Ballet star has Roman dancing to her tune
HIS love affair with soccer is well documented. Now Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich appears to have found a new passion for ballet.
The Chelsea FC owner, who announced his split from his third wife this week, is said to have developed an interest in the arts thanks to acclaimed dancer Diana Vishneva.
The billionaire reportedly took his private jet to the Russian city of Perm in May this year to attend the final show of the Diaghilev Festival, where the star was dancing.
Mr Abramovich has even been spotted alone in Moscow watching ballet after being inspired by Ms Vishneva, who has been described as having ‘beauty and artistry that compel attention wherever (and whatever) she performs’.
For her part Ms Vishneva, who has been in London for a performance of Anna Karenina with the Mariinsky Ballet at the Royal Opera House, appears to have developed a reciprocal interest in his soccer club in the capital.
The 41-year-old Russian posted photographs of herself and other dancers during a trip to see Chelsea’s Community Shield match against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday, although Mr Abramovich was not believed to have been at the match. Their mutual interests have led to rumours in Russian newspapers of a romance, but these were debunked as ‘nonsense’ by Mr Abramovich’s friends in Moscow.
Yesterday, Ms Vishneva left Britain, where she had been with her husband, posting on her Twitter page: ‘London, thanks for your hospitality. Time to hit the road.’
Her performance as Anna, the married Russian aristocrat who has a doomed affair with the affluent Count Vronsky, had been described as ‘intensely played and ravishingly danced’ by a reviewer for the Financial Times.
Mr Abramovich, 50, who is worth €8billion, and his magazine editor wife Dasha Zhukova, announced this week that they amicably agreed to part ways, but will continue to work together for their joint businesses and two children. Mr Abramovich owns a string of large oil and metal companies and their split could become the world’s most expensive divorce.
This is likely to depend on whether the case is heard in the Russian courts, which may favour Mr Abramovich, or the notoriously tougher English courts.
Legal experts say it may also depend on whether Ms Zhukova, a 36-year-old former model, signed a pre-nuptial agreement.
She became Mr Abramovich’s third wife after they met at a New Year’s Eve party in 2005.
The tycoon’s 2007 divorce from second wife Irina Malandina cost him €175million.