Rocchetta Grand Jeté 2023 – Giacomo Rovero, photo Andrej Uspenski 2023
A few years ago, a rather remarkable woman, Francesca Massone Incisa, wanted to stage a gala at her ‘home’.
Home, for Massone, is Cantine dei Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta, among the Monferrato hills in Piedmont. As owner of the cantine her day job is running the vineyard and winery, but she is also passionate about dance.
Her relationship with the Royal Opera House began during the Covid pandemic, when the winery launched the ‘A Bottle For The Arts’ initiative with a Limited Edition label in support of the Royal Opera House Recovery Campaign. Then, two years ago, a stage was erected in the grounds of the winery, and Royal Ballet dancers arrived for a gala organised by First Soloist, Meaghan Grace Hinkis.
Although there were logistical problems due to a heavy downpour, the gala was a success and two years later, Massone is putting on another event, combining dance with good food – the winery also has a wonderful restaurant – and, of course, good wine. “It’s a great honour for our winery to host the second edition of Rocchetta Grand Jeté,” she says, “and to give Giacomo Rovero, Italian pride and joy, the opportunity to create a wonderful show with stars from the Royal Ballet.”
Royal Ballet Soloist, Giacomo Rovero, is organising the gala for 15 July with Ashton and Wheeldon, MacMillan and McGregor, being performed, if not among the vines, then very close by.
Rovero has been having a good season with The Royal Ballet after being promoted to Soloist last year. The Italian dancer made his debut as Lensky in John Cranko‘s Onegin and was a “polished and sparky Benvolio” (Financial Times) for the 60th anniversary performances of Kenneth MacMillan‘s Romeo and Juliet.
So Giacomo, you are organising an evening of ballet alongside bottles of Barolo and Barbera?
For this year’s edition of Rocchetta Grand Jeté, Francesca Massone thought it would be meaningful to have an Italian dancer organise and produce the event.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to get to tackle and gain experience in this area and bring a wonderful evening of dance to my home country.
Nowadays, Italy, for Rovero, means family, friends and holidays more than dance.
My ballet formation started in Piacenza at Accademia di Danza Domenichino da Piacenza. After taking part in quite a few national and international competitions…
…yes. Then I got offered a place at the Hamburg Ballet school where I studied for two years before joining the Royal Ballet Upper School where I finally graduated.
He joined The Royal Ballet’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme at the start of the 2016/17 Season, entered the Company as an Artist from the 2017/18 Season, and was promoted to First Artist in 2022, then Soloist in 2024.
Giacomo, you have assembled a group of ten dancers, and apart from you, there is Steven McRae with Martin Diaz, Olivia Findlay, Daichi Hikarashi, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Caspar Lench, Sae Maeda, Aiden O’Brien, Julia Roscoe, and Charlotte Tonkinson.
The group of dancers from The Royal Ballet will have just performed at the Nervi Festival [13 July] as part of a company tour. It was a great opportunity to unofficially ‘extend the tour’ and add one more stop in this beautiful place before returning home.
Were you given a free hand when choosing the pieces? No Don Quixote or Swan Lake?
Choosing the repertoire and putting together the evening has been one of the most exciting aspects of organising this event.
The lineup includes gala favourites such as the Grand Pas Classique and The Sleeping Beauty third act pas de deux, but mainly less often seen extracts – especially in Italy – from the company’s repertoire with excerpts from Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, and pas de deux from Wayne McGregor‘s Infra and Christopher Wheeldon‘s Within The Golden Hour among pieces to be performed.
My decisions were mainly made to show off our wonderful dancers in the best possible way while showcasing some of the pieces and choreographers that best represent the company’s essence.
One piece does have an Italian connection, however. When Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice was staged at La Scala in 1958, Ashton choreographed the Dance of the Blessed Spirits for 21-year-old Carla Fracci (he had already used the music for another choreography in 1953 for Svetlana Beriosova). It later became a male solo after he re-choreographed it once again for Anthony Dowell in 1978. Rovero will be dancing this work and the Wheeldon pas des deux from This Bitter Earth with Meaghan Grace Hinkis.
I chose these works because I find them both to be meaningful, poignant pieces of dance that are enjoyable for both dancers and audience to experience.
You’ve been receiving well-deserved praise for your performances this season.
This season I’ve had the pleasure of debuting as Lensky in Onegin, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and a number of roles in McGregor and Wheeldon ballets, to name a few.
Is Romeo in your sights?
A dream role of mine has always been Romeo, and I would also love to one day tackle the role of Albrecht in Giselle.
The coming season will be your tenth with The Royal Ballet.
I have loved my time with The Royal Ballet. It is a truly wonderful place to work, where we’re constantly exposed to exciting new works by world leading choreographers and getting to perform some of the great classics that have shaped the company.
Well, in bocca al lupo, Giacomo.
Crepi!
Rocchetta Grand Jeté 2023 – Meaghan Grace Hinkis at Cantine dei Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta, photo Andrej Uspenski
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.
Anna Ol, principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, is the winner of the Alexandra Radius Prize 2025, presented tonight at the opening the company’s season.
Jonathan Gray feels that the Compañía Rafaela Carrasco’s CREAVIVA was an anticlimax after the excitement of the opening night of Flamenco Festival London.
His debut as Lensky back in January was much remarked in the House (as was that of his Olga, Viola Pantuso). This year’s Onegin revival, supervised like a hawk by Reid Anderson, has fielded some eight different partnerings of all four principal roles, the majority danced by actual principals. But for my money, Rovero was the finest Lensky of the lot, somehow distilling the doomy essence of the character from the very outset and utterly compelling to watch.
His debut as Lensky back in January was much remarked in the House (as was that of his Olga, Viola Pantuso). This year’s Onegin revival, supervised like a hawk by Reid Anderson, has fielded some eight different partnerings of all four principal roles, the majority danced by actual principals. But for my money, Rovero was the finest Lensky of the lot, somehow distilling the doomy essence of the character from the very outset and utterly compelling to watch.
I so agree – he’s Lensky was spot on!