Alina Cojocaru is joined by La Scala’s former principal dancer Mick Zeni in La Strada
A new two-act ballet based on Federico Fellini‘s La Strada will premiere at Sadler’s Wells from 25 – 28 January 2024.
Performing the lead role of Gelsomina is former Principal of The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, Alina Cojocaru. She is joined by former Principal of La Scala Ballet Mick Zeni in the role of Zampanò, while former Principal of The Royal Ballet Johan Kobborg performs in the role of Il Matto.
Choreographer Natália Horečná will fuse classical ballet with contemporary dance, with set and costume designs by Otto Bubeníček, and lighting by Andrea Giretti.
Zeni danced in a celebrated version created for Carla Fracci by Mario Pistoni, the choreographer/dancer who played the role that Zeni will take on here. Horečná created the touching work Birds Walking on Water for Zeni at La Scala which was his last role before retiring from the La Scala company.
Like the Pistoni version, Nino Rota‘s score from the film La Strada underpins the score together with some of his other music for Fellini films including La Dolce Vita and Il Casanova.
I am incredibly excited to be bringing La Strada to life – said Cojocaru – and truly honoured and grateful to be joined by such world-class artists for this unique project. It has been a dream of mine for a long time to create a ballet on this most touching story. Much like our heroine Gelsomina, our own journeys in life and individual creative paths, have brought us together for this moment, to use and share these experiences and bring new artistic life to the creation of this world premiere ballet and dance production.
The production has a cast of 11 performers, with Marc Jubete and David Rodriguez (former Soloists at Hamburg Ballet), Yaiza Coll (former Soloist with Hamburg Ballet), Winnie Dias (freelance dancer for English National Ballet and McNicol Ballet Collective), Maria Tolstunova (former dancer with Vienna State Ballet), Giulio Galimberti (New English Ballet Theatre), Lukas Hunt (McOnie Company’s Nutcracker), and Robert Weithas (former dancer with Vienna State Ballet).
Alina Cojocaruf founded Acworkroom Ltd – an independent ballet and dance production company – in 2019. The company aims to develop and commission new original ballet and contemporary dance works for audiences in the UK and internationally as well as offering opportunities for freelance artists. The company’s inaugural performances were Alina at Sadler’s Wells in March 2020. La Strada is the first full-length ballet to be commissioned by Cojocaru.
All photos by Vincent Klueger
Alina Cojocaru and Acworkroom present
La Strada
Sadler’s Wells, London
Thursday 25 – Sunday 28 January 2024
www.sadlerswells.com
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.
She’s too old.. retire..