Swan Lake 'in the round' has been performed for 7 seasons at the Royal Albert Hall since its conception in 1997, so this year marks its 20th anniversary. It has also been seen in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide to record breaking attendances for ballet in Australia. In all, Derek Deane’s Swan Lake has been seen by more than 750,000 people. What a thrill it was to … [Read more...]
Svetlana Zakharova: When they cut my costume in half
Svetlana Zakharova knows that a lot of jealousy surrounds her but she's fought for her rightful position in the dance world since she was a child: It was a tough struggle at the Vaganova Academy. I was ten, and several times I just wanted to leave everything to return home to my family. This does not mean that the world of dance is the one portrayed in the movie Black Swan, … [Read more...]
Maria Riccetto answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was 6. Why did you start dancing? My mother thought it would be great for me, and my parents needed to find something for me to do after school. Which dancer inspired you most as a child? I remember watching Cynthia Harvey and Misha's Don Q a LOT!!! Which dancer do you most admire? Alessandra Ferri. Her quality and … [Read more...]
Natalia Osipova and Claudio Coviello début in Nureyev’s Swan Lake
Prince Siegfried sleeps on his throne and in his dream he sees the evil Rothbart carrying off a white swan into the sky. This is how Rudolf Nureyev's version of Swan Lake begins, and ends. The ballet seen as a Freudian nightmare, the young prince who finds escape in his head instead of taking up the reins of power and choosing a bride. Claudio Coviello, who has only just … [Read more...]
Critics round-up: Peter Schaufuss’ Tchaikovsky Trilogy
This promises to be the most fun critics round-up yet. Rarely have reviews been so unanimously foul. Being that there was so little to save, the critics left their stars in the drawer, and polished their metaphors with seeming glee. No amount of special pleading, of aesthetic jiggery-pokery, can excuse Schaufuss’s weird libretto as it plays its fatuous game by way of crass … [Read more...]