Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev

 ballet  No Responses »
May 242013
 

Black White Ball Milan 6 375x500 Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and VasilievGood news for dance at La Scala. Cut­ting down on the budget has meant axing three opera pro­duc­tions, but opera’s loss is ballet’s gain, for the ‘cheaper’ bal­let per­form­ances have been bumped up from 49 this sea­son to a health­ier 61.

More guests too will liven up the 2013–2014 sea­son. House fix­tures Svet­lana Zakhar­ova, and will be joined by return­ing guests  and  for Balanchine’s Dia­monds, and Nat­alia Osipova with Ivan Vasiliev for Rubies. Osipova and Vasiliev will also dance in Don Quix­ote later in the sea­son, as well as Zakhar­ova with Denis Matvi­enko, mak­ing a long awaited return, and Leonid Sara­fanov will return to Milan as Basilio.

Zakhar­ova and Semi­onova will also appear in Swan Lake with David Hall­berg who will be mak­ing his house début. It will be gloves off for Bolle and Vasiliev in the Petit pro­gramme where they will altern­ate in Le jeune homme et la mort.

The sea­son con­cludes with MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet with Zakhar­ova and Bolle, Osipova and Vasiliev, and Murru will dance with the Royal Ballet’s Mari­anela Nuñez, who has been to La Scala to watch her on and off-stage part­ner Thi­ago Soares dance, but will be mak­ing her début with the company.

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  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Nuñez and Hallberg début at La Scala, with Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev

Greta Hodgkinson answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition

 ballet, questionnaire, questionnaire - dancers' edition  2 Responses »
Apr 172013
 

HODG 2012 5 300 332x500 Greta Hodgkinson answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ EditionQ&A

When did you start dan­cing?
At 4 years old.

Why did you start dan­cing?
As a child, I was always dan­cing around the house so it made sense.

What’s your favour­ite role?
Giselle.

What role have you never played but would like to?
I would love to dance the role of Bar­on­ess Mary Vet­sera in ’s May­er­ling

Who is your favour­ite cho­reo­grapher?
I could never pick a favourite!

Who is your favour­ite dir­ector?
I love Scorsese films.

Which is your favour­ite city?
The one where I live, Toronto.

What do you like most about your­self?
Loyalty.

When and where were you hap­pi­est?
Right now.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My fam­ily.… [con­tinue reading]

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Karen Kain: it’s my job to keep the National Ballet of Canada motivated as Nureyev did

 ballet  No Responses »
Mar 262013
 

Karen Kain 500x332 Karen Kain: it’s my job to keep the National Ballet of Canada motivated as Nureyev didIn three weeks’ time the National Bal­let of Canada will arrive at London’s Sadler’s Wells. After a 26 years away from the cap­ital The Times asked dir­ector Karen Kain why:

Until this sea­son we hadn’t been any­where. Basic­ally we didn’t have the rep­er­toire that was allow­ing us to get the invit­a­tions. I knew that part of what I needed to do to get the com­pany seen again, or even heard of again, was develop the kind of rep­er­toire that people wanted to see.

So what do people want to see? One of the hot­test cho­reo­graph­ers on the planet to be sure, so it will per­form ’s Romeo and Juliet which he cre­ated for the com­pany in 2011 to mark its 60th anniversary.… [con­tinue reading]

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Igor Yebra answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition

 ballet, questionnaire, questionnaire - dancers' edition  No Responses »
Oct 172012
 

Igor Yebra Igor Yebra answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition

Q&A

When did you start dan­cing?
When I was 13 years old.

Why did you start dan­cing?
Because I liked it and in my house it was some­thing nor­mal to see bal­let; although first I wanted to be a foot­ball or bas­ket­ball player!

Which dan­cer inspired you most as a child?
Fred Astaire, Ant­o­nio Gades and Vladi­mir Vasiliev.

Which dan­cer do you most admire?
Fred Astaire.

What’s your favour­ite role?
Those where I have to think and make the pub­lic think.

What role have you never played but would like to?
Leonardo in Bodas de San­gre [based on Lorca’s play Blood Wed­ding] cho­reo­graphed by Ant­o­nio Gades.

What’s your favour­ite bal­let to watch?
At the moment The Merry Widow because I’m work­ing on it, and at this time of crisis in the world what could be bet­ter!… [con­tinue reading]

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Natalia Makarova among those receiving the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors

 awards, ballet  No Responses »
Sep 132012
 

Natalia Makarova Natalia Makarova among those receiving the 2012 Kennedy Center HonorsThe Kennedy Cen­ter Hon­ors award is the nation’s highest hon­our for those who have influ­enced Amer­ican cul­ture through the arts. It comes with a din­ner with Sec­ret­ary of State Hil­lary Rod­ham Clin­ton and a recep­tion hos­ted by Pres­id­ent . The hon­our­ees will be saluted by their fel­low artists on 2 Decem­ber in a show which will be broad­cast by CBS on Box­ing Day.

is one of the seven recip­i­ents this year. Kennedy Cen­ter Chair­man David Ruben­stein said that her artistry had

…ignited the stages of the world’s greatest bal­let companies.

The 72-year-old baller­ina per­formed in at the Kennedy Cen­ter in 1971, days after it opened, and just a year after defect­ing from her nat­ive Rus­sia.… [con­tinue reading]

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Filippo Timi can be excellent, so he shouldn’t be anything less: Romeo and Juliet in Milan

 Italy, theatre  2 Responses »
Jul 212012
 

Timi Giulietta e Romeo RIvano Trabalza Studio 009 Filippo Timi can be excellent, so he shouldnt be anything less: Romeo and Juliet in MilanWhat to think of Fil­ippo Timi?

After the extraordin­ary suc­cess of his Amleto² (Ham­let squared) comes Giuli­ett’ e Romeo (a loose adapt­a­tion of ). There are just five char­ac­ters: the Nurse, Romeo, Juliet,  Mer­cu­tio and Cupid. Yes Cupid — it’s a very loose adaptation.

As Cupid, Timi comes on as though Jason Bieber had been styled by Pierre et Gilles, with blonde wig (cue ref­er­ences to Italian singer/dancer/ icon, Raf­faella Carrà) and rose-tinted glasses who, between shoot­ing clouds of red paper hearts into the air, mimes to Massimo Ranieri’s 60s hit Se bru­ciasse la città.

Timi appeared to have been plucked from a hol­i­day vil­lage enter­tain­ment, but his faith­ful fans nev­er­the­less rewar­ded him with shrieks, over-the-head applaud­ing, and hys­ter­ical laughter.… [con­tinue reading]

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The dance drain: who will save ballet in Italy?

 ballet  No Responses »
Jul 102012
 

Itali­ans are great dan­cers, but they don’t get much oppor­tun­ity to demon­strate that in their homeland.

The his­tory of bal­let is adorned with Italian tal­ent: Giusep­pina Bozza­c­chi was the first Swan­hilda in Cop­pélia;  three dazzling stars, Car­lotta Grisi, Fanny Cer­rito, and Marie Tagli­oni (also the first Sylphide) were cel­eb­rated by Per­rot in his Pas de Quattre; Pier­ina Leg­nani was named Prima Baller­ina Assol­uta by Petipa at the Mari­in­sky and was the first baller­ina to per­form 32 fou­ettés; Petipa cre­ated La Esmer­alda pas de six for Vir­ginia Zuc­chi,  and so on.

Italian ballerinas The dance drain: who will save ballet in Italy?

Although they didn’t come as thick and fast in the 20th cen­tury, Italia’s liv­ing legend Carla Fracci cer­tainly made her mark inter­na­tion­ally, as did Elisa­betta Ter­ra­bust and Lili­ana Cosi, and London’s Royal Bal­let is surely grate­ful for the pres­ence of Aless­andra Ferri, Vivi­ana Dur­ante and Mara Galeazzi.… [con­tinue reading]

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