Accusations of abuse at Vienna State Opera’s Ballet Academy quickly travelled the world, from The Guardian to the New York Times which began its article…
Dame Darcey Bussell talks about loves and dislikes from Astaire to Jane Fonda, from Chorus Line to Romeo & Juliet, from dyslexia to diamond earrings.
It seems an exceptionally good moment for homegrown ballet talent in Britain. The Royal Ballet School alone is producing a remarkable number of excellent dancers,…
For the autumn/fall issue of Fashionisto, Roberto Bolle has been photographed by Brent Chua for a fashion shoot wearing Prada, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana.…
There was a buzz in the air at La Scala for the last in the short run of Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote. Martina Arduino was…
And so Julien Favreau shows how it should be done. I find myself in Rome writing this review, and so the phrase “Rome wasn’t built…
Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West in 1961 and later that same year he danced with Margot Fonteyn for the first time, and the following…
Does Svetlana Zakharova find it easier to express her emotions on stage than in life? Without a doubt. In life I don’t like to reveal…
The new director of La Scala’s ballet company, Mauro Bigonzetti, has chosen to present the new version of Swan Lake with in-house casting “to help…
I’m enjoying a new chapter in my life having the fortune to play women of my age and not romantic roles like the Giselles, Carmens,…
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was about 7, in a very small ballet school in France where we were only 4 boys!…
Milan is the sort of city which empties as soon as holidays arrive, and in Italy there are lots of holidays. The schools are shut…
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was three years-old. Why did you start dancing? I was born to dance! Which dancer inspired you…
The audiences laugh, sometimes the dancers laugh, but getting a dozen or so male dancers on pointe through more than one hundred performances a year…
The Gala des Étoiles at La Scala made me feel as though I’d eaten all the icing on the cake: happy, but a little woozy.…
If you read November’s edition of Dancing Times (and I strongly recommend that you do!), the magazine’s Talking Point column has some musings by Gramilano on…
Q&A When did you start dancing? I started dancing when I was 9 years old. Why did you start dancing? I started dancing because I…
Questions and answers with Roberto Bolle including whether he thinks Natalie Portman deserves her Oscar for the film Black Swan, and the most beautiful woman…
As has already been reported, the on-off-on-off again tale of Natalia Osipova as Manon in Milan is now definitely “off” and she has been replaced…
Anna-Marie Holmes created her version of Le Corsaire for Boston ballet in 1997. A year later it arrived in New York when it was loaned…
Nureyev is an important new documentary about Rudolf Nureyev’s extraordinary life which will be shown in cinemas around the UK from 25 September. BAFTA nominated…
In the ‘60s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was all the rage: Benjamin Britten’s opera premiered in 1960, Balanchine’s ballet opened in 1962, Ashton’s The Dream…
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was 3 years old. My grandparents didn’t know how to keep me occupied so they bought a…
John Cranko’s ballet Onegin was brought to La Scala in 1993 as a vehicle for Carla Fracci with Rex Harrington in the title role. It…
Natalia Osipova, down to dance with Ivan Vssiliev in Rubies at Teatro alla Scala, was indisposed for the dress rehearsal, the first night, and has…
Monica Vaglietti is a corps de ballet dancer at La Scala in Milan. She is also an animal lover. Greyhounds especially. Nothing exceptional so far,…
After the success of Letter to a Man at the Spoleto Festival in July, Mikhail Baryshnikov will resume his role as Nijinsky on 11 September…
Milan’s newspaper, the most influential Italian paper, Il Corriere della Sera, almost ignored La Raymonda at La Scala last week, with Valeria Crippa’s short article dismissing it…
Forget the Royal Ballet School or the The School of American Ballet, Nikolai Tsiskaridze says there are only three real ballet schools in the world:…
Wayne McGregor We’re so excited to bring Woolf Works to La Scala. It’s an amazing historic stage and the work is going to be fantastic…
Diana Vishneva feels passionately about the Vaganova Ballet Academy, from where she graduated in 1995, and yesterday made it clear that she has doubts about its…
Julian MacKay at 16 was winning medals at the Sochi and Istanbul competitions when he represented his school, the Bolshoi Academy. At 17 he won…
Alexei Ratmansky’s ‘reconstruction’ of The Sleeping Beauty at La Scala made for one of the most interesting and satisfying evenings that I’ve had in the…
Q&A [на русском языке] When did you start dancing? I’ve suffered since childhood — my Mum wanted me to do it. Why did you start…
Q&A When did you start dancing? Age 7 in Sydney, Australia. Why did you start dancing? My sister inspired me; she was a brilliant gymnast…
Ken Browar and Deborah Ory – the husband-and-wife team behind the NYCDance Project – have their second dance photography book coming out next week: The…
The word “comeback” isn’t one I like; what I am doing is going ahead. These years off stage have taught me that I can’t live…
“This is Covent Garden.” The recorded announcement reverberates along the platform. I always feel that this is when my ballerina day starts… It’s been 20…
Last night a Gala to celebrate Rudolf Nureyev was had at La Scala. It is the 80th Anniversary of his birth and also 25 years after his death.…
Q&A When did you start dancing? I was 8 years old. My father was teaching me in the backyard of our house. Why did you…
Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle have both danced the lead roles in John Neumeier’s La Dame aux Camélias, but never together. La Scala united its…
One hundred years ago, Pablo Picasso lived Rome for two months. It was his first trip to Italy. The Ballets Russes was in town and…
Italian ballet dancer Francesco Gabriele Frola has been promoted to Principal Dancer of the National Ballet of Canada and at the same time becomes a…
After being introduced to Julian Mackay, and his whole dancing family, three years ago by his sister Maria Sascha Khan – now First Soloist with the Ekaterinburg…
Johan Kobborg asked David Umenoto to design the sets for his Romeo and Juliet which has its world premiere in Verona’s vast Arena on 26…
Lots of empty seats were available for the Bolshoi Ballet at La Scala in The Taming of the Shrew. La Bayadère – great; Swan Lake…
Aszure Barton has created a gem of a ballet for Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. Mahler 10 uses the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s unfinished Tenth…
The Royal Ballet’s new few-length ballet, Woolf Works, brings two Italian ex-Royal Ballet dancers back to Covent Garden. Alessandra Ferri, who returned to dancing two…
Alexei Ratmansky’s reconstruction of the Petipa/Ivanov Swan Lake is as eye-opening as was his version of The Sleeping Beauty: it is fresh, it is vital,…
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…
Italian dancer Valentino Zucchetti is one of a large number of Italian dancers who go abroad to find work and realise their dreams. Italy has few…
Sergei Polunin was in Milan recently to partner Natalia Osipova in Giselle after David Hallberg was forced to withdraw. There was great curiosity and excitement…
Everyone who has followed The Royal Ballet in rehearsal during World Ballet Day or watched the interval clips and interviews during the intervals of the…
Today Carla Fracci turns 79∗ and during August, she has been performing once again. Roberto Bolle is half her age and at 40 shows no…
Three years ago, Jacopo Tissi left La Scala to join the Bolshoi Company in Moscow. Makhar Vaziev, the Company’s current director, was previously the director…
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…
I am a three-bun wig, brown-booted, very large, maternal bosom sort of a gal. David Ashley is talking about his pantomime alter ego which has…
The extraordinary talent of Marianela Nuñez dominated this performance of Onegin at La Scala. From her opening, distracted scenes to her final act of resolve,…
In 2012, Ivan Putrov had the conceit to produce an all-male gala where Don Q variations were banished, Le Corsaire’s jetés outlawed, and Albrecht’s entrechats…
English National Ballet’s exciting Bausch / Forsythe / van Manen programme arrives at Sadler’s Wells in March. Pina Bausch’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring must be the…
