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.
Federico Bonelli
In conversation with Marianela Nuñez
The Royal Ballet’s Argentinian principal dancer, Marianela Nuñez, is in lockdown in Buenos Aires. She went there to be near her family and partner, because now home, for Nela, is London, which also happens to be home to her beloved company at The Royal Opera House.
We caught up via Skype in June: I was in my office in Milan, and Nela was 11,000 km away, sitting against an orange wall which steadily turned maroon then almost black as the day drew in.
Lockdown in Argentina! How’s that working out?
It’s very strict here. We started lockdown at the same time as England, pretty much – I know you in Italy started earlier. There were only a few cases, but obviously here there are more difficulties compared to Europe, and they were worried that the health system would collapse.
Interview with The Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson – so much passion
On 14 March 2020, The Royal Ballet’s principal dancer Lauren Cuthbertson was dancing Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. A rare honour. She was dancing with former Royal Ballet dancer and Mariinsky principal dancer Xander Parish and cheered on by her mother, her boyfriend and his parents. Two days later, they were returning to London on the Gatwick Express when a message arrived: Royal Ballet classes, rehearsals and performances were suspended with immediate effect because of the spread of the coronavirus.
I’d heard from friends in Europe and America that things were shutting down, so I knew what was coming. So we drove out of London, and now I’m in the countryside with my boyfriend and his parents. I’m lucky to have a garden – if I were in London, it would be a very different story.
Free reading from Dancing Times – the complete archive is available from 2000
Dancing Times has opened up the last 20 years of its archives to all until 7 April. The monthly magazine has its think pieces, reviews, articles about technique, dance’s past and present, but I always head first to the interviews. Here are some tidbits I’ve come across…
Photo Album: Royal Ballet first night with Dances at a Gathering and The Cellist
First photos of tonight’s opening of a new double bill at The Royal Opera House with Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering and Cathy Marston’s The Cellist. Dances at a Gathering Jerome Robbins’s elegant and elegiac classic forms the first part of the programme. This exercise in pure dance for five couples, set to music […]
Francesca Hayward – find out more about The Royal Ballet’s star of the movie Cats
Francesca Hayward, Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, has a leading role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl). The much-criticised film – both positively and negatively, though mostly the latter – has seen praise poured on Hayward who […]
McGregor’s Woolf Works thrills and enthralls at La Scala
The La Scala Ballet usually fields a first cast, and several alternative casts, but not with Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works – here it was very much a case of a first cast and a second cast. The first featured two guests from the original Royal Opera House production from 2015 – Alessandra Ferri and Federico […]
First photos of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works at La Scala with Alessandra Ferri, Federico Bonelli and Company dancers
These are the first photos of La Scala’s restaging of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works created for The Royal Ballet in 2015. The work was seen again in London in 2017, and in Milan, two of the original interpreters- Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli – reprise their roles. The photos are accompanied by extracts of a […]
Woolf Works at La Scala – McGregor, Richter, Ferri and Bonelli talk about making the ballet
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 in this theatre. The company is incredible and we’ve been really pleased to work with them over these last few weeks. I’m also excited because I made it with these […]
Photo Album: tonight’s opening cast of Frankenstein, The Royal Ballet
Liam Scarlett’s first full-length ballet is revived for the first time running from tonight, 5 March 2019 until 23 March. Victor Frankenstein is played by Federico Bonelli, Elizabeth by Laura Morera, and The Creature is Wei Wang. Scarlett’s production uses music by Lowell Liebermann with magnificent designs from John Macfarlane, beautifully and dramatically lit […]