Ballet star fired over nude shots
A ballet dancer sacked by the Vienna State Opera after posing for nude shots has claimed she was “discriminated against as a woman”.Russian-born Karina Sarkissova was given the sack by heads of the prestigious opera house after a series of nude photographs were published in Austrian men’s magazine Wiener.State Opera officials stressed the 27-year-old blonde had been “warned” to avoid the photos from going into print.Sarkissova, who became a member of the opera houses ballet aged 16, said today (Fri): “I feel discriminated against as a woman by this decision. Our art (of dancing) is a symbiosis of power and aesthetic. This is what these photographs are portraying.”Reports have it that the mother of an eight-year-old son has already received several offers from operas around the world.