The cover for the November issue of Dancing Times features countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński. I interviewed him a couple of days before his Glyndebourne Festival debut singing the title role in Handel's Rinaldo. He's also a b-boy, a breakdancer, and breaking gives him mental as well as physical benefits. In his first major interview about dancing, he explains why he needs to … [Read more...] about Dancing Times features a countertenor on its cover: Jakub Józef Orliński talks about breakdancing
Jacopo Tissi
Interview: Who is Jacopo Tissi? The Bolshoi’s enigmatic Italian star talks about Moscow, Milan and London, “It certainly wasn’t easy”
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 at La Scala and had seen Tissi’s work. It was Vaziev (on having to find a substitute for Sergei Polunin, who was himself a substitute for David Hallberg), who chose the young corps de ballet dancer to partner Svetlana … [Read more...] about Interview: Who is Jacopo Tissi? The Bolshoi’s enigmatic Italian star talks about Moscow, Milan and London, “It certainly wasn’t easy”
Photo album: Gala Les Étoiles at Ravenna Festival with international ballet stars
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 … [Read more...] about Photo album: Gala Les Étoiles at Ravenna Festival with international ballet stars
Les Étoiles dance gala closes the 2019 Ravenna Festival
The Ravenna Festival was founded in 1990 by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, with a rich programme which includes symphonic and chamber music, opera, drama, dance, ballet, musical theatre, jazz, and ethnic music. It’s the perfect location for a summer festival as Ravenna is a stunningly beautiful city, with eight UNESCO World Heritage sites including its stunning gilded basilicas … [Read more...] about Les Étoiles dance gala closes the 2019 Ravenna Festival
Danza in Italia column returns in the latest issue of Dancing Times
The latest issue of Dancing Times magazine, November 2018, is being shipped to newstands as I write. The new Danza in Italia column looks at Rudolf Nureyev's Don Quixote at Teatro alla Scala, with important debut performances from Timofej Andrijashenko, Martina Arduino and Marco Agostino, and with Nicoletta Manni returning as Kitri; Jacopo Tissi comes home to dance again on La … [Read more...] about Danza in Italia column returns in the latest issue of Dancing Times
Review: Three casts for La Bayadère with the Bolshoi at La Scala
How secretly gratifying it is when wine experts trip up, rating High Street plonk higher than the Premier cru. Ballet music could benefit from unlabelled listening. Minkus is routinely pooh-poohed, yet how many superb, theatrical moments he creates for La Bayadère — sublime, exhilarating, haunting, joyous. If interval chatter isn’t focussed on complaining about the music, it’s … [Read more...] about Review: Three casts for La Bayadère with the Bolshoi at La Scala
Meet Francesco Gabriele Frola — National Ballet of Canada and English National Ballet’s new Principal Dancer
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 Principal at English National Ballet. Dance is in his DNA. His parents, both former dancers, run a dancing school, Professione Danza, in Parma, the city where Gabriele spent the first 16 years of his life. He is the eldest of four … [Read more...] about Meet Francesco Gabriele Frola — National Ballet of Canada and English National Ballet’s new Principal Dancer
Photo Album and full casting – Bolshoi dancers in Milan
After an 11-year absence, the Bolshoi Ballet returns to Milan. In 2007, the company came with La Fille du Pharaon and The Bright Stream. From 7 to 13 September they will be at La Scala with La Bayadère in the Grigorovich production, and Jean-Christophe Maillot’s The Taming of the Shrew. Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin, Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin, and Alyona Kovalyova … [Read more...] about Photo Album and full casting – Bolshoi dancers in Milan
Emerging young talent at La Scala excel in Petit, Béjart and Preljocaj
The Ballet School of La Scala’s Academy have just finished a short run of their “end of year” show. For many, it will be their last appearance as students. An effective défilé by the school (and La Scala Ballet Company) director Frédéric Olivieri set to the march from Tannhäuser was followed by Roland Petit’s Gymnopédie. The piece is extracted from his 1986 work Ma Pavlova, … [Read more...] about Emerging young talent at La Scala excel in Petit, Béjart and Preljocaj
Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center
Last August, young ballet dancer Jacopo Tissi, resigned from the La Scala Ballet to accept the offer a contract with the Bolshoi Company. As I wrote last September, it’s not something that happens every day. Like all Russian companies, the Bolshoi has few dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders in its ranks. However, Makhar Vaziev, the Company’s current director, who was … [Read more...] about Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center