2018 marks 80 years since Rudolf Nureyev was born and 25 since he died. La Scala in Milan have marked the occasion with a series of Gala celebrations and performances of his Don Quixote, Manuel Legris organised a celebration with the Vienna State Ballet, and many more tributes have been staged to doff a hat […]
Xander Parish
Prix de Lausanne Prize Winners 2018 and photos
A large audience attended the Prix de Lausanne Finals today, both at the Théâtre de Beaulieu and online. 8 young dancers were awarded a scholarship allowing them to enter one of the 72 partner schools or companies of the Prix de Lausanne. Non-awarded candidates can take part in the Networking Forum tomorrow and have the opportunity […]
Saved by the corps! The Mariinsky under par for Swan Lake in Turin
The buzz of anticipation in the theatre wasn’t matched by the Mariinsky Ballet’s performance at Turin’s Teatro Regio. Maybe the company decided not to field its top players because it was the ‘pensioners’ matinée’ but, for the Mariinsky, this Swan Lake was under par. The first technical feats in the company’s production are presented by […]
Interview with Joseph Caley, English National Ballet’s new Principal Dancer
After more than a decade with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Principal Dancer Joseph Caley has packed his bags and headed south to join Tamara Rojo and English National Ballet. In July, when his move was announced, he said, “The diversity of repertoire that Tamara has brought to the Company is really interesting and I can’t wait […]
Xander Parish becomes a Principal Dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet
Last night, on the stage of The Royal Opera House which he left eight years ago, Xander Parish was promoted to Principal Dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre. The Mariinsky are in London for a three week run of five different programmes until 12 August. Last night saw Parish as Siegfried in Swan Lake. The 31-year-old […]
Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center
Last August, young ballet dancer Jacopo Tissi, resigned from the La Scala Ballet to accept the offer a contract with the Bolshoi Company. As I wrote last September, it’s not something that happens every day. Like all Russian companies, the Bolshoi has few dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders in its ranks. However, Makhar Vaziev, […]
Xander Parish on life with the Mariinsky Ballet
You were recently promoted to First Soloist at the Mariinsky Ballet. Happy? Yes, I was promoted after a show of Giselle back in January and it was quite out of the blue! Leaving the corps Xander Parish joined the Mariinsky as a Coryphée in 2010 after twiddling his thumbs for five years at The Royal […]
La Scala dancer Jacopo Tissi joins the Bolshoi
Jacopo Tissi, the young Italian dancer who is starting to make waves, has been offered a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Company. That’s not something that happens every day. The Moscow company, like all Russian companies, has almost no dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders. Tissi arrives via the Makhar Vaziev connection, the ex-director of […]
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?’. Well, she has an exotic name and a somewhat exotic look but, although she also has an exciting mix of blood running […]
How to stage a ballet… Maina Gielgud explains
The indefatigable Maina Gielgud is a freelance stager, guest teacher and coach. In 1983, two years after leaving her successful and varied career as a dancer, she became Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, where she stayed for a remarkable fourteen years. It was the beginning of a long second career in company administration and […]
