La Scala has announced the programme, though not with full casting, of its Ballet Gala which marks the return of the company to the stage after the cancellation of the theatre’s programming in March.
dance
UK government to reopen theatres and stadiums with new world-beating scheme
UK government ministers are aiming to open theatres and sports stadiums by 1 November without social distancing.
According to The Sunday Times, the prime minister and Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, ordered officials to “move at extreme pace” to encourage crowds back into large venues
Royal Opera House opens its doors for the first time in six months
After six months of closure, the Royal Opera House will be opening its doors to the public as part of Open House London weekend, giving visitors a taste of one of the world’s most famous theatres for free.
In a specially-curated, socially-distanced programme called ‘Take a Bow’, visitors will be granted access to the Royal Opera House’s two stages
Nureyev on staging the “ballet of ballets” The Sleeping Beauty
Rudolf Nureyev first staged Sleeping Beauty at La Scala in Milan and on 22 September 1966 the curtain went up on La Bella addormentata nel bosco with sets and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis. Nureyev was Prince Florimund and Aurora was Carla Fracci.
In 1989, Nureyev said,
“When I was first learning to dance in Ufa, my ballet master, who had belonged to the Kirov ballet, used to tell me that Sleeping Beauty was the “ballet of ballets”. And I couldn’t wait to try it. It was with the Kirov ballet that I later discovered what a glorious delight it was.”
Bolshoi and Mariinsky dancers in quarantine
Russian media outlet RBC is reporting that some artists of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres in Moscow and St Petersburg have been quarantined after testing positive for coronavirus
[Review] Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures of Prometheus with striking Capucci costumes
Italian producer Daniele Cipriani seems to be resuscitating dance in Italy almost singlehandedly. The first main dance event in the country was conceived by him and presented in mid-July to open the Nervi Festival. It featured Hugo Marchand, Iana Salenko, Sergio Bernal and many other dancers with an international career, who flew into Genoa to dance for the first time after the four-month imposed break. Cipriani is presenting various socially-distanced galas during July and August, but he is also responsible for a coproduction between the Nervi Festival – organised by Genova’s Teatro Carlo Felice – and the Spoleto Festival, with live music from a (socially-distanced) orchestra playing Beethoven’s only ballet score, The Creatures of Prometheus.
The 1801 work was a collaboration with Italian dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganò. The original scenario of the ballet no longer exists, but a theatre programme for the Viennese premiere gives an idea of the structure:
[Interview] The Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi: a time to reflect
I’ve interviewed The Royal Ballet’s principal ballerina Yasmine Naghdi several times over the past five years. The first time, she was a soloist and preparing to debut as Juliet with Matthew Ball as Romeo. The last time was 18-months ago, a few months after her debut in Swan Lake, a role she was scheduled to reprise this spring, but then The Royal Opera House closed its doors.
She is currently on holiday in my adopted homeland, Italy. However, while I’m in the north by the Ligurian Sea, Yasmine and her Italian boyfriend are in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. I spoke to her via Skype in early May and asked her whether she was with him in lockdown.
“We’re in quarantine in our flat. I think when we last spoke, it must have been early on in our relationship. We’re now coming up to two years together
Marquee TV launches a free Summer Shorts Festival on 3 August
The performing arts streaming service has partnered with the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Screen.dance Festival, Scottish Ballet, and others, for a month-long festival from 3 August.
During its Summer Shorts Festival, Marquee TV will debut a curated selection of 28 short films from around the world each day, focused on dance and music, that will be free for all viewers on its platform.
Duets and solos in the open-air – live dance returns to Italy
The first live dance event in Italy took place at the Nervi International Festival of Ballet and Music, opening the two-week festival in Nervi’s coastal park with a backdrop to the stage of palm trees and sea.
The idea for the evening of dance, called Duets and Solos, came from Daniele Cipriani, the Italian dance impresario, who, while watching couples sitting close together while eating in restaurants as Rome reopened after the lockdown, thought that the same would be possible for dancers – households can remain together. Silvia Azzoni and Alexander Ryabko from Hamburg Ballet, and Iana Salenko and Marian Walter from Berlin, are offstage couples and were therefore allowed to dance together. Salenko and Walter had their two children with them so, in theory, a pas de quatre would have been permitted. They were joined by Hugo Marchand from the Paris Opéra Ballet, Matteo Miccini from Stuttgart, and the Spanish dancer Sergio Bernal.
Music was provided by the brilliant 26-year-old Italian pianist
A look at the English National Ballet School’s Summer Performance 2020
Courageously, the English National Ballet School has worked with its students to produce new works – marvellously put together with some impressive editing by BalletBoyz and Manilla Productions – to create an end of year show, showcase, and celebration. The resulting film is given a bonus lift by Alessandra Ferri wishing the students good luck for their futures and adding some positive words that they can carry with them – indeed, that we can all carry – in this odd time.
Each of the three years of the school(16 to 19-year-old students) has worked with a different choreographer via Zoom. Then each student has