Review: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at La Scala – it is pure joy
Graham Spicer sees Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Milan – beneath the spectacle is a quiet emotional core.
Sergei Polunin
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Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov’s appearances in Verona are cancelled
Ildar Abdrazakov will not take part in Don Giovanni at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona in January 2026 as planned.
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Sergei Polunin’s Rasputin show in Milan is cancelled
Teatro Arcimboldi Milan announces the cancellation of Sergei Polunin’s ballet Rasputin due to the pressing social and web mobilisation during the past few weeks.
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Pro-Putin dancer Sergei Polunin’s show to be staged in Milan in January
In January 2023, a theatre in Milan will present a ballet starring pro-Putin dancer Sergei Polunin – the ‘rock star of world dance’ says the theatre.
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Sergei Polunin now boasts three Putin tattoos
Sergei Polunin has posted an image of his torso on social media, now with three Putin tattoos.
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Extraordinary dancers will dance for Ukraine in Naples and Milan
Two upcoming galas in Italy to raise money for Ukraine bring together some of the dance names that have been making headlines recently.
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Sergei Polunin cancels Milan show. Reason? Injured Achilles.
Sergei Polunin’s much-delayed show, Rasputin, has been cancelled… again. It is being postponed for the sixth time.
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Sergei Polunin: 700 years of inferno, purgatory and paradise
Interview with Sergei Polunin, dancer and choreographer of Dante Metànoia at the Ravenna Festival.
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Sergei Polunin on Liam Scarlett, Russian gays, and getting rid of his Putin tattoo
Sergei Polunin talks about Liam Scarlett (Like some loving beautiful dog who licks your face.), gays in Russia (There were lesbians kissing everywhere… I’ve never seen so many lesbians.) and removing his tattoos.
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Sergei Polunin on being a father and the coronavirus
In mid-January, Sergei Polunin became a father to a son, Mir.
What sort of father am I? I follow my instincts. It’s interesting treading the boards of different stages during a lifetime. Having a child is a total joy, so natural; it changes your priorities and creates new horizons. Love makes everything bigger. Today I’m more aware.
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Danza&Danza Awards 2019 announced
The critics of the Italian magazine Danza&Danza (which also has an edition in English) huddle together at the beginning of each year to decided the ‘best’ of the previous year in Italian dance and dance seen in Italy. The jury, since 1987, has always underlined its objectivity and honesty in its selection of interpreters, productions…
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Interview: Who is Jacopo Tissi? The Bolshoi’s enigmatic Italian star talks about Moscow, Milan and London, “It certainly wasn’t easy”
Three years ago, Jacopo Tissi left La Scala to join the Bolshoi Company in Moscow. Makhar Vaziev, the Company’s current director, was previously the director at La Scala and had seen Tissi’s work. It was Vaziev (on having to find a substitute for Sergei Polunin, who was himself a substitute for David Hallberg), who chose…
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Interview with Sergei Polunin – Verona’s new Romeo
On the eve of the debut of a new Romeo and Juliet at Verona‘s Arena with choreography by Johan Kobborg and with Sergei Polunin and Alina Cojocaru in the title roles, Polunin talked with Vogue Italia’s Valentina Bonelli. The classics can often seem dated and today it can be difficult to relate to them. Instead,…
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Interview with Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru on the eve of their new Romeo and Juliet
Johan Kobborg asked David Umenoto to design the sets for his Romeo and Juliet which has its world premiere in Verona‘s vast Arena on 26 August. The commission came about after Kobborg had seen an exhibition of Umenoto’s sculptures: His works are contemporary but respect the past – you can feel the importance of memory…
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Royal Ballet’s Valentino Zucchetti is Mercutio in the Kobborg-Polunin-Cojocaru Romeo and Juliet
On the 26 August, there will be a single performance only of Johan Kobborg‘s new production of Romeo and Juliet with Sergei Polunin and Alina Cojocaru in the title roles. But when the theatre in Verona‘s vast Arena with 30,000 seats it is the equivalent of a 15-performance run in an opera house. Joining them…
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Sergei Polunin on sex change, his new girlfriend, and manning up
In an interview, before several appearances in the Italian peninsula over the next two months, Sergei Polunin said, I deeply believe in love. It’s a universal feeling; everyone wants to love and be loved. Today, I see a separation between men and women with too much aggressivity and competition between the sexes. For me, if…
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London Theatre Direct halts ticket sales for Sergei Polunin’s London performances
The ticket sales and distribution company London Theatre Direct has announced that it will stop selling tickets to Sergei Polunin‘s London Palladium shows. A press release says, London Theatre Direct formally announce today that they will be halting ticket sales for Sergei Polunin’s upcoming mixed dance programme at the London Palladium. The decision comes after the Ukrainian ballerino’s series of hateful comments made last…
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Rights group asks for Polunin ballet in Verona’s Arena to be cancelled
A full-page article in today’s Corriere della Sera, a major Italian newspaper, has the headline: Polunin, the bad boy of dance “is homophobic”. After recent Instagram postings which were widely discussed, Sergei Polunin found sponsors disappearing and an engagement at the Paris Opera Ballet cancelled. The most commentated post was the one where he urged…
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Photo album: Osiel Gouneo as Spartacus with the Bayerisches Staatsballett
The Bayerisches Staatsballett is the first Western European company to dance Yuri Grigorovich‘s Spartacus, which he created in 1968 for the Bolshoi Ballet. It has become the trademark Soviet ballet. The premiere in Munich was part of a concept to present productions that have been milestones in ballet history. The mini-run (other performances follow in…
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Dancing Times, February edition – including Gramilano’s Danza in Italia column with La Scala’s new Nutcracker
Cover girl for the February edition of Dancing Times is Ballet Black‘s Isabela Coracy, photographed by Angela Zaremba, who is the Dancer of the Month. It was announced recently that Ballet Black will be collaborating with Birmingham Royal Ballet during its next season. Editor Jonathan Gray interviews Northern Ballet’s Javier Torres, Nicola Rayner meets Bonnie Langford who is in 9…
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Rights for Ralph Fiennes’ Rudolf Nureyev biopic acquired by Sony
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired rights to Ralph Fiennes’ film The White Crow. The film is based on Julie Kavanaugh’s book Rudolf Nureyev: The Life, directed by Fiennes and written by David Hare (The Hours, The Reader). HanWay Films, who is handling worldwide sales, co-financed the film together with BBC Films and Rogue Black. Ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko plays…
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dance | featured | interviews | top dance | top interviews
Meet Francesco Gabriele Frola — National Ballet of Canada and English National Ballet’s new Principal Dancer
Italian ballet dancer Francesco Gabriele Frola has been promoted to Principal Dancer of the National Ballet of Canada and, at the same time, has become Principal at English National Ballet. Dance is in his DNA. His parents, both former dancers, run a dancing school, Professione Danza, in Parma, the city where Gabriele spent the first…
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Yanowsky’s Back! Making a comeback faster than Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra famously retired in 1970 only to make a comeback three years later, after which he continued to sing into the ’90s. Former Royal Ballet Principal Zenaida Yanowsky is making a faster comeback than Ol’ Blue Eyes. After 23 years with The Royal Ballet, Zenaida Yanowsky gave her final curtain call on the Covent…
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Sergei Polunin returns to dance with Natalia Osipova at The Royal Ballet
Former Royal Ballet Principal Sergei Polunin will partner Natalia Osipova in June, when he returns to dance in Frederick Ashton‘s Marguerite and Armand. Other casting sees another former Royal Ballet Principal, Alessandra Ferri, together with her fellow Italian Federico Bonelli, and the third Italian in the lineup is Roberto Bolle who will be partnering Zenaida…
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In pictures – Ardani Artists’ Tour de Force III at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Tour de Force III at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts was subtitled, a Dance Spectacular. In effect, the event brought many exceptional talents together, as is Ardani Artists‘ custom, and it was also Sergei Polunin‘s debut on America’s West Coast, something for Californians to get excited about. He was dancing with Natalia Osipova in…
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Guillaume Côté’s choreographic gem starring Greta Hodgkinson now available worldwide
National Ballet of Canada Principal Greta Hodgkinson stars in Guillaume Côté‘s new choreographic piece Being and Nothingness. It was first performed under the wing of the Company in Toronto in 2013. However, Anymotion Productions, an independent company run by Company dancers who previously developed the award-winning Lost in Motion series. Being and Nothingness is a reflection in dance of a…
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Dance photographer Rick Guest… what lies beneath
Rick Guest is a photographer who’s highly polished style has led him to work with some of the biggest international brand names – Nike, Ferrari, BMV – yet he fell into photography by chance. I was between jobs and had a friend who was a model booker. She had some new guys starting out and…
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Ratmansky’s Sleeping Beauty in Milan casts its magic spell
Alexei Ratmansky‘s ‘reconstruction’ of The Sleeping Beauty at La Scala made for one of the most interesting and satisfying evenings that I’ve had in the theatre for a long time. It is charming, it is theatrical, it is technically retro-innovative and also demanding for the dancers. Reintroducing some positions and movements, which have been gradually…
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Yasmine Naghdi – the birth of a ballerina
Yasmine Naghdi was born on 25 March 1992 in London: Everyone I meet says, ‘Where are you from?’, and I say, ‘I’m from London’, and they say, ‘No, where are you really from?’.
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Sergei Polunin injured and will not dance with Zakharova in Sleeping Beauty
Sergei Polunin, who was to replace David Hallberg who is injured, is now injured himself and will not dance the three scheduled performances in Alexei Ratmansky‘s The Sleeping Beauty. Polunin, who has injured his neck, will be replaced with the young Jacopo Tissi who, after graduating from La Scala‘s ballet school in June last year, has…
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