dispute out of court, the court annulled one of the reprimands on April 12. Tsiskaridze said it was unfair that the court did not annul the second reprimand, and added that he would appeal the ruling.

On April 16, he was reprimanded again for speaking to journalists. Multiple reprimands can be grounds for dismissal under Russian labor laws.

The confrontation between theater management and the dancer intensified after an acid attack on Bolshoi Theater Artistic Director Sergei Filin in January. Filin suffered third degree burns to his face and eyes. The media reported that Tsiskaridze may have been involved in the attack.

Some media outlets reported that, according to the dancer, the theater's press office and Director Anatoly Iksanov were using the situation for personal benefit, seeking to place the blame for the criminal act on the theater staff. The Bolshoi Theater administration claimed that this was not a crusade against Tsiskaridze. However, Iksanov said in February that the acid attack was the "natural result of the mayhem that had been stirred up ... by Nikolai Tsiskaridze." Tsiskaridze then hit back, accusing Iksanov of trying to damage his reputation and to settle the score.

Tsiskaridze has been at the Bolshoi Theater since 1992.