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La Scala ballerina Antonella Luongo dies tragically at home
Antonella Luongo, a member of the corps de ballet at La Scala, has died.
Leonid Sarafanov
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Rome Opera Ballet announces 2019-2020 season
Five different programmes make up Rome Opera Ballet‘s new season, 2019-2020. Benjamin Pech’s successful Swan Lake will be remounted to open the season. This will be followed by an evening dedicated to Jerome Robbins; a new work by José Carlos Martínez telling the tale of Lord Byron’s Il Corsaro (The Corsair); a triple bill featuring…
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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….
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Antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome with Russian and Italian ballet stars
As an antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome — this year a sold out two days, next year there will be three — in the luxurious setting of the Hotel de Russie near the Spanish Steps, there was an intimate reception hosted by the hotel, with a Sergei Diaghilev theme. The event…
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The world’s ballet Étoiles army arrives in Rome, conquering with its art
It’s become an annual event in Rome – after the Christmas holidays and the last bite of panettone, comes the Daniele Cipriani Entertainment dance gala with some of the best and biggest names in ballet today. This year, in Renzo Piano’s beautiful Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the dates to jot in your dairy…
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Illustrated look at La Scala’s visit to Australia with Don Quixote and Giselle
After almost a month touring China, La Scala‘s ballet company popped back to Milan for a run of Manon performances, before popping off to Australia for thirteen performances in Brisbane, from 7 to 18 November. It is the company’s first time in Australia and they are taking two of their most popular productions: Don Quixote…
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Don Quixote shows off first-rate dancing by La Scala’s clutch of 20-somethings
Rudolf Nureyev‘s Don Quixote is a romp. From start to finish it zips along at a frenetic pace, with frenetic steps. That is, except the prologue — Don Quixote’s house — and a prolonged mime scene in the Act Three tavern scene. Unfortunately, for the revival at La Scala, these scenes seem to have been…
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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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La Scala’s orchestra, chorus and ballet company embark on a month-long tour
La Scala’s orchestra, chorus and ballet company have flown out of Milan for a month on tour which will see them in Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Tomorrow night at the Lotte Hall in Seoul, Myung-Whun Chung will conduct a concert performance of Simon Boccanegra with Simone Piazzola, Carmen Giannattasio, Fabio Sartori and Dmitry Belosselskiy….
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18-year-old Vincenzo di Primo on winning at Lausanne and studying at the Vienna Ballet Academy
18-year-old Vincenzo di Primo was one of the seven winners at the annual Prix de Lausanne, taking away the Albert Amon Foundation scholarship which will give him the opportunity to train for a year at one of the 66 schools and dance companies that support the Lausanne competition. Lausanne was an unforgettable experience which gave…
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My Big Fat Italian Ballet Gala
The Gala des Étoiles at La Scala made me feel as though I’d eaten all the icing on the cake: happy, but a little woozy. Don Q? Check! Corsaire? Check! Manon and Romeo and Juliet? Check! Spartacus? Check! As you can see if you scroll down to the programme, it wasn’t all hoary favourites, and…
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Full programme of la Scala’s Gala des Étoiles – 30 and 31 October
Below is the full programme of Gala des Étoiles, at La Scala on 30 and 31 October. The Gala will be transmitted live by Italian television, Rai, on Rai5, and in cinemas internationally both live and over the next two months. It can also be followed live from the wings via La Scala’s site and its…
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Ballet’s biggest names come to Milan for 4 days of dance
Milan is not like London or New York… there’s not a lot of dance going on. The resident company at La Scala will be performing six titles during the coming season. That’s S-I-X. And there will not be thirty Nutcrackers around Christmas either, there’ll be 12 Cinderellas; usually there are just nine performances of each title….
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Paul Seaquist, ballet impresario: thinking outside the box
Paul Seaquist is a ballet impresario, which conjures up an image of a Diaghilev figure with a fur-collared coat and silver-topped cane. However, Seaquist is quite different physically: a recent television interview saw him in jeans and a V-neck T-shirt, and he’s quite a bit thinner, and certainly better looking, than the Russian impresario. His…
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Svetlana Zakharova’s Gala brings the Ukraine to the heart of Russia
Last night, Svetlana Zakharova‘s Gala Ballet without Borders took place on the Bolshoi stage in Moscow. Ballet stars danced in support of young dancers in war-torn Ukraine. This politically sensitive event was Zakharova’s idea: she is Ukrainian and also a People’s Artist of Russia, completing her training in Kiev and now a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre, so…
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Thoughts on Marianela Núñez’s life-affirming performance in Romeo and Juliet
Marianela Núñez is an extraordinary dancer who seems to possess an inner light which not only makes her glow, but illuminates everyone around her. There is a pure, almost spiritual quality to her apparent happiness on stage, as though there there is nowhere else she would rather be. It is an extremely rare quality: many…
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What a mess: Italian tv tries to film Don Quixote
What an opportunity: two of the best dancers in the world – Natalia Osipova and Leonid Sarafanov – in one of Rudolph Nureyev’s most successful choreographic works, and with a company at the top of their game. This was Don Quixote at La Scala, and Italian state television, the RAI, were there to record it. Television…
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Nicoletta Manni’s a fine Kitri in a fine company
Well it’s an ill wind… Natalia Osipova‘s last minute cancellation as Kitri at La Scala left the way open for Nicoletta Manni, newly appointed principal dancer with the company, to show the Osipova fans what she could do. And what she did she did very well, very well indeed. Manni is a strong dancer with a…
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La Scala’s Don Q disaster – all four guest dancers pull out
Could it be that Rudolph Nureyev’s Carabosse is getting her revenge as his production of Sleeping Beauty is being dropped next season to be replaced by a version by Alexei Ratmansky? Whatever, there seems to be a curse on this Milanese Don Quixote! Svetlana Zakharova pulled out “due to personal reasons that prevent her leaving Moscow” (replaced…
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Ivan Vasiliev writes from his hospital bed
Ivan Vasiliev has been forced to pull out of the Don Quixote performances at La Scala with Tamara Rojo. The casting has already suffered some upsets as The Vasiliev-Osipova coupling was to share performances with Leonid Sarafanov and Svetlana Zakharova. When Zakharova withdrew for unknown motives requiring her to be in Moscow during this period,…
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Partner-swapping at La Scala: Osipova/Sarafanov, Rojo/Vasiliev – Zakharova/Matvienko out
Intriguing casting changes at La Scala. In September, Rudolf Nureyev‘s Don Quixote was to have have four guest artists: Svetlana Zakharova paired with Denis Matvienko and Natalia Osipova with Ivan Vasiliev. As we know, Matvienko has been injured and had to cancel his American Ballet Theatre dates, and it has now been announced that he will not…
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Osipova is missing Hallberg, but hopes to return to the Bolshoi
The applause that greeted Natalia Osipova‘s return to the Bolshoi stage was enthusiastic. Laura Cappelle wrote in her Financial Times review: The tour marks the Russian superstar’s first performances on the Bolshoi stage since her departure from the company three years ago, and if the breathless reception she got is any indication, she has been…
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Le Spectre de rose and La rose malade at La Scala
As an antipasto before the one act opera Cavalleria Rusticana, La Scala put on two related ballets – though unrelated to the opera – which fitted neatly together. Two ten-minute gems: Michel Fokine‘s Le Spectre de Rose and Roland Petit‘s La rose malade. Le Spectre de Rose is one of those ballets which must be danced full…
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The Kings of Dance have a Queen: Svetlana Lunkina
Kings of Dance will come to London with their newly crowned queen, Svetlana Lunkina. Roberto Bolle and Ivan Vasiliev will perform Roland Petit‘s Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, with ex-Bolshoi star Svetlana Lunkina joining them as a ‘Special Guest Artist’. The full programme for the four London dates is as follows: ACT ONE…
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Hallberg débuts at La Scala, with Núñez, Zakharova, Osipova, Bolle and Vasiliev
Good news for dance at La Scala. Cutting down on the budget has meant axing three opera productions, but opera’s loss is ballet’s gain, for the ‘cheaper’ ballet performances have been bumped up from 49 this season to a healthier 61. More guests too will liven up the 2013-2014 season. House fixtures Svetlana Zakharova, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru…
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“Who’s pulling the strings in Russia’s ballet revolution?” asks The Observer’s Luke Jennings
The ballet world was surprised when Nacho Duato (ex-director of Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza) was headhunted by St Petersburg‘s Mikhailovsky Theatre, maybe enticed by the fat wallet of general director Vladimir Kekhman. He has now been at the company’s helm for a year. When Mariinsky star Leonid Sarafanov jumped on board a couple of months later fans were…
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Mikhailovsky Theatre says Vasiliev and Osipova won’t be allowed to perform at the Bolshoi if it makes accusations against their theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre told reporters today that Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova‘s decision to leave the company and join the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg was not helping their last minute preparations for Sunday’s broadcast of The Sleeping Beauty. The ballet will be transmitted in high-definition to cinemas around the world from the newly inaugurated theatre….
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Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev leave Bolshoi to team up with Sarafanov and Duato at the Mikhailovsky Theatre
Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev have decided to leave their home theatre and move to the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Mariinsky star Leonid Sarafanov made the move in January 2011. Defections have increased since Nacho Duato took over at the company’s artistic helm. Natalia Osipova For me, a native Muscovite, the decision to move…
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Grand Gala at the Kremlin with stars from Hamburg, Stuttgart, Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky and Béjart companies
Stars from the Hamburg Ballet are heading to Moscow for a Kremlin Gala show on September 17 and 18. Soloists will perform various pieces by John Neumeier, the artistic director of the Hamburg Ballet, who will be the special guest at the gala . Two leading soloists of the German troupe, Héléne Bouchet and Thiago Bordin, will…
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Ballet Twitter pics
Smartphone photos linked onto a tweet are a great way to let Twitter followers get a glimpse of where you are and what you’re up to. Everyone’s at it from Hollywood stars to football louts. Ballet dancers, creative by nature, are often clicking away and sometimes the results are shared. Now boys love toys, so…
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