Sergei Polunin injured and will not dance with Zakharova in Sleeping Beauty

Sergei Polunin, who was to replace David Hallberg who is injured, is now injured himself and will not dance the three scheduled performances in Alexei Ratmansky‘s The Sleeping Beauty.

Polunin, who has injured his neck, will be replaced with the young Jacopo Tissi who, after graduating from La Scala’s ballet school in June last year, has returned to join the company after a season with the Vienna State Ballet. Svetlana Zakharova will be at his side for the opening performance this Saturday, 26 September, and two further performances on 2 and 6 October.

Polunin has written,

I am deeply sorry for this injury and for all the inconvenience it will cause. Unfortunately, unforeseen accidents are part of dance, as we all know, but I regret that I will not be able to dance again with the La Scala ballet company. I hope I will have a new opportunity soon.

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 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.