Ivan Vasiliev in a nutshell – NY Times critics Alistair Macaulay sums up the Russian ballet star

“The Bolshoi Ballet star Ivan Vasiliev, still in his early 20s, is just what you want a Russian male dancer to be: powerful, ardent, engaging and a bit on the wild side. Even without matinee-idol looks, he has loads of physical charm. His smile is happy, his dark brown hair is none too tidy, there’s a mischievous glint in his eyes, and he’s virile without having completely shaken off his boyishness. Vast though the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House is, he makes it look much too small for comfort when he tears around it. His jumps are out of all proportion to his medium height.” NYTimes.com

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.