Download Cojocaru? With Crystal Ballet you can: Ballet goes Digital

Some of the brightest stars of British ballet have joined forces for a major dance initiative being launched next month. Genesis is a unique project set to captivate ballet audiences everywhere and appeal to a digitally aware generation.

It is the brainchild of Crystal Ballet, a company set up in 2011 to explore new frontiers in dance: it will be the first time ever that a collection of dance pieces has been created and filmed specifically for download to personal portable devices.

The initiative is being launched in Tokyo on 1 July when downloads will become available internationally to the general public. The European launch will take place in London in September 2013.

Genesis has been created by choreographers Kim Brandstrup and Ernst Meisner to music by Bach, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff, and features Alina Cojocaru, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae from The Royal Ballet, together with stars of English National Ballet: Esteban Berlanga, Daria Klimentová, Vadim Muntagirov and Erina Takahashi. It is a collection of eight original dance pieces exploring aspects of human relationships, with female and male solos as well as pas de deux.

The ballets have been captured by using the latest camera techniques and have been directed especially for the medium by Kim Brandstrup and The Royal Ballet’s Bennet Gartside. Bold, atmospheric lighting has been designed for the videos by Nicholas Holdridge.

Artistic Director of Crystal Ballet, and ex-dancer, Henry St Clair, says,

Together with our Managing Director, Mark Handford, and all the creative team, I am thrilled that this new frontier for dance performance is being launched in Tokyo. Dance enjoys a huge following in Japan, and Japanese audiences are well known for their enthusiasm for the art form. The Tokyo launch paves the way nicely for a European launch in London after the summer. With the launch of Genesis, dance lovers will at last be able to watch dance that has been created especially for personal portable devices, and a new digitally-minded generation will have an excellent entry point to appreciate it, perhaps for the first time.

The ‘album’ will be available to download internationally from 1 July from iTunes at £15. More information from www.crystalballet.com

Photography by David West

Gramilano Editor

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.