Dancing Times, September edition – with Gramilano’s Danza in Italia column including Woolf Works at La Scala and a Glass triple bill in Rome
The latest issue of Dancing Times is out tomorrow. In September’s issue, I cover Wayne McGregor’s “amazing” Woolf Works at La Scala with Alessandra Ferri giving a “frighteningly intense” performance alongside an excellent cast from La Scala Ballet including “powerful and touching” performances from Timofej Andrijashenko as Septimus and Claudio Coviello as Evans, and Gioacchino Starace and Andrea Risso in the alternate cast. Also from La Scala is the return to Rudolf Nureyev’s A Sleeping Beauty, sadly casting aside Alexei Ratmansky‘s production after just one outing: the “majestic” Nicola Del Freo and Virna Toppi, Nicoletta Manni, Maria Celeste Losa and Claudio Coviello with his “discipline, musicality and elegance” are singled out.
From Rome Opera Ballet came a pleasing triple bill to Philip Glass’s music with Jerome Robbins’s Glass Pieces, (Rebecca Bianchi and Claudio Cocino “sublime”), Benjamin Millepied‘s Hearts and Arrows, and a world premiere from Sébastien Bertaud with Nuit Blanche, starring Friedemann Vogel and a “high-wattage” Eleonora Abbagnato.
This issue also includes Graham Watts talking with street dancers Lil Buck and Jon Boogz; Paul Arrowsmith considering the past, present and future of Northern Ballet; editor Jonathan Gray who reviews a new biography on Marius Petipa; Fátima Nollén taking a look at Havana’s Ballet Nacional de Cuba; together with the regular columns and reviews.
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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.
