Last night, 8 June 2019, The Royal Ballet celebrated the centenary of the birth of its most famous ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was born on 18 May 1919.A performance of The Firebird, currently in a triple bill, was followed by a gala of extracts from ballets representing some of Fonteyn’s most celebrated roles.Another dame, Dame Darcey Bussell, also appeared on stage … [Read more...] about Photos and full programme of Margot Fonteyn, A Celebration with The Royal Ballet
Margot Fonteyn
A blue plaque for Dame Margot Fonteyn
Peggy Hookham, later to be known as Margot Fonteyn, was born near Reigate station, moved to Waldeck Road in Ealing when she was two, and soon after that her family moved to the other side of the railway lines to the leafy suburb of Elm Grove.18 May 2019 was the 100th Anniversary of Dame Margot’s birth, and in appreciation of her immense services to ballet and cultural … [Read more...] about A blue plaque for Dame Margot Fonteyn
Dancing Times, May edition – including Gramilano’s Danza in Italia column reviewing world premieres of Winterreise and Carmen
Dancing Times’ May issue is out now, with a glorious cover featuring Margot Fonteyn – the only dancer to be given the title prima ballerina assoluta by The Royal Ballet – who was born 100 years ago on 18 May.The magazine celebrates the centenary of Fonteyn's birth with articles by The Royal Ballet’s director Kevin O’Hare, dance critic Alastair Macaulay, and the Royal Academy … [Read more...] about Dancing Times, May edition – including Gramilano’s Danza in Italia column reviewing world premieres of Winterreise and Carmen
Four Auroras – Fonteyn, Sibley, Jenner and Park with The Royal Ballet in 1972
Philip Hope-Wallace was the music, theatre and dance critic for The Guardian from 1959 until he died, twenty years later. The obituarist in The Times called him "a critic of the arts as wise and searching as anyone in his time … all his work was fuelled by an informed pleasure that his attractively languid personality never concealed… above all, he was consistently … [Read more...] about Four Auroras – Fonteyn, Sibley, Jenner and Park with The Royal Ballet in 1972
Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more
I’m enjoying a new chapter in my life having the fortune to play women of my age and not romantic roles like the Giselles, Carmens, Juliets, Manons… all wonderful, but enough, they’re part of another Alessandra. Now I’m a 55-year-old with the knowledge of how extraordinary that is.Alessandra Ferri, now in Milan for a run of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, created for her at The … [Read more...] about Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more
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 are 20 and 21 January. Cipriani says,I always choose dancers … [Read more...] about The world’s ballet Étoiles army arrives in Rome, conquering with its art
Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci
Vittoria Crespi Morbio, the writer of an exceptional collection of books produced by the Amici della Scala, has written monographs on important artists who have collaborated with Teatro alla Scala – some celebrated, some largely forgotten. These little gems are precious in the content but lacking in their scale. However, luckily, the Friends of La Scala sometimes bring out … [Read more...] about Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci
Preview: Nureyev the film is a glorious celebration of an exceptional life
Nureyev is an important new documentary about Rudolf Nureyev’s extraordinary life which will be shown in cinemas around the UK from 25 September.BAFTA nominated directors Jacqui and David Morris have interviewed Nureyev’s colleagues from the dance world - Alla Osipenko, Ghislaine Thesmar, Dame Antoinette Sibley, Clement Crisp, Meredith Daneman – but sensibly don’t fill the … [Read more...] about Preview: Nureyev the film is a glorious celebration of an exceptional life
Exciting celebration of Rudolf Nureyev’s life with world ballet stars at Spoleto, tonight 28 July
2018 marks 80 years since Rudolf Nureyev was born and 25 since he died. La Scala in Milan have marked the occasion with a series of Gala celebrations and performances of his Don Quixote, Manuel Legris organised a celebration with the Vienna State Ballet, and many more tributes have been staged to doff a hat to the transfixing force of nature that was Nureyev.At 9.15pm today, … [Read more...] about Exciting celebration of Rudolf Nureyev’s life with world ballet stars at Spoleto, tonight 28 July
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