Cinderellas and Princes: Fracci, Semionova, Gades and Bolle

Polina Semionova and Roberto Bolle are about to open in Mauro Bigonzetti's new production of Cinderella for La Scala. The publicity shots for the Corriere della sera's magazine Io donna, reminded me of a photo of Carla Fracci and the great Spanish flamenco dancer Antonio Gades taken in 1996, the year, for both dancers, that saw their 60th birthday. We often see dancers pouting and flouting their beautiful bodies, so Semionova and Bolle's photo – and those from thirty years ago with Fracci and Gades – are fresh and fun.

In Bigonzetti's Cinderella, which opens on Saturday 19 December, she loses her skirt rather than her shoe and her Prince then searches the world for a girl with a waist so narrow that she can fit it. I can hear protests from concerned anti-anorexia groups already…

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.