The Firebird / A Month in the Country / Symphony in C The curtain has just gone up on The Royal Ballet's latest triple bill and here are the first photos. The flash of a firebird, a family sent into a spin and a classical ballet explosion. Michel Fokine's The Firebird with Igor Stravinsky's music is a ground-breaking classic of the early 20th-century that draws on the story, … [Read more...] about Photo Album: first look at The Royal Ballet’s new triple bill
Michel Fokine
First look: Stravinsky ballet evening at La Scala conducted by Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta will be conducting La Scala’s orchestra for a Stravinsky double-bill with the theatre’s ballet company: Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Michel Fokine’s choreography and Alexandre Benois’ costumes and sets were created for the original production in 1911 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This original version was last seen at La Scala twenty years … [Read more...] about First look: Stravinsky ballet evening at La Scala conducted by Zubin Mehta
Cello Suites at La Scala: the good news and the bad news…
First the good news… The La Scala ballet company is in formidable shape. Makhar Vaziev and his team have nurtured many interesting talents and a piece to show off some of their qualities is surely Heinz Spoerli’s Cello Suites, wherefourteen dancers can showcase their abilities. It is choreographed to Bach’s Cello Suites No. 2, 3, and 6, so it is divided into three parts … [Read more...] about Cello Suites at La Scala: the good news and the bad news…
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 out for what it is. It can't be 'modernised', as could … [Read more...] about Le Spectre de rose and La rose malade at La Scala
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 Vasiliev. Which dancer do you most admire? Fred … [Read more...] about Igor Yebra answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Kondaurova, Ermakov and the Mariinsky girls triumph in La Bayadère in Turin
The Mariinsky Ballet are entering their last week of a three-week run at Turin's Teatro Regio, after a week of their Fokine programme, a week of Bayadères, and now they start on their twelve Swan Lakes. The Regio's modern theatre was designed for opera and leaves the dancer, especially the male ballet dancer, shortchanged. Andrey Ermakov's huge leaps brought him dangerously … [Read more...] about Kondaurova, Ermakov and the Mariinsky girls triumph in La Bayadère in Turin
Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Homage to Fokine
The second of six programmes brought to London by the Mariinsky was a triple bill of Mikhail Fokine's choreography: Chopiniana, The Firebird and Scheherazade. The Times explained the programming: In the space of two years, Mikhail Fokine created a trio of works that helped to change our perception of classical ballet. Chopinianaembodied the very idea of abstract ballet; The … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Mariinsky at Covent Garden, Homage to Fokine