When artistic disciplines collide, dance often takes a back seat.
Debra Craine in today’s Times comments on the new collaboration between the National Gallery and the Royal Ballet:
The idea of artists and choreographers collaborating isn’t new. Pablo Picasso worked with Léonide Massine and Robert Rauschenberg inspired Trisha Brown; Jasper Johns advised Merce Cunningham; Isamu Noguchi joined forces with Martha Graham; David Hockney designed for Frederick Ashton; and Sarah Lucas teamed up with Michael Clark. But I can’t think of anything to match the ambitious scale of the proposed collaboration between the Royal Ballet and the National Gallery.
With Chris Ofili, Mark Wallinger and Conrad Shawcross each designing for a ballet, you can expect just about anything to end up on the Opera House stage on the night. But beware: when artistic disciplines collide, dance often takes a back seat.
read all via A huge ask for such an ambitious project | The Times
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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 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.
