Mariafrancesca Garritano, a soloist with the La Scala Ballet Company, wrote a book in 2010 exposing the eating-disorders which afflict one in five dancers, she claimed. “La verità, vi prego, sulla danza!” (The Truth, Please, About Ballet) made international waves, and when The Observer newspaper picked up the story just before the glamorous opening of La Scala’s season […]
Cruelty at the Bolshoi: acid attacks and smear campaigns. Tsiskaridze responds.
Sergei Filin had been receiving intimidating phone calls for a while, and had had his tyres punctured and his email hacked, but the acid attack that has shocked the dance world is beyond all reasoning. While police are not ruling out a personal vendetta, it is almost certainly an attack by someone who wants him […]
Forget Damien Hirst… graffiti artist to receive $200 million from Facebook’s stock market launch
David Choe, who has created a number of murals for Facebook headquarters, might destroy the image of the street artist as “impoverished souls eking out an existence for the love of their craft”, says the Los Angeles Times. The L.A. street and graffiti artist could stand to earn upward of $200 million from Facebook’s initial public […]
La Scala ballerina, who denounced eating disorders in the company, is fired
“One ballerina in five at La Scala suffers from an eating disorder”, denounced Mariafrancesca Garritano (known on social networks and as an author also as Mary Garret) to The Observer newspaper. Multiple Facebook declarations, the contents of her book La verità, vi prego sulla danza! (The Truth, please, about Ballet), television appearances and interviews have made […]
A ballerina speaks out: Mariafrancesca Garritano, La Scala soloist, talks frankly about the eating-disorders which plague the company
Sant’Ambrogio (Saint Ambrose) is Milan’s patron saint, and on his Saint’s Day, 7th December, Milan’s opera house La Scala opens its new season. However, one of the ballet soloists has chosen the eve of this glittering occasion to speak with The Observer about problems in the company. Mariafrancesca Garritano is 33, and has been at […]
The Times celebrates Milan’s Raymonda… but why?
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 quickly. Here the past is preserved in mothballs, the brilliant Marius Petipa’s choreographic style appears decrepit, and dull scenery frames an ageing corps, despite the freshness of the students of the school. Others however looked a little closer. Elsa […]
Roberto Bolle on why Natalie Portman should give back her Oscar… and more
The Bolle and Friends tour is in full swing, and one of the stops is Istanbul where Roberto Bolle was photographed last month. He talked to Giancarlo Dotto for Italy’s Gioia magazine: Would you have given Natalie Portman the Oscar for Black Swan? I would have, yes, until I found out that she was not doing the […]
Facebook (the dude with questionable hygiene) vs Twitter (which smells of roses and cloves)
Idiosyncratic concert pianist James Rhodes is disillusioned with Facebook but loves Twitter. Here’s what he says on his Telegraph blog: Truth be told, I only signed up to Facebook in the hope of being inundated with frisky offers from various beautiful women around the world. Instead, as is so often the case with online expectations, I found […]
Theatres are getting social – but what sells tickets?
More than 55,000 Facebook users “like” the new Broadway musical “Sister Act,” which, like most major theatrical productions today, has its own page, as well a Twitter account (1,300 followers), YouTube channel (30,000 uploaded views) and set of apps. (Photoshop your face into a nun’s wimple and win free tickets!) – observes the New York […]
The King’s Speech, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman – so no surprises at this year’s BAFTAs
The story of King George VI’s struggle to overcome a stammer, aided by his devoted wife, dominated the Orange British Academy Film Awards. Colin Firth continued his winning streak by taking the best actor prize for his portrayal of the reluctant monarch. Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush won the supporting actor categories. reports Anita […]
