Marianela Nuñez dances to Nina Simone singing I’m Feeling Good with choreography by Will Tuckett
Three-and-a-half delightful minutes with Royal Ballet Principal Marianela Nuñez in a piece choreographed by Will Tuckett called Nela.
More delightful again is that it is set to Nina Simone’s version of Feeling Good which, although it feels like an American blues classic, was written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for their musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd in 1964. Feeling Good was already on Simone’s 1965 album I Put a Spell On You.
This short film is by Andrew Margetson who created the previous short films Portrait of a Dancer with Lauren Cuthbertson and Duet with Yasmine Naghdi and Beatriz Stix Brunnell.
Enjoy.
NELA from Andy Margetson on Vimeo.
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.
Absolutely fantastic except …. Why did the photographer cut out Nela’s feet and lower body just before the end of the clip???
Nina Simone ‘s voice is jazzy, warm and round and Marianela so square and classical….not sure they fit! Anyway really enjoyable …two great artists.