Alina Cojocaru on pointe shoes
This pair of ballet shoes which I wore to perform my first Tatiana in Onegin, when I was 20, lasted only two days. If I’m not performing on stage they can last up to two months. I constantly sew on ribbons and repair my ballet shoes to make them last longer. There is a huge shoe room at the Royal Opera House with a compartment for each dancer with their name on and all their shoes. There are maybe 10 or 15 pairs per dancer.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
