Review: The Magnificent Return of Serata William Forsythe at La Scala – Blake Works V
| Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel and Graham Spicer see performances of William Forsythe’s Blake Works V at La Scala – a truly magnificent production. |
| Title | Blake Works V |
| Company | Ballet of La Scala |
| Venue | Teatro alla Scala, Milan |
| Date | 28 November 2025 |
| Reviewer | Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel |
There is something quite unique in William Forsythe’s ballets; one can watch the work over and over again and still find something new to notice. Teatro Alla Scala’s Serata William Forsythe brought much stellar quality to the Season 24/25. The company is simply resplendent in the programming of Prologue, The Barre Project and Blake Works I, the first restaging since this combination of works was first performed in May 2023.
An entire suite of dances set to the compositions of contemporary music artist, James Blake, Forsythe returns to classical roots in ballet, returns to old habits in composition, and works around an Italian dance culture that he has known so well since the mid-80s. Like his development of Artefact (1984) for Ballett Frankfurt and Artefact II (1985) for Aterballetto, we see various ‘versions’ of both The Barre Project, a work created for New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck during the pandemic, and Blake Works, which since its premiere at the Paris Opera Ballet, it has been staged in various versions for Boston Ballet, English National Ballet, and Dutch National Ballet amongst other companies. Prologue is a new phase in the Blake Works chapter of Forsythe’s choreographic oeuvre, and the entire evening was curated by Forsythe for La Scala in 2023. The programme offers a vision of ballet set to contemporary music, something which peaked Forsythe’s interest in the late 1970s (here I’m thinking of the sublime, but rarely performed, Love Songs from 1979). La Scala’s gift in this triple bill is a testament to ballet being alive and well, at the hands of this remarkable choreographer now in his fifth decade of making ballets.
The company dances their evening of Forsythe Works with much flair and command. The mix of dancers from all levels of the company reflects a deep understanding of Forsythe’s playfulness with ballet – the dancers attack the work with an academic mindset, playing with the logic and nuances of the vocabularies in their own (‘crisp’) accuracy. Compared to companies like English National Ballet, they are reserved in their attitude but their attention to detail is truly superb.
Principal dancers Nicoletta Manni (as ‘étoile’) and Marco Agostino revel in their performance alongside soloists such as Maria Celeste Losa (who shines in both Prologue and in Blake Works) as does Domenico Di Cristo (again, in both parts like Losa, appears to command the space with every flicked and sustained movement). In Blake Works, corps de ballet members Benedetta Montefiore, Gabriele Fornaciari and Gioacchino Starace offered stellar performances. The company revels in owning this Forsythe triple bill – the style suits the company’s academic prowess, but the choreography also allows the dancer to push themselves beyond their excellence. In Blake Works, Di Cristo’s playfulness to the track ‘Two Men Down’ is a lesson in execution of timing, expansiveness of movement as he propels into the air, as well as the subtlety of a head gesture that adds so much quirkiness to the identity of ballet vocabulary. This dancer is truly one to watch!
On Friday 28 November, I saw this programme for a second time since after its first run in 2023. I have also watched Blake Works on a number of occasions since opening night in 2016. Almost a decade on, I still find moments that catch my breath. The music from ‘The Colour in Anything’ offers a broad palette of tones, rhythms and tempi; the dancers work most elegantly through the diversity of the Blake compositions. Tanya Ruhl’s lighting is superb, with fade outs that operate on the logic and proximity of the dancers’ bodies. But there are other beautiful traces of heritage in Blake Works. As the curtain rose, I saw the opening placement of George Balanchine‘s Serenade (1934). By the time the curtain fell, the final moments of ‘F.O.R.E.V.E.R’ felt like two friends shared intimate moments of ports de bras (or arms carried through space) that reflect the legacy of Forsythe’s studies with Balanchine-trained teachers. It all comes full circle, like this should be the chapter that brings it all together. And what a wonderful job La Scala continues to do. Long may Serata William Forsythe continue to feature in La Scala’s programming – a truly magnificent production.
| Title | Blake Works V |
| Company | Ballet of La Scala |
| Venue | Teatro alla Scala, Milan |
| Date | 13 November 2025 |
| Reviewer | Graham Spicer |
Two years after its debut, La Scala has brought back the programme created by William Forsythe for the theatre, which included a new piece choreographed on company dancers.
Blake Works V is the fifth programme devised by Forsythe based on the music of English musician James Blake. Blake Works I was a piece created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016; The Barre Project was created during a period of lockdown and filmed in 2020; and the Prologue was created on Teatro alla Scala’s dancers in 2023 – Blake Works V contains these three works.
The structure of Blake Works V can be viewed as a dance class: the warmup (Prologue), the barre (The Barre Project) and the centre (Blake Works I). My review of the opening night in 2023 can be read HERE.
The excellent dancers were perhaps not as tight a group as they were two years ago. Maybe because Forsythe wasn’t in Milan this time around, or maybe (being that I saw the second night cast), it was their first time dancing roles that were new to many of them. Whatever, individually they were impressive. They faced Forsythe’s detailed technical challenges with bravura – slick and fast, as well as playful with the A-Z of classical ballet steps he gives them. Then, as it’s a Forsythe ballet, there are the expected off-balance positions and expansive extensions.
La Scala’s excellent soloist Domenico Di Cristo shone in Prologue in the role he created in 2023, and was equally outstanding in Blake Works I. Forsythe obviously enjoyed creating choreography on Maria Celeste Losa’s willowy physique, and she dominated the stage once again in Prologue, her sometimes quirky movements responding to Blake’s choppy song, Lindisfarne – sometimes dancing on the notes, and sometimes in the silences between them. During one of these silences, a woman next to me, quite loudly, told me that she was finding the music disjointed – as though the company should put that right for the next performance. There wasn’t a whisper from the rest of the house.
The role created for Tiler Peck in The Barre Project during lockdown was shared by Martino Arduino and Alice Mariani, who threw off its dazzling changes of direction at the barre with ease, yet leaned sensuously into its unyielding length during an adage section. Of their various ‘boys’ onstage, Gioachino Starace stood out, as he so often does, as well as the slick Mattia Semperboni.
Preparing for Blake Works I a decade ago, Forsythe observed teachers and students at the École de l’Opéra de Paris and incorporated many of their class exercises into his new ballet – even the costumes recall the school’s uniform for its students. During a three-week workshop period with the company, he explored the French style and incorporated its épaulements and petite batterie, often quoting from the classical repertoire. There is a sense of joy for much of the work, with voguing, dance-offs and 1950s novelty dance moves mixed in with the classically inspired steps. In a 2016 interview in the New York Times, Forsythe explained, “One style doesn’t necessarily muddy the other one; it gives you more ideas about timing and coordination.”
Although the piece is abstract in nature, there are many hidden narratives too, the most obvious being in a pas de deux – with the only man dressed differently from the others, in jeans and a green T-shirt for some reason – dancing a yes/no, push/pull love story. It was touchingly danced by Gioachino Starace and the delightful Camila Cerulli.
La Scala’s dancers were visibly enjoying their time on stage, and among the personable group Gabriele Fornaciari, Darius Gramada, Caterina Bianchi, Saïd Ramos Ponce, Benedetta Montefiore and Alessandro Paoloni particularly caught my eye – technique and presence.
Unfortunately, La Scala is usually asked to perform Don Quixote or Giselle when it tours abroad – but Blake Project V would be a very fine calling card indeed.
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.
Dr Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel is a dance scholar, educator and published author. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance (2003), the Universities of Durham and Surrey, and London Metropolitan University (2013). Her doctoral research focussed on Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces (1923), and the re-imaginings by contemporary choreographers Angelin Preljocaj and Mauro Bigonzetti. Kathrina is a former director of the Society of Dance History Scholars (now Dance Studies Association). Her scholarship on ballet histories has been published in peer-reviewed anthologies and journals, as well as newspapers, high-end magazines, and online blogs. She has authored a book on the legacy of Nathalie Poutiatine and ballet in Malta (Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, 2020) and co-edited an extensive and pioneering anthology titled The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet (Oxford University Press, 2021).
