Producer Daniele Cipriani's annual international gala of dance returns to Rome's Auditorium Parco della Musica on 28 (eve) and 29 January (mat, eve) 2023. “Virtuosismi in volo e sulle punte” (Virtuosity in Flight and on Pointe) is the title given to the gala.
8,000-plus spectators gather each year, eager to see their favourites – Marianela Nuñez is an (almost) constant presence – and discover new talents from the major international ballet companies. This will be the 8th edition in Rome, though Cipriani organises Les Étoiles galas in other Italian cities too. The successful formula of past editions will be repeated, which is of not adding too much sugar to the pudding, so lesser-known contemporary pieces are mixed in with the popular classical pas de deux.
Les Étoiles galas always have themes or surprises, such as the 90-year-old fashion designer, Roberto Capucci, designing his first ballet costumes; introducing Oleg Ivenko (the Ukrainian dancer who had just been seen as Rudolf Nureyev in the film The White Crow; and introducing new works, such as Christopher Rudd's homosexual pas de deux, Touché, created for the American Ballet Theatre. The surprises for 2023 are to be announced.
The names that have been revealed for next year (there are still some names to come) include Royal Ballet dancers Marianela Nuñez, William Bracewell, Anna Rose O'Sullivan, and Marcelino Sambé. Polina Semiovova (Berlin State Ballet), Matteo Miccini (Stuttgart Ballet), Valentine Colasante and Paul Marque (Paris Opera Ballet), Maia Makhateli and Giorgi Potskhishvili (Dutch National Ballet) and Sergio Bernal – the Spanish dancer is a particular favourite and always brings the house down.
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.
