Dorothée Gilbert and Hugo Marchand (Paris Opera Ballet), Jacopo Tissi and Alena Kovaleva (Bolshoi Ballet), Bakhtiyar Adamzhan (Astana Opera, Kazakhstan), Tatiana Melnik (Hungarian National Ballet), Constantine Allen, Anna Tsygankova, Young Gyu Choi and Rebecca Storani (Dutch National Ballet), Sergio Bernal (Spanish National Ballet) Daniele Cipriani’s galas, Les Étoiles, have become staples of the ballet stars’ calendar with top names participating from Russia, […]
Graham Spicer
Les Étoiles in Rome – Nuñez, Muntagirov, Novikova, Sarafanov, Alexandrova, Lantratov, Semionova…
Les Étoiles in Rome – Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov, Olesya Novikova, Leonid Sarafanov, Maria Alexandrova, Vladislav Lantratov, Polina Semionova, Dmitry Semionov, Tatiana Melnik, Bakhtiyar Adamzhan, Nicoletta Manni, Sergio Bernal A gala is a gala is a gala… too many bonbons leaving a slightly woozy sensation as the audience rises to its feet at the end. […]
In conversation with Myriam Ould-Braham and István Simon
The annual, starry, late summer gala organised by American Ballet Theatre’s Xiomara Reyes and Ballets du Monte Carlo’s Elías García for IBStage takes place at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Over 100 young dancers from the various summer ballet programmes which begin in mid-August, join international ballet stars, including Myriam Ould-Braham and István Simon. […]
Giovanna d’Arco – the background of La Scala’s latest production
On 7 December 2015, La Scala’s 2015-2016 Season opens with Giuseppe Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco, which had its premiere at La Scala on 15 February 1845, but hasn’t been staged at the Milanese theatre since 1865. Bringing back this opera after 150 years is part of the artistic and cultural line that will link the following […]
Florestan’s crepes backstage at La Scala
Instead of lounging in the pressroom with glass of something bubbly in my hand during the opening of La Scala’s season, I found myself in the wings holding a mic and trying to describe – and translate – what was going on around me. The idea for this first live backstage video stream came from […]
About me
I’m still Gramilano aka Graham Spicer, but the eyes logo has been replaced by something less egotistic, though the little boy reading the book is meant to represent the young me! “Ballet, opera, music and theatre” has since become “Dance, opera, photography”. Here’s the old version of the ABOUT ME page: About me… Gramilano […]
Sylvie Guillem on why she’s still ‘Mademoiselle Non’
Sylive Guillem will be in Venice tomorrow to receive from the Biennale the Leone d’oro (Golden Lion) for “having redesigned the form of the dancer, defying the laws of physics”. Valeria Crippa of the Corriere della Sera talked to her about aspects of her career. I could have ended up like a cork bobbing along on […]
My memories of Jane Russell – a down-to-earth gal: June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011
Jane Russell and I had little in common, but we shared the same birthday, which we both agreed was the best possible day to have a birthday, June 21. When I worked with her, briefly, she joked about the advantages of being a Gemini. She was very quietly spoken, though her make-up was a little […]
Dame Harriet Walter enter stage left
Actress Harriet Walter, who has been made a dame in the New Year Honours, has enjoyed a distinguished career on stage and screen spanning three decades. Dame Harriet, the niece of Sir Christopher Lee, trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before beginning a long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her […]
All I ask is the possibility of love! – Frankenstein at the National Theatre
The beginning of February sees what must be one of the most highly anticipated productions of 2011 – Frankenstein, directed by Danny ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Boyale at London’s National Theatre. It is an adaptation by Nick Dear based on Mary Shelley’s novel. I followed nature into her lair, and stripped her of her secrets! I brought torrents of light […]
