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 […]
Merle Park
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 […]
Interview with The Royal Ballet’s Merle Park in 1979: Green Park, Hyde Park or Merle Park?
Merle Park, the engine driver’s daughter from Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe), ended up being one of The Royal Ballet’s brightest stars. She says that she first realised she’d become famous when she heard a question on a quiz game on the radio: “Which is the odd name out: Green Park, Hyde Park or Merle Park?” I thought, […]
Dame Merle Park on a ballerina’s need for rest and energy: I have six spoonfuls of sugar in my tea
Back in the days when Merle Park was a CBE — she became Dame Merle in 1986 — she left this interview with a British women’s magazine. It makes interesting, and amusing, reading almost 40 years later. Dame Merle Park will celebrate her 80th birthday on 8 October this year. At times my energy has […]
Mara Galeazzi answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? When I was 6. Why did you start dancing? At first was for fun. Which dancer inspired you most as a child? Alessandra Ferri, Carla Fracci and Pina Baush. Which dancer do you most admire? I admire all dancers for their hard work and passion. What’s your favourite role? […]
John Cranko’s The Lady and the Fool & Pineapple Poll out on DVD
These two ballets by John Cranko are early examples of the choreographer’s theatrical ingenuity. Created for the then Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, (later Royal Ballet), Pineapple Poll is a light hearted frolic. Lady and the Fool is a bittersweet satire on the plight of society’s outcasts with La Capricciosa danced by Svetlana Beriosova in the […]
