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, […]
Mariinsky
Andrey Ermakov answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A [на русском языке] When did you start dancing? I do not remember… probably at the same time that I began to walk. Why did you start dancing? As a child my mother dreamt of the ballet, so I started to make her dream come true. Which artists influenced you the most as a child? […]
Nederlands Dans Theatre director says the Bolshoi must come together
The Nederlands Dans Theatre perform at the Mariinsky’s new theatre, Mariinsky II, tonight. Artistic director Paul Lightfoot talked to Izvestia on his thoughts about the recent Bolshoi scandals. I know Sergei Filin. What happened to him was a terrible tragedy. I hate cruelty and do not understand this act. Ballet is such a beautiful, illuminating artform, a universal language; […]
Thiago Soares answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? I started age 15. Why did you start dancing? When I joined the Centro de Dança Rio it felt right, and I felt like I had found something that I had been looking for until then.. and I thought that to keep going would take me somewhere. Which dancer inspired […]
Igor Yebra answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was 13 years old. Why did you start dancing? Because I liked it and in my house it was something normal to see ballet; although first I wanted to be a football or basketball player! Which dancer inspired you most as a child? Fred Astaire, Antonio Gades and Vladimir […]
Raymonda at La Scala… a year on
A year ago at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala the ballet company scored a hit with its restaging of that difficult piece Raymonda. The ballet’s improbable story, with a lack of obvious dramatic push, can make it seem lacklustre. Therefore when Rudolf Nureyev’s version for Paris hit the stage in 1983, with Jean Guizerix’s brilliantly macho Abderam making poor Yvette Chauviré quake with […]
Restaurants of Ghent, Brussels and Mechelen during Flanders is a Festival
This is not a food blog, but as food has, in some way, influenced every dancer, musician, actor, and for that matter everyone else on the planet, I though I could squeeze it in. Food had a profound effect on rotund Gioachino Rossini, and I’m guessing that Mariinsky ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina is less of a foodie, but […]
Tonight Roberto Bolle and Friends alight at the 15,000-seater Roman Arena in Verona
Tonight Verona’s famous Arena is sold out. All 15,000 seats will be full to watch Roberto Bolle and his ‘friends’ dance in the open air. It is a magical place. Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore (the equivalent of the Financial Times, and the same colour) spoke to him. Unfortunately half of these interviews are always […]
The dance drain: who will save ballet in Italy?
Italians are great dancers, but they don’t get much opportunity to demonstrate that in their homeland. The history of ballet is adorned with Italian talent: Giuseppina Bozzacchi was the first Swanhilda in Coppélia; three dazzling stars, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito, and Marie Taglioni (also the first Sylphide) were celebrated by Perrot in his Pas de Quattre; Pierina Legnani was named Prima Ballerina Assoluta by Petipa […]
Why are Alina Cojocaru, Natalia Osipova and Viengsay Valdés wearing green pointe shoes?
What have Alina Cojocaru, Natalia Osipova and Viengsay Valdés got in common? Well yes, they are all ballet dancers. And yes, they have all danced Giselle. But think more deeply… They’ve all got dark hair? Now you’re just being silly. I’ll have to tell you. They all have shoes made with solar power! But I expect you’d […]
