As an antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome — this year a sold out two days, next year there will be three — in the luxurious setting of the Hotel de Russie near the Spanish Steps, there … [Read more...] about Antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome with Russian and Italian ballet stars
Sergei Diaghilev
Picasso in Rome, with Diaghilev, Cocteau and Massine: The Ballets Russes and Parade
One hundred years ago, Pablo Picasso lived Rome for two months. It was his first trip to Italy. The Ballets Russes was in town and Picasso was eager to begin work on his designs for Parade, the ballet … [Read more...] about Picasso in Rome, with Diaghilev, Cocteau and Massine: The Ballets Russes and Parade
Carla Fracci with Schaufuss, Vasiliev, Cragun, Jude and others on YouTube
In 1987 a two-part television programme called The Ballerinas featured Carla Fracci, with some of the top male dancers of the period, in a series of reconstructions putting various ballets … [Read more...] about Carla Fracci with Schaufuss, Vasiliev, Cragun, Jude and others on YouTube
Alex Ross at the grave of Stravinsky
Yesterday I took a vaporetto out to San Michele, the cemetery island of Venice. It was seven-thirty on a Sunday morning, and my only fellow passengers were several elderly people whom I took to be … [Read more...] about Alex Ross at the grave of Stravinsky
Last week to catch the V&A’s glorious Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes exhibition
This is the last chance to catch the stunning collection of Ballet Russes material brought together by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Diaghilev's dramatic performances transformed dance, … [Read more...] about Last week to catch the V&A’s glorious Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes exhibition
At the National Portrait Gallery, Ballet In Focus – a free exhibition
The richness and variety of dance on the British stage in the early decades of the twentieth century is often forgotten: overshadowed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which made its first … [Read more...] about At the National Portrait Gallery, Ballet In Focus – a free exhibition