John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet returns to Rome at the vast Circus Maximus
From tonight at Circus Maximus – ancient Rome’s chariot-racing stadium – audiences of 6,000 can see John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet.
Rome Opera Ballet
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Review: Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – magic, mischief and romance in Rome
Reviewer Marta Mele sees Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Rome, discovering a delightful balance of theatrical magic, lyrical romance and effortless laughter.
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Review: Rome Opera Ballet’s magical performance of La Bayadère
Donatella Bertozzi sees La Bayadère in Rome and has a ‘magical, priceless evening’ with Paris Opera Ballet’s Sae Eu Park and Paul Marque.
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Review: Marco Spada returns to Rome for the first time since Rudolf Nureyev’s appearances in 1981
Marta Mele sees Marco Spada with Rome Opera Ballet, a ballet first restaged in Rome in 1981 by choreographer Pierre Lacotte for Rudolf Nureyev.
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Review: West Side Story at the Caracalla Baths in Rome – thoroughly enjoyable, but where was Robbins?
Donatella Bertozzi sees West Side Story in Rome with its strong and pervasive rhythmical sense of staging.
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Review: From Cacti to Angelic Forms, an Evening of Contemporary Authors at the Rome Opera
Marta Mele sees Dawson / León-Lightoot / Ekman at the Rome Opera House, a choreographic journey that seems to go backwards in time, asking us to question the ultimate nature of dance.
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Review: Gala Fracci 2025 – Marianela Nuñez and Reece Clarke join La Scala Ballet to celebrate Carla Fracci
Graham Spicer sees Gala Fracci, La Scala’s annual festa to celebrate the great Italian ballerina Carla Fracci who died in 2021, now in its fourth edition.
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Review: Onegin in Rome – two exceptional performers in a tear-jerking evening
Marta Mele sees the Rome Opera Ballet in John Cranko’s Onegin – two exceptional performers for an audience that did not shy away from the story’s emotions.
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Review: A cloud of contemporary dreams for Rome Opera Ballet
Marta Mele sees Rome Opera Ballet in a dreamy contemporary triple bill that reconnects the myth of Sisyphus to our virtual lives.
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Review: The Nutcracker by Paul Chalmer with Rome Opera Ballet – alternate cast – magic that illuminates social and gender conflicts
Marta Mele sees Rome Opera Ballet’s Nutcracker – “a magic that illuminates social and gender conflicts, opening up with enthusiasm to adult life”.
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Review: The Nutcracker with Rome Opera Ballet showing choreographer Paul Chalmer’s “wisdom, passion and finesse”
Donatella Bertozzi sees The Nutcracker in Rome and finds in Paul Chalmer “a strong narrator and an expert dance maker”.
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Review: Uwe Scholz’s Le rouge et le noir with Rome Opera Ballet – discovering love and passion
Marta Mele sees Rome Opera Ballet in Le rouge et le noir by Uwe Scholz – “The enormous challenges of narrative ballet coupled with the symphonic music of Hector Berlioz”
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Director Beppe Menegatti, husband of Carla Fracci, dies at 95
Italian theatre director Beppe Menegatti has died at 95. He was best known for the works with his wife, the ballerina Carla Fracci, who he married in 1964.
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Remembering Carla Fracci, three years after her death
Carla Fracci, the great Italian ballerina, died three years ago today, on 27 May 2021. I wrote her obituary for Dancing Times magazine that is reproduced here.
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Rome Opera Ballet to visit Paris, Dubai, Barcelona and Liège in tours beginning this month
Paris in April, Dubai in May, Barcelona in July and Liège in November – these are the four destinations for Rome Opera Ballet scheduled for 2024.
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[Review] Rome Opera Ballet perform de Bana, Forsythe and ‘Women’ a new work by Juliano Nunes
A contemporary triple bill at Rome Opera saw Patrick de Bana and William Forsythe sharing the bill, with a new work from Brazilian choreographer Juliano Nunes.
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Jam jars reveal anonymous letter writer concerning “incompetent fake blonde” Eleonora Abbagnato
A 67-year-old woman, the mother of a dancer, was sentenced yesterday to two years by the court in Rome for a defamation case brought by Eleonora Abbagnato.
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Paul Chalmer’s new Nutcracker for the Rome Opera Ballet
In Rome, from 21 until 31 December, there will be 12 performances of a new version of The Nutcracker by Paul Chalmer to open the 2023/2024 ballet season.
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[Photo album] Carla Fracci’s Giselle in Rome with Susanna Salvi and Michele Satriano
Rome Opera Ballet’s Giselle is dedicated to Carla Fracci. The opening cast saw Susanna Salvi as Giselle and Michele Satriano as Albrecht.
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[Review] Carla Fracci’s Giselle in Rome – Natalia Osipova kneeling at the altar of emotional honesty
Natalia Osipova and Jacopo Tissi guest with Rome Opera Ballet in Carla Fracci’s version of Giselle. (Plus a gallery of photos)
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Rome Opera Ballet – Season 2022-2023
The new season of the Rome Opera Ballet is announced by the company’s director, Eleonora Abbagnato.
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Giulietta – a new ballet with Eleonora Abbagnato, her daughter, and an imaginary friend
A modern-day Juliet, still a child, imagines herself as an adult: I talk to the choreographer of Giulietta, a new ballet + rehearsal photos.
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Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri – together again at La Scala
Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri’s successful partnership began in the 1980s and recently they have been working together once again.
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Étoile Eleonora Abbagnato to dance with her 10-year-old daughter
Eleonora Abbagnato, former étoile with the Paris Opera Ballet and director of the Rome Opera Ballet, will tour with her young daughter.
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[Photo Album] Le Corsaire in Rome with Nuñez, Muntagirov, Tissi and Makhateli
José Carlos Martínez’s production of Le Corsaire returns to Rome after a run cut short in 2020 due to the pandemic. Nuñez, Muntagirov, Tissi and Makhateli star.
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Italy’s dance magazine Danza & Danza names winners of 2021 awards
The leading dance magazine in Italy, Danza & Danza, has announced its annual awards including streams and videos of dance.
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Tonight – La Bayadère Divertissement from Rome Opera Ballet’s school
Sunday 7 March at 20.00 CET, there’s a chance to see the students from the Rome Opera Ballet’s school in La Bayadère Divertissement
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Vivaldi Suite – free streaming of a new ballet from Rome Opera
Tonight at 8.00 pm CET, the ballet Vivaldi Suite by choreographer Michele Merola will be broadcast in free streaming on the YouTube channel of the Opera di Roma.
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Eleonora Abbagnato shines in Four Seasons, created for strange times
Eleonora Abbagnato and Cuban dancer Javier Rojas Hernandez star in a reworked version of Giuliano Peparini’s 4 stagioni (Four Seasons), a Covid-safe dance work originally created for Rome Opera Ballet.
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dance | featured | interviews | top dance | top interviews
In conversation with Marianela Nuñez
The Royal Ballet’s Argentinian principal dancer, Marianela Nuñez, is in lockdown in Buenos Aires. She went there to be near her family and partner, because now home, for Nela, is London, which also happens to be home to her beloved company at The Royal Opera House.
We caught up via Skype in June: I was in my office in Milan, and Nela was 11,000 km away, sitting against an orange wall which steadily turned maroon then almost black as the day drew in.
Lockdown in Argentina! How’s that working out?
It’s very strict here. We started lockdown at the same time as England, pretty much – I know you in Italy started earlier. There were only a few cases, but obviously here there are more difficulties compared to Europe, and they were worried that the health system would collapse.
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