Yasmine Naghdi

[Interview] The Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi: a time to reflect

6 August 2020 by gramilano Leave a Comment

I’ve interviewed The Royal Ballet’s principal ballerina Yasmine Naghdi several times over the past five years. The first time, she was a soloist and preparing to debut as Juliet with Matthew Ball as Romeo. The last time was 18-months ago, a few months after her debut in Swan Lake, a role she was scheduled to reprise this spring, but then The Royal Opera House closed its doors.

She is currently on holiday in my adopted homeland, Italy. However, while I’m in the north by the Ligurian Sea, Yasmine and her Italian boyfriend are in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. I spoke to her via Skype in early May and asked her whether she was with him in lockdown.

“We’re in quarantine in our flat. I think when we last spoke, it must have been early on in our relationship. We’re now coming up to two years together

Free reading from Dancing Times – the complete archive is available from 2000

1 April 2020 by gramilano Leave a Comment

Dancing Times has opened up the last 20 years of its archives to all until 7 April. The monthly magazine has its think pieces, reviews, articles about technique, dance’s past and present, but I always head first to the interviews. Here are some tidbits I’ve come across…

Photo Album: Royal Ballet first night with Dances at a Gathering and The Cellist

17 February 2020 by gramilano Leave a Comment

First photos of tonight’s opening of a new double bill at The Royal Opera House with Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering and Cathy Marston’s The Cellist. Dances at a Gathering Jerome Robbins’s elegant and elegiac classic forms the first part of the programme. This exercise in pure dance for five couples, set to music […]

Photos and full programme of Margot Fonteyn, A Celebration with The Royal Ballet

9 June 2019 by gramilano 2 Comments

Last night, 8 June 2019, The Royal Ballet celebrated the centenary of the birth of its most famous ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was born on 18 May 1919. A performance of The Firebird, currently in a triple bill, was followed by a gala of extracts from ballets representing some of Fonteyn’s most celebrated roles. […]

The Royal Ballet in Japan and Los Angeles – dates and casting

6 June 2019 by gramilano 1 Comment

The Royal Ballet tours to Japan and Los Angeles this summer, presenting signature work from the Company’s repertory, a world premiere by Wayne McGregor and community engagement projects. Tokyo, Bunka Kaikan Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote, 21 – 26 June Yokohama, Kanagawa Kenwin Hall Royal Ballet Gala, 29 – 30 June Los Angeles, The Music Center […]

Photo Album: first look at The Royal Ballet’s new triple bill

4 June 2019 by gramilano Leave a Comment

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 […]

Marianela Nuñez dances to Nina Simone singing I’m Feeling Good with choreography by Will Tuckett

28 March 2019 by gramilano 2 Comments

Three-and-a-half delightful minutes with Royal Ballet Principal Marianela Nuñez in a piece choreographed by Will Tuckett called Nela. More delightful again is that it is set to Nina Simone’s version of Feeling Good which, although it feels like an American blues classic, was written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for their musical The […]

Interview: For The Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi it’s “Ready, Steady, Go”!

25 November 2018 by gramilano 1 Comment

Interview with Yasmine Naghdi as she dances in the world premiere of Alastair Marriott’s The Unknown Soldier – with photos by Dasa Wharton I last interviewed Yasmine Naghdi in September of 2015 when she and Matthew Ball were preparing to dance Romeo and Juliet together. They were dancing the roles for the first time — […]

Photo Album: first photos of tonight’s triple bill with The Royal Ballet

20 November 2018 by gramilano Leave a Comment

Two contrasting ballets from Wayne McGregor and George Balanchine return with a world premiere by Alastair Marriott. The classical and the contemporary meet in this programme of three complementary works. Alastair Marriott’s new ballet to a commissioned score from Dario Marianelli marks the centenary of the ending of World War I in October 2018. The Unknown […]

Royal Ballet Principal Francesca Hayward to appear in film adaptation of Cats

2 November 2018 by gramilano Leave a Comment

Francesca Hayward, Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, has joined the cast of the film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, which will be directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl). The film has an exceptionally starry cast with Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy (played by a […]