Volochkova says she is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds

Anastasia Volochkova was fired in September after the Bolshoi director said she was too large to lift.

Russia's labour minister Alexander Pochinok urged the company to take her back, saying they broke labour laws.

"Being on Bolshoi staff means much to me and I believe that my dismissal was illegal," Volochkova said.

She is claiming back wages and moral damages, but any compensation would be "merely a symbolic sum", she said.

"Unfortunately, I have to do it because I am seeking justice and want to assert my rights as well as the rights of other artists in court," she told the Itar-Tass news agency.

'Serious problem'

Volochkova's departure caused a media storm after she accused the ballet company of conspiring against her.

At the time of her dismissal, the Bolshoi defended their decision, saying her height and weight made it impossible to find partners for her.

"Her physical form is definitely a serious problem," Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov told Russian television.

"Classical ballet is intended for duets, with many lifts, and the ballet's artists are not in condition to support this, since they themselves are worried about their physical form.

"I don't consider it moral to force them to do so."

Ice cream diva

But Volochkova hit back, saying: "Each time, in different interviews, I am given an extra centimetre, first five, now 12.

"The director is starting to make up excuses to stop me working at this theatre," she added.

Unlike most ballerinas, who are notorious for watching their weight, Ms Volochkova has said she could not imagine life without ice cream.

Her spokesman said she was 169 cm (5 feet 7 inches) tall and weighed 50 kg (110 pounds).