I was fascinated by dance when I was very young, and after my first lesson I said to my mother, “This is what I want to do!” From that moment on it has been my life.I have had problems with my sight throughout my career, though it has never been total blindness. I found ways to dance so that audiences were not aware of it… I didn’t want their sympathy.I had the first … [Read more...]
Luisa Spinatelli – celebrating the life of the Milanese opera and ballet designer
Luisa Spinatelli… taking tasteful to a higher dimension The Amici della Scala (Friends of La Scala), run by the indefatigable Anna Crespi, gathered together at the association’s spectacular headquarters, a short walk from La Scala, to celebrate one of Italy’s most important theatre designers.Luisa Spinatelli is one of a tight-knit core of Milanese artists, by birth or … [Read more...]
La Scala’s fired ballerina, and eating-disorder author, Mary Garret on her first year back with the company
In 2016, Mary Garret walked through the artists’ entrance at La Scala, ready to take daily class again with the company that had fired her four years previously.The ballerina Mariafrancesca Garritano, who writes under the name of Garret, wrote a book where she reflected on the nature of stringent diets and the search for the perfect physical form. La verità, vi prego, sulla … [Read more...]
Jurgita Dronina to become Lead Principal Dancer with English National Ballet
Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, has announced that Principal Dancer Jurgita Dronina will become a Lead Principal Dancer with English National Ballet next season. Dronina will remain with The National Ballet of Canada as Principal Dancer and will be featured in The Winter’s Tale, which opens the 2017/18 season, as well as The Sleeping Beauty and … [Read more...]
Interview with Steven McRae and Takafumi Adachi, creators of ‘Ballet Hero Fantasy’, now available in English
While the phrase “Ballet Hero Fantasy featuring Steven McRae" may conjure up images of a red-haired Byronic smoulderer in tights, sweeping you off your feet, and down into a fish dive, as his lips brush sensuously against… ok, ok, enough. It’s not that type of fantasy. We’re talking manga. And no, grandad, that’s not a fruit; it’s a Japanese cartoon.Gramilano reported on … [Read more...]