Valentino Zucchetti leaves The Royal Ballet
First Soloist Valentino Zucchetti is to leave The Royal Ballet after 16 years to pursue his choreographic and producing career.
La Scala ballet school
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dance | news | obituaries
Davis Aloschi, a 15-year-old La Scala ballet student, dies in tragic accident
Davis Aloschi, a 15-year-old student at La Scala’s ballet school, died in a crash between two scooters.
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Review: lots of young talent at La Scala Ballet School’s final show
Graham Spicer sees Accademia Teatro alla Scala Ballet School dancers in their final show of the year, showcasing the talents of the final year students.
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Italian choreographer Amedeo Amodio receives a lifetime achievement award at the Italian Parliament
The career of dancer and choreographer Amedeo Amodio was celebrated on 2 July in the Chamber of Deputies – the lower house of the Italian Parliament.
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Review: Hopper Variations – a contemporary dance ‘saggio’ at Milan’s Teatro Paolo Grassi School
Graham Spicer sees Emanuela Tagliavia’s Hopper Variations at the Teatro Paolo Grassi School in Milan
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[Review & Photos] La Scala Ballet School performs Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Pistoni’s La Strada
La Scala Ballet School’s performance presented Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Pistoni’s La strada, Volpi’s Winter, Forsythe’s New Sleep and much talent.
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[Interview] Valentino Zucchetti on Anemoi, his work for The Royal Ballet
Valentino Zucchetti talks about the genesis of his ballet Anemoi for The Royal Ballet, on its return to the opera house stage.
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[Review] La fille mal gardée – an impressive performance at La Scala
Ballet School of La Scala shine in a sumptuous production La fille mal gardée in Milan.
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Milan unveils a plaque for Carla Fracci
Four months after Carla Fracci’s death on 27 May 2021, Milan has placed a plaque on the building where she lived when she studied at La Scala.
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news | dance | obituaries
Remembering Carla: ballet legend Carla Fracci dies at 84
Carla Fracci has died after a long illness which she successfully masked until recently. I offer some personal insights of my friend and an obituary.
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Pierina Legnani – more than 32 fouettés
Pierina Legnani was born in Milan on 30 September 1868 and died 90 years ago today 15 November 1930. Here is a short summary of her extraordinary career.
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La Scala’s ballet school show shows bold programming, with Forsythe’s signature piece making a debut
“That’s brave!”, was my first thought on seeing the La Scala Ballet School‘s programme for its annual show: The Kingdom of the Shades act from La Bayadère together with In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. And in Milan‘s famous opera house too. It was a brave choice, but not an ill-considered one. The girls of the…
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English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer finalists 2019
Celebrating its tenth year, English National Ballet‘s Emerging Dancer competition will be held at Sadler’s Wells on Tuesday 7 May 2019. Through this event, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its artists. Selected by their peers, six of the company’s most promising dancers perform in front of an eminent panel of expert judges, before…
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Meeting Alice Bellini, winner of English National Ballet’s People’s Choice Award 2018
Alice Bellini, who graduated from The Royal Ballet School last year, has won this year’s People’s Choice Award at the annual Emerging Artists competition held by English National Ballet to promote its new talent. The People’s Choice Award is voted for by audience members so represents how an artist communicates with the public. This is…
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La Scala, Milan: Opera and Recital Season 2018 – 2019
OPERA SEASON 2018 – 2019 La Scala announced its 2018-2019 Opera season today with 15 titles, nine of which are new productions, and two are La Scala premieres. At the heart of the season remains the Italian repertoire, continuing with the cycle of works of Verdi, Puccini, Verismo (which will return in 2020 with Giordano’s…
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Serata Nureyev – An Evening for Nureyev at La Scala: full casting with Zakharova, Bolle, Nuñez, Louvet, Muntagirov
24*, 25, 26, 29 May 2018 Serata Nureyev – An Evening for Nureyev Remembering the 80th Anniversary of Rudolf Nureyev’s birth, 25 years after his death with Corps de ballet of La Scala, Director Frédéric Olivieri Étoiles Svetlana Zakharova, Roberto Bolle Guest Artists Marianela Nuñez, Germain Louvet, Vadim Muntagirov Conductor David Coleman Orchestra of the La Scala Academy With the…
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La Scala ballet school’s Nutcracker in Milan is pure joy
Teatro Strehler in Milan has welcomed the young dancers from La Scala‘s Ballet Academy to its stage during the Christmas period for several years. It’s a win-win situation where the theatre sells out its 900 seats for the nine-day run, and the kids get to dance, dance, dance. And dance they do. This isn’t a…
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La Scala dancer Jacopo Tissi joins the Bolshoi
Jacopo Tissi, the young Italian dancer who is starting to make waves, has been offered a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Company. That’s not something that happens every day. The Moscow company, like all Russian companies, has almost no dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders. Tissi arrives via the Makhar Vaziev connection, the ex-director of…
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Passion, Love, Life… InternationBalLET makes its debut in Italy
InternationBalLET has arrived in Italy for two performances of its programme Passion, Love, Life… The newly-formed group is made up of dancers from the Hungarian State Ballet in Budapest but, remarkably, six of the twelve dancers are Italian, underlining something that this Italian-based blog has held to be true for a long time: Italians dance,…
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Introducing Rebecca Bianchi, Rome Opera Ballet’s new Principal ballerina
At the end of The Nutcracker at Rome’s Teatro Nazionale on 20 December last year, 25-year-old Rebecca Bianchi was promoted to Principal Dancer of the Rome Opera Ballet by the theatre’s General Manager, Carlo Fuortes, and the head of the ballet company, Eleonora Abbagnato. It was something I wasn’t expecting and it was very emotional……
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Ratmansky’s Sleeping Beauty in Milan casts its magic spell
Alexei Ratmansky’s ‘reconstruction’ of The Sleeping Beauty at La Scala made for one of the most interesting and satisfying evenings that I’ve had in the theatre for a long time. It is charming, it is theatrical, it is technically retro-innovative and also demanding for the dancers. Reintroducing some positions and movements, which have been gradually…
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Kevin O’Hare interview: It’s an exciting time for The Royal Ballet
This is an exciting time for The Royal Ballet, which has been on a roll for several years with an enthusiastic public for the sold-out performances at the Royal Opera House, the extremely popular live cinema relays, and the streamed events on the internet.
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Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya dies at 89
Maya Plisetskaya died of a heart attack today in Munich. She was 89. The director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Vladimir Urin, said, She died of a severe heart attack. The doctors tried everything, but there was nothing they could do. Mikhail Shvydkoi, former Russian Minister of Culture, said, I always thought that Plisetskaya would live forever….
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Carla Fracci’s photo album: opening night at La Scala
One of the most elegant evenings of the Italian cultural calendar wouldn’t be complete without one of the Italian artists who symbolises elegance: Carla Fracci. The ballerina, who grew up through the La Scala ballet school and had countless triumphs on its stage, is, surprisingly, no longer involved in the artistic life of the theatre,…
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Nicoletta Manni answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A in italiano When did you start dancing? I started when I was tiny. Why did you start dancing? It started as a game: my mother had a dancing school and I was always asking if I could go with her. Which dancer inspired you most as a child? Polina Semionova. Which dancer do you…
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An interview with Vito Mazzeo who’s bringing his ballet ‘friends’ to Italy
Dutch National Ballet principal dancer Vito Mazzeo will bring a group of his colleagues from Amsterdam to Teatro Salieri in Legnago for a ‘Dutch Gala’ on 22 November. Mazzeo, who was formerly a principal with the San Francisco Ballet, will be joined by Igone de Jongh, Emilie Gallerani Tassinari, Wenting Guan, Victoria Ananyan, Cristiano Principato…
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More dancers decide to leave Italy… most never come back
Italy’s Got Talent. Lots of it. Sometimes that talent finds it difficult to emerge – it’s not always what you know but who you know – and sometimes there’s not enough room for everyone to show what they can do, but talent there is. Italy bursts at the seams with paintings and monuments – a reminder…
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New on YouTube: Bournonville’s Napoli Divertissements with the Paris Opera Ballet, 1985
After having seen the La Scala Ballet School’s ‘end of year’ performance of the Bournonville’s Napoli Divertissements, I went digging around to find other versions to watch, and found that on YouTube there are surprising few clips. One is of the Ballet Rambert’s end of year show. Digging around in the old VHS tapes that are (very)…
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From Lombardy to London: Interview with the Royal Ballet’s Valentino Zucchetti
Italian dancer Valentino Zucchetti is one of a large number of Italian dancers who go abroad to find work and realise their dreams. Italy has few ballet companies, and La Scala is the only one with an international profile, the others – Rome, Palermo, San Carlo – have few permanent dancers, drafting in extras to do…
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Carla Fracci’s autobiography: Step After Step
Based on a long series of conversations with Enrico Rotelli, Passo dopo passo (Step After Step) is Carla Fracci telling her story in her own words. From a simple childhood during the war to the triumphs with the American Ballet Theatre and beyond: it is a fascinating journey. Rotelli has divided the autobiography into short…
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