Milan gardens named in honour of Eufemia Brancato – Queen of the tutu
Today, a garden in Milan was named after a costume maker, a woman known affectionately as the “Queen of the tutu” – Eufemia Brancato.
La Sylphide
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Interview: Ulrik Birkkjaer on staging La Sylphide for San Francisco Ballet
Ulrik Birkkjaer talks to Ann Haskins about staging La Sylphide for San Francisco Ballet – port de bras, jumps and mime.
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Review: Marco Spada returns to Rome for the first time since Rudolf Nureyev’s appearances in 1981
Marta Mele sees Marco Spada with Rome Opera Ballet, a ballet first restaged in Rome in 1981 by choreographer Pierre Lacotte for Rudolf Nureyev.
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Interview: Elizaveta Kokoreva, the Bolshoi Ballet’s youngest star, comes to Rome
Elizaveta Kokoreva makes her debut in the West when she dances in the Les Étoiles galas in Rome on 4 and 5 January.
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[Review] La Scala’s Gala Fracci shows a company in spectacular form
Gala Fracci at La Scala has reached its third edition – an annual gala dedicated to the great Italian ballerina Carla Fracci who died in 2021.
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Erik Aschengreen The Critic with a Twinkle in His Eye (1935-2023)
Marina Harss looks at the life of Erik Aschengreen, the great Danish dance critic, historian and mentor to many, who has died at 88.
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[Review and Photos] Yellowstone International Arts Festival – the most unique gala I have experienced
Graham Watts attends the Yellowstone International Arts Festival in Montana in “the most spectacular setting imaginable” [plus a gallery of stunning images].
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[Review] English National Ballet School 2023 Summer Performances
English National Ballet School’s 35th Anniversary performance is a mixed bill covering a wide range of styles from the mid-19th century to today.
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[Review] BRB2: Carlos Acosta’s Classical Selection – the ups and downs of a mixed bag
Lots to enjoy from BRB2, a mix of newbies and more experienced dancers, in a gala programme by Carlos Acosta.
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La Scala and Manuel Legris remember Pierre Lacotte
The Teatro alla Scala’s ballet company and its director Manuel Legris join the dance world in mourning Pierre Lacotte, who died yesterday, 10 April 2023.
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Ballerinas Maria Tallchief and Carla Fracci honoured with a stamp and a coin
Announcements from both sides of the pond honouring two ballerinas: a coin for Maria Tallchief and a stamp for Carla Fracci.
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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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Photo Album: Nureyev Gala at La Scala – Zakharova, Louvet, Nuñez, Muntagirov and Bolle (and Nureyev at La Scala facts and figures)
Last night a Gala to celebrate Rudolf Nureyev was had at La Scala. It is the 80th Anniversary of his birth and also 25 years after his death. The Gala was previewed by a benefit audience on Thursday, and opened Friday 25 May, with further performances on 26 and 29 May. La Scala’s Étoiles Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle were joined…
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Finalists of English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition at the London Coliseum in June
On Monday 11 June 2018, English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition will be held at the London Coliseum for the first time. Emerging Dancer is a key part of English National Ballet’s commitment to developing and nurturing talent within the company and through this annual event, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its artists. Six of the company’s most…
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Photo Album: English National Ballet dances Song of the Earth and La Sylphide
Dasa Wharton took her camera to the London Coliseum to capture the English National Ballet‘s latest double bill: Song of the Earth and La Sylphide Song of the Earth Choreography – Kenneth MacMillan Staging – Grant Coyle Designs – Nicholas Georgiadis Lighting – John B. Read Dancers included: Tamara Rojo (The Woman), Joseph Caley (The Man) &…
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Rudolf Nureyev died 25 years ago – La Scala pays tribute to the great dancer
Rudolf Nureyev’s debut at La Scala was on 9 October 1965 when, finally, the Milanese public had the opportunity to see the Russian dancer that all the newspapers were writing about. With him was Margot Fonteyn, and they danced Romeo and Juliet together. On 16 September 1966 Nureyev and Fonteyn returned with Marguerite and Armand…
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English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer 2017 – judging panel and repertoire
Now in its eighth year, English National Ballet‘s Emerging Dancer competition will this year be held at Sadler’s Wells, for the first time, on Thursday 25 May 2017. Through this annual event, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its own artists. Selected by their peers, six of the company’s most promising dancers perform in…
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Julian MacKay – the teenage American ballet dancer making waves in Russia
Julian MacKay at 16 was winning medals at the Sochi and Istanbul competitions when he represented his school, the Bolshoi Academy. At 17 he won the Prix de Lausanne and his Harlequin Floors Scholarship let him spend a year with The Royal Ballet. At 18 he was snapped up as soloist with the Mikhailovsky Ballet…
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Carla Fracci gives her first ever masterclass… Giselle
After years of refusing offers from all over the world to share her intimate knowledge of the characters she has portrayed, Carla Fracci has agreed to give her first masterclass. The Ecole Superieure de Danse de Cannes-Mougins Rosella Hightower, one of the world’s leading professional dance schools, has managed to persuade Fracci to share some…
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A good, old-fashioned gala? Pignotti salutes Nureyev
Luigi Pignotti was Rudolf Nureyev‘s massager then manager. He now has a company which produces evenings of ballet, flamenco and tango… though not together. It was, maybe, obvious that he would dedicate something to the memory of his old friend and still one of the ballet world’s most talked about personalities. For several years he…
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Royal Danish Ballet dancers celebrate Bournonville in London
As a cure for the post Christmas blues – or to help celebrate that the festivities are over, depending on your point of view – principals and soloists from The Royal Danish Ballet alight at London’s Peacock Theatre. On Friday 9 January and Saturday 10 January 2015 the dancers will present a mouth-watering Bournonville Celebration. Ten years after the…
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Royal Danish Ballet break tradition with homoerotic La Sylphide
Nikolaj Hübbe seems to be intent on upsetting some of the Royal Danish Ballet‘s most faithful admirers with his new version of the Royal Danish Ballet’s almost sacred La Sylphide. The company have been performing it, more or less in its original form, since August Bournonville created it in 1836, but now Hübbe is going to break…
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Paolo Bortoluzzi: a great Italian dancer remembered
Italian ballet dancer Paolo Bortoluzzi died twenty years ago today: 15 October 1993. He died the same year as Rudolf Nureyev, and it was for these two contemporaries that Béjart created his Chant du compagnon errant. Both dancers were born in 1938, two months apart: Nureyev on 17 March, Bortoluzzi on 17 May. Here, Bortoluzzi dances…
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Who’s afraid of Brigitte Lefèvre? Well Eleonora Abbagnato for one! Drama at the Paris Opera Ballet
Brigitte Lefèvre, Director of Ballet at the Paris Opera since 1995, will turn 68 later this year. The Paris Opera Ballet obliges ballerinas to leave at 42 with their pension; like it or not, ètoile or corps member, you’re out. Lefèvre carries on, even though she is past the retirement age for French national institutions. Maybe concerned that…
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Carla Fracci with Schaufuss, Vasiliev, Cragun, Jude and others on YouTube
In 1987 a two-part television programme called The Ballerinas featured Carla Fracci, with some of the top male dancers of the period, in a series of reconstructions putting various ballets and their interpretors in an historical context. Fracci was an amazingly youthful 51 when she danced these extracts. Dance Magazine critic John Gruen wrote:…
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Bolshoi prima ballerina Marianna Ryzhkina adds her voice to the chorus of disapproval
Things still are not as they should be at the shiny new Bolshoi, says Reuters. Back stage, dancers grumble that practice rooms have become cramped and the Bolshoi has lost the charm that can only exist with the patina of a bygone era. Much the same criticism levelled at the Royal Opera House renovation and that…
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Paul Chalmer answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? Age 6, then National Ballet School, Toronto, age 9. Why did you start dancing? Saw ballet on TV. Which dancer inspired you most as a child? Nureyev. Which dancer do you most admire? Anthony Dowell. What’s your favourite role? Onegin by John Cranko. What role have you never played…
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Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Scotch Symphony / Ballet Imperial / In The Night
The fourth Mariinsky programme to grace the Royal Opera stage was another triple bill: Scotch Symphony and Ballet Imperial by George Balanchine, and In The Night by Jerome Robbins. Although this was an evening of American choreography, New York City Ballet territory, the roots are here with this company. Balanchine, one of its favourite sons, and his…
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