twyla tharp - letsballet · twyla tharp ... is to be given to hans van manen, the great dutch...

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n° 260 • the international DANCE magazine

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the international dance magazineENGLISH Edition

Editor-in-chiefAlfio Agostini

Contributors/writersErik AschengreenLeonetta BentivoglioDonatella BertozziValeria CrippaClement CrispGerald DowlerElisa Guzzo VaccarinoMarc HaegemanAnna KisselgoffKevin NgJean Pierre PastoriOlga RozanovaEmmanuèle RüeggerRoger SalasSonia SchoonejansRené SirvinIsis Wirth

Editorial advisorElisa Guzzo Vaccarino

Editorial assistantCristiano MerloTranslationsSimonetta AllderCristiano MerloCollaborator Alain GarangerEditorial services, design, webLuca Ruzza

[email protected]. (+33) 09.82.29.82.84(+39) 011.19.58.20.38

[email protected]

n° 260 - VI. 2016

BALLET 2000B.P. 1283 – 06005 Nice cedex 01 – Ftél. (+33) 09.82.29.82.84

Éditions Ballet 2000 Sarl – FranceISSN 2493-3880 (English Edition)Commission Paritaire P.A.P. 0718K91919Distribution : Messageries Lyonnaises dePresse, 76 rue de Reuilly, 75012 ParisImprimé en Italie/Printed in Italy byPinelli Printing, Seggiano di Pioltello -Milano

www.ballet2000.come-mail: [email protected]

Matthew Dibble, Rika Okamoto –Twyla Tharp Dance Company:

“Yowzie”, c. Twyla Tharp(ph. R. Afanador)

Tiler Peck, Amar Ramasar –New York City Ballet:

“Everywhere We Go”, c. Justin Peck(ph. P. Kolnik)

Maya Plisetskaya in her creation“The Lady with the Lapdog”, 1985

(ph. H. Soumireu-Lartigue)

4 Prix BALLET2000

9 News – from the dance world

20 On the cover :Twyla Tharp mutifaceted, refined and easy-going

28 The New York City Ballet in Paris

32 On stage – critics :The Royal Ballet, LondonParis Opéra BalletLa Scala Ballet, MilanRichard Alston Dance CompanyBallet du Grand Théâtre de GenèveEastman Co. – Akram KhanSydney Dance CompanyHet Nationale Ballet, AmsterdamBalletBoyzRome Opera BalletDaniel Abreu Co.

46 Mats’ Axe: a prize for Mats Ek

47 Prix Benois in Moscow

49 BalletTube:Gamzatti and the Kirov Hallmark

50 Multimedia : TV, Web, DVD, Cinema...

54 TV Programmes

56 International Calendar

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Diana Vishneva

Aurélie Dupont

Maëva Cotton, Alessio Passaquindici

PRIX BALLET2000Cannes, Palais des Festivals31 July 2016

In 2004, the first edition of the Prix es-tablished by BALLET2000 (at the time called“Les Étoiles de BALLET2000”), the “Life-time Achievement Prize” went to MayaPlisetskaya. Not content with merely receiv-ing the award on stage, the great artist (whowas 79 at the time) danced the Ave Mayasolo created for her by Maurice Béjart. Herhusband Rodion Schedrin (one of the great-est Russian composers of his generation) hadaccompanied her to Cannes. A grand pianofor Schedrin was found at the Palais des Fes-tivals and he played the notes of Gounod’sAve Maria on stage (with cellist Luis FelipeSerrano) while Maya, extremely elegant in acostume designed for her by Pierre Cardin,danced simple steps adorned by her magnifi-cent ports de bras as she waved two Japa-nese-like fans.

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Virna Toppi, Jacopo Tissi

On the very same stage at thePalais des Festivals in Cannes on31 July this year, the Prix BAL-LET2000 will be dedicated to thememory of Maya Plisetskaya whopassed away last year. RodionSchedrin will be guest of honour atthe event.

The Prizes are given out to art-ists chosen from nominees by thejury which is made up of some ofthe world’s most famous dance crit-ics and specialists, all of whom con-tributors to BALLET2000.

The focus is on the “Prix à laCarrière” (Lifetime AchievementPrize) that goes to a celebrity whohas had an extraordinarily signifi-cant career. This year in Cannes itis to be given to Hans van Manen,the great Dutch choreographer,whose vast and varied oeuvre, rig-orous and open at the same time,has had a deep influence on Eu-ropean ballet during recent dec-ades.

Three special “Prix MAYA” willbe handed out this year, respec-tively to: Diana Vishneva, star ofthe Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburgand of American Ballet Theatre,New York; Aurélie Dupont, étoileof the Paris Opéra Ballet and thenew director of the company (bya strange coincidence, July 31 willbe her last day as a free lance bal-lerina, while the following will beher first as director); Friedemann

Vogel, principal dancer of the StuttgartBallet as well as guest star of majorcompanies around the world.

T h e B A L L E T 2 0 0 0Prizes are however essen-tially for dancers who haveshone with major interna-tional companies during re-cent seasons. This year’sa w a r d e e s a r e : Ó s c a rChacón and KaterynaShalkina (Béjart BalletL a u s a n n e ) , V i k t o r i aTereshkina and VladimirShklyarov (Mari inskyTheatre, St Petersburg),Ósiel Gouneo (English Na-tional Ballet, with his part-ner Jem Choi) , VirnaToppi and Jacopo Tissi(Teatro alla Scala, Milan),Sergio Bernal (BalletNac iona l de España) ,Davide Dato (Vienna Op-era Ballet), Maëva Cottonand Alessio Passaquindici(Ballet Nice Méditerranée,Opéra de Nice), AnjaraBallesteros (Ballets deMonte-Carlo, with herp a r t n e r L u c i e nPostlewaite).

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Forceful Feelings

Furthermore, a special medalwill be awarded to “ForcefulFeelings”, an unusual all-malegroup of Armenian dancers, allof whom principals with inter-national troupes but committedto raising an awareness, aroundthe world, of ballet in their coun-try. They will be performing inCannes with partners of variousorigins. Their names are: Sarah-J a n e B r o d b e c k , A r m a nGrigoryan, Vahe Martirosyan,Arsen Mehrabyan , Gal inaMihaylova, Tigran Mikayelyan,Mia Rudic.

The aforementioned artists

will all dance at a gala performance(under the artistic direction of formerMariinsky principal Irma Nioradze),on stage at the Palais des Festivals(Grand Auditorium), Cannes, theclimax of which will be the prize-giving.

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Hans van Manen, “Prix à la Carrière”

Hans van Manen(ph. E. Olaf)

about his manners which then mellows in hisstage language, the latter invariably disclosingan ideal of harmony – not only in its sym-metrical development but also in the highly-accentuated musical structure.

Van Manen’s oeuvre developed in the Eu-rope of the 1960s and 1970s which was, onceand for all, leaving behind the War and hor-rors of Nazism through immediate forms ofplastic and “colloquial” arts which the pub-lic could take in without too much intellec-tualism. Van Manen looks for simple themesin everyday gestures and social behaviour,stylizes them and embeds them in his vo-cabulary, phrasing and style. However, thosewere also the years of the sexual revolution– and one of the first countries where onecould openly speak about sexual freedom wasHolland. Van Manen was sensitive to thisprofound social upheaval that was breakingdown the rigid barriers of Calvinist moral-ity. There is sex in his choreography: pasde deux between two men, full nudity of menand women, a fearless and uninhibited eroticvision.

Another level on which Van Manen hasbeen a forerunner in Europe relates to the

use of video in choreography. In 1970 he cre-ated Mutations together with Glen Tetley(music by Karlheinz Stockhausen) which canbe considered the most important formal ex-periment of the whole decade. 1979 was theyear of Live: a public happening in Amster-dam, with a cameraman literally chasing af-ter a female dancer dancing a solo with, con-currently, the video being projected live ontoa big screen. Such experimentation was con-solidated during those same years with emi-nent (and almost always abstract) painters.

Apart from being a choreographer, VanManen is also a celebrated photographer. Hispictures are displayed in galleries and mu-seums all over the world. He has often usedhis own dancers as models: initially they werethe clay with which to model his choreogra-phy; with his photography he then placedthem on a statuesque plane, as if frozen intime, at times nude and in provocative poses.But Van Manen’s aesthetic of the body hasalways been one of sublime and superior plas-ticity, identical to the one that he – a truecreator of moving forms – pursues in his re-fined working of choreographic material.

Roger Salas

Hans van Manen (84) has a greatness of hisown on the 20th-century European choreog-raphy scene. Spanning 60 years (his first cho-reography dates back to 1957), his careeris richly studded with artistic experiences andresults.

Van Manen’s professional training reflectsan era. In seeking out a teacher, like all the youngdancers, he chose Sonia Gaskell who had beenwith the Ballets Russes of Serge de Diaghilevbefore settling in Amsterdam. The young VanManen danced in Gaskell’s groups which – ashe himself relates – divulged the Russian Schoolin a pure form, with extreme insistence on cleanexecution, though at the same time upholdingthe idea of abstract ballet (especially GeorgeBalanchine) that led to the development ofmodern Dutch ballet.

The setting-up of the Nederlands DansTheater was a complicated process and VanManen found himself at the helm of the newcompany together with Benjamin Harkavy. Itwas here that he began to make his creativeideas a reality: these were very closely-linkedto music, initially with Manuel Ponce andArthur Honegger, but he also worked with clas-sical symphonic music. The curiosity of youthled to forays also into cabaret, musical com-edy and television, while the ‘travelling’ partof his career took him to collaborate with variouscompanies such as Scapino Ballet, theDüsseldorf Ballet and the Bavarian State Bal-let at the Munich Opera House, thereby plac-ing him in friendly (albeit distant) “competi-tion” with the phenomenon of John Crankoin Stuttgart.

From 1970 onwards Van Manen worked ex-clusively as a free-lance choreographer and thisis when his style began to take shape moreclearly. His passion for Igor Stravinsky, ClaudeDebussy and Maurice Ravel produced piecesof deep aesthetic value and creative quality. Ifthere is such a thing as a Dutch school of modernchoreography, this has emerged – or developed– largely from the personal oeuvre of VanManen. This is blatant when we see the oeuvreof Czech choreographer Jirí Kylián who trainedin The Netherlands and in the shadow of VanManen’s aesthetics; and the same can be said,although to a lesser degree, not only of Span-iard Nacho Duato, but also of Van Manen’scontemporary, Rudi van Dantzig. With regardto the latter, the influence was mutual: whereasVan Dantzig is more cerebral and obscure, VanManen is more “liberated” and outgoing, of-ten somewhat sarcastic.

One of his most famous works to enter thein te rna t iona l reper to i re i s AdagioHammerklavier (Beethoven) in which the cou-ples establish a strong jeux of physical depend-ency and tension; it is the apotheosis of VanManen’s style and can be considered as hisaesthetic manifesto.

In many ways Van Manen is a typical Dutch-man and we might find his character puzzling:there is something rough and disconcerting

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MayaPlisetskayaSouvenir(photos Serge Lidofrom 1960s to 1983)

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MayaPlisetskaya,recently with

Irma Nioradze,principal of the

Kirov/Mariinsky

Ballet(ph. Askaneli

Art)

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ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • BREVI • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS • ECHOS NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • ECHOS

Festival of the Two Worlds, Spoleto: “Decadance”, c. Ohad Naharin (ph. M. Waratt)

Montpellier Danse: Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company: “The Primate Trilogy”, c. Jacopo Godani (ph. D. Mentzos)

Festivals

Decadance SpoletoThe dance section at the Festival dei DueMondi di Spoleto (Festival of the TwoWorlds, Spoleto, Italy) begins on 25 June withEleonora Abbagnato in the title role of Car-men, Amedeo Amodio’s creation from 1995 tomusic from the Georges Bizet opera (re-ar-ranged with additional music by GiuseppeCalì) and with scenery by Luisa Spinatelli.The big attraction, however, is DecadanceSpoleto. Now famous, Decadance is the showwith which Israel’s Bathsheva company hadcelebrated Ohad Naharin’s 10th anniversaryat the company’s helm in 2000. On that occa-sion various extracts from his works had beenmelted down into a “second hand” creation;the open and changeable structure ofDecadance now enables Naharin to tailor-makea version for the Roman Theatre at Spoleto. Inclosing, the National Ballet of Prague willdance Romeo and Juliet by Yuri Vàmos, cre-ated in 1997 and set during the period in whichSergei Prokofiev composed the score, i.e. be-tween the 1920s and 1930s.

Montpellier: Godani and theForsythe legacyFor its 36th edition (23 June-9 July)Montpellier Danse – one of France’s mostimportant contemporary dance festivals – haschosen as one of its themes what happens tosignature companies when their auteurs die orgo away. Some such companies decide to limitthemselves to dancing their repertoires whileothers – to avoid stagnating or becoming mu-seum-companies – also try to get new creative

phases going with works by present-day cho-reographers. Thus, Montpellier Dance is in-viting the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company,William Forsythe’s former company, now ledby his “disciple” Jacopo Godani, to performthe latter’s first creation for the group, ThePrimate Trilogy, a highly physical and virtuosodance, all twists and breaks that alter the lim-its of perception. In the same context, the spot-light is also on the Cullberg Ballet (founded in1967 by Swedish choreographer BirgitCullberg, mother of Mats Ek) who are to per-form an ensemble work by American choreog-rapher Deborah Hay entitled Figure Sea cen-

tred around the idea of “variants” and inspiredby the movement of the sea and its waves, tomusic by Laurie Anderson. However, the pro-gramme of this festival is far more extensive,with numerous creations by popular Frenchand international dance makers, notably:Nacera Belaza, Christian Rizzo, Emanuel Gat,Robyn Orlin, Israeli choreographers SharonEyal and Gai Behar (of the L-E-V company)and bailaor Andrés Marín.

Festival de Marseille: Kinshasa Electric(ph. B. Grietens)

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NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • ECHOS•

Sankai Juku: “Meguri”, c. Ushio Amagatsu (ph. Sankai Juku)

AvignonFestival: Cie MarieChouinard: “Soft virtuosity, still

humid, on the edge”, c. MarieChouinard (ph. N. Ruel)

Jérôme Bel signature galaThe “multiple arts and dance” Festival deMarseille takes place from 24 June to 19July. Following his creation for the ParisOpéra (see review in the previous issue ofBALLET2000), Jérôme Bel brings togetheractors and professional and amateur dancersin a gala performance to stage acritique of the canons regulat-ing how the body is repre-sented, one of the leitmotifs ofthe conceptual oeuvre withwhich he has imposed himselfon the French contemporaryscene since the 1990s. Markyour calendars also for NewZealand choreographer LemiPonifasio, whose inspirationcomes from environmentalthemes as well as from the cul-ture of his native Oceania:Stones in her Mouth is a ceremo-nial show peopled by womenin black with a mysterious andarchaic flavour. Other shows tolook out for include the hostcompany, Ballet de Marseille ina version of Boléro conceived byits directors, choreographerEmio Greco and régisseur PieterC. Scholten.

Ravenna, Tharp and beyondThe Sankai Juku from Japan are touring Europeand on 14 June opened the dance section of Ra-venna Festival (Italy), one of the most prestig-ious music festivals in Italy and Europe. The mostimportant date on the dance calendar is with thecompany of Twyla Tharp who is the subject of

this issue’s cover story. Then a show starring bal-lerina Svetlana Zakharova (see News section) fol-lowed by, in July, two leading contemporary dancecompanies who are also guesting at other festivalsin Italy: Batsheva Dance Company and AlonzoKing Lines Ballet.

Verona, Shakespeare foreverThis year being the 400th anniversary of WilliamShakespeare’s death, much of the Estate TeatraleVeronese’s programme (in Verona, Italy) is dedi-cated to the Bard of Avon. For the dance section,in August the Ballet du Grand-Théâtre de Genèvepresents choreographer Joëlle Bouvier’s Romeoand Juliet, a creation from 2009 to the orchestralsuite of Sergei Prokofiev’s score. One might thinkthat Moses Pendleton’s Momix show Opus Cac-tus (2001), to be performed in July and Augustand set in the Southwest desert of the USA, bearsno connection to the festival’s theme; however itseems that an unusual (and possibly audacious)homage to Shakespeare will pop up amidst itscolourful and bizarre flora and fauna.

Marching to AvignonHonoré de Balzac wrote an analysis on the sub-ject: Théorie de la démarche (“Theory of Walk-ing”): a witty and sarcastic booklet on the rela-tionship between gait, bearing and inner life. Ob-servation of gait is also an imperative when itcomes to Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge, acreation by the enfant terrible of Canadian dance,Marie Chouinard. The choreography consists in“seismographic bodies that capture the games ofthe fluctuations that surround them” and is one of

the dance performances at the Avi-gnon Festival in July, one of themost famous theatre festivals in theworld, founded by director Jean Vilarin 1947. This year the Avignon Fes-tival is actually hosting a total ofseven “dance events”; in additionto Chouinard’s show, mark your cal-endars also for Babel 7.16, the re-working of Babel (Words) createdin 2010 by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui andDamien Jalet. The virtual and ar-chaic worlds intersect (“7.16” re-fers both to software codes and tothe verses of a sacred text), the aes-thetic is based on the plurality ofidioms.

Nijinsky in BolzanoLegendary Ballets Russes dancerVaslav Nijinsky continues to be asource of inspiration for dance – andnot only to John Neumeier, whohas portrayed him almost obses-sively over the years, or to BobWilson who created Letter to a Man,based on Nijinsky’s famous diaries,for Mikhail Baryshnikov (to be re-vived this summer). Now also 44-

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The Bolshoi returns to LondonPresenting either the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi (usually in alternation) are impresa-rios Lilian and Victor Hochauser – they presented the Kirov Ballet for their firstever visit to the UK in 1961 and have been doing so ever since. At times they takeCovent Garden if they can with a rich season of ballets, usually heavily weightedto three act box office certainties. And so it will be again with the Bolshoi Balletthis summer, resident for three weeks (from 25 July to 13 August) and offeringYuri Grigorovich’s familiar Swan Lake for a hefty eight performances, AlexeiFadeyechev’s traditional Don Quixote and Alexei Ratmansky’s reworked Le Corsairefor four a piece. Ratmansky’s weak Flames of Paris (for real revolutionary fervourlook to Mikhail Messerer’s reconstruction for St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Bal-let) appears for three performances only, as does the surprise element to this con-servative season, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s The Taming of the Shrew set to musicby Dmitri Shostakovitch. It is to be regretted that the rumour that Marco Spadawould form part of this season has not proved to be true. The casting for the sea-son was, for once, published in good time, although the promise of Natalia Osipovaas Guest Artist appearingin several productions hasnot materialised – she doesnot feature at all. Confirm-ing her position as a reign-ing ballerina in MoscowOlga Smirnova opens bothDon Quixote and SwanLake, although other castsand ballets are led by suchd a n c e r s a s M a r i aAlexandrovna, EkaterinaKrysanova, Anna NikulinaEkaterina Shipulina as wellas Svetlana Zakharova(but, alas, not the won-drous Evgenia Obratsova).There is a full roster ofmale principals, although

London will be disappointed not to catch sight of American David Hallbergwith his adoptive company.

G.D.

Svetlana Zakharova – Bolchoi Ballet,Moscow: “Swan Lake”,

c. Yuri Grigorovich (ph. M. Haegeman)

Olga Smirnova, Artemy Belyakov – Bolchoi Ballet,Moscow: “The Taming of the Shrew”, c. Jean-

Christophe Maillot (ph. E. Fetisova)

Civitanova Danza: Blucinque Company: “Qanat Cirko Vertigo” (ph. A. Macchia)year-old German choreographer Marco Goecke(one of Stuttgart Ballet’s resident choreographers)has been inspired by the life and madness ofNijinsky and is presenting his new work at theBolzano Danza festival with Gauthier Dance, aStuttgart-based company directed by EricGauthier. Full details of the festival’s programme– that takes place during the second half of Julyand also features Alonzo King, Aakash Odedraand Emanuel Gat – are listed in our Calendar.

A trendy Giselle at CivitanovaCivitanovaDanza (Italy) runs for a month,starting on 9 July. Of special interest among thevarious shows listed in our Calendar is Ballettodi Roma’s “re-adaption” of major 19th-centuryclassic Giselle by two trendy choreographers,Itamar Serussi (who is a Dutchman of Israeliorigin) and Austrian Chris Haring of the LiquidLoft company. Pina Bausch dancer CristianaMorganti is presenting her latest show (afterJessica and Me) while the Fattoria Vittadini com-pany presents a work by Spanish choreogra-pher Daniel Abreu.

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Ravello Festival: YolandaCorrea, Osiel Gouneo:“Diane et Actéon”, c. Agrippina Vaganova(ph. J. Devant)

ImPulsTanz: Cie Rosas: “Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke”,c. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (ph. A. Van Aerschot)

Dancing at the museumVienna’s contemporary dance festivalImPulsTanz has an intense programme spreadover a whole month with multiple shows everyday, from 14 July to 14 August. The most sig-nificant ones are performed at the Volkstheater:Maguy Marin in BiT, a work from last year,gives the opening performance, followed by theSankai Juku, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’sRosas company, Wim Vandekeybus’s UltimaVez, with Dutch dance-theatre companyNeedcompany wrapping the festival up. Anentire section, at the Leopold Museum (Vien-na’s Museum District) which houses a richmodern art collection, is devoted to the interac-tion between visual arts and dance. Anothersection is dedicated to Austrian contemporarydance. See Calendar for a full listing.

Cubanía at RavelloA music, theatre and dance festival takes placein July and August at Ravello, a scenic gem of atown that looks down onto the Amalfi Coast(Italy) and has been so dear to many culturaland artistic celebrities from the 19th century todate. The dance section, directed by LauraValente, features a project by Elisa GuzzoVaccarino entitled “Cubanía, danza, baile y bal-let”; the climax of this mini “Cuban festival” ofsorts is on 20 August with an evening that bringstogether the best-known ballet dancers of theCuban School, both those who dance in theirhome country with the Ballet Nacional or CarlosAcosta’s new company and those who are scat-tered among various international troupes.These are just a few names: Yolanda Correa,Yoel

Carreño, Viengsay Valdés, Dani Hernandez,Amilcar Moret, Yanier Gómez. Karole Armitageis instead the choreographer of a show entitled“American Dream” (6 August) which brings to-gether dancers from New City Ballet, The AlvinAiley Company and her own New York-basedgroup “Armitage Gone”. The programme alsoincludes Virgilio Sieni and Emanuel Gat withtheir respective companies.

The Spanish traditionThe National Ballet of Spain, keeper of theSpanish dancing tradition in its multiple fac-ets, arrives in July at the Festival deCarcassonne (France) in a programme thatincludes Ritmos (“Rhythms”) by AlbertoLorca, created in 1984 for dancer EncarnaciónLópez better-known as “La Argentinita”. In-teresting dates at this dance festival also in-clude Je t’ai rencontré par hazard (“I MetYou by Chance”), created and danced byMarie-Claude Pietragalla and her partnerJulien Derouault, a new leg in the work proc-ess of their artistic partnership established2004 and known as Théâtre du Corps.

Carcassonne: National Ballet of Spain(ph. M. Alperi)

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Ambra Senatore walksTeatro a Corte is a multidisciplinaryfestival that sets much store on its lo-cations: in fact it is held in the royal pa-laces of the Piedmont region (Italy) –Turin, Agliè, Racconigi, Stupinigi, Rivoli,Venaria – with special attention to site-specific shows. For example, during thetwo July weekends of the festival,Ambra Senatore (now director of theCentre Chorégraphique in Nantes,France) is offering Promenade au Châ-teau (“A Walk Around the Castle”), ashow that takes the public around thebeauties of the Royal Palace at Venariawhile, at Palazzo Madama in Turin,choreographer Paolo Mohovich presentsPicasso Parade, a tableau vivant of dan-cing, acting and juggling in which variouscharacters from Pablo Picasso’s paint-ings parade up and down the monumen-tal staircase.

Choreographer/performer AmbraSenatore at the Italian festival “Teatro a

Corte”

Ulyana Lopatkina: “Dying Swan”, c. Michel Fokine (ph. J. Devant)

Lopatkina and Vishneva, starsof the White NightsThe XXIV International Stars of the WhiteNights Festival began on 26 May and con-tinues until 24 July. This festival of music,opera and ballet traditionally takes place atthe Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg dur-ing the period when, at such a northerly lati-tude, the sun never completely sets behindthe horizon and the city is shrouded in twi-light. In actual fact the programme is no dif-ferent from the great Russian theatre’s regu-lar one and, as far as ballet is concerned,features the great 19th-century classics,Ballets Russes and Soviet-era ballets andothers by George Balanchine, FrederickAshton and Jerome Robbins, together withrecent creations such as The Bronze Horse-man by Yuri Smekalov who takes his inspi-ration from a Soviet ballet by RostislavZakharov about the bronze statue of Peterthe Great in Petersburg. The company’s two

stars have been announced: UlyanaLopatkina (in Jewels by Balanchine, AnnaKarenina by Ratmansky, The Dying Swanand a full evening dedicated to her) and DianaVishneva (in Romeo and Juliet, Giselle andLa Bayadère). There are also to be a numberof evenings dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev tomark the 125th anniversary of his birth.

A Parisian psalmFrom 17 July to 14 August Paris Quartierd’Été presents theatre, circus, music anddance shows in the French capital. Of spe-cial note are Petit Psaume du matin, in whichthe great Pina Bausch performer DominiqueMercy returns to the stage side-by-side withchoreographer Joseph Nadj in “a gallery of

comical and wry, moving and dreamy tab-leaux”, as well as dancers Brigel Gjoka andRiley Watts of William Forsythe’s companyin the American choreographer’s Duo. To beperformed in front of the Church of Saint-Eustache.

The Ballets Russes inGranadaThe Festival Internacional de Música yDanza de Granada (Spain) is to host agroup of dancers from the Bolshoi Theatreof Moscow in two mixed bill evenings madeup of numerous Ballets Russes titles andexcerpts from Swan Lake and The SleepingBeauty. The evenings are part of the celebra-tions to mark the centenary of the first

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Béjart Ballet Lausanne: “Suite Barocco”, c. Maurice Béjart (ph. G. Batardon)

L. A. Dance Project: “Murder Ballads”, c. Justin Peck (ph. L. Philippe)

appearence in Spain – precisely in Granada – ofSerge de Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. The pro-gramme could not fail to include the famousFarruca from Léonide Massine’s Three-Cor-nered Hat (1919), with music by Manuel DeFalla and sets by Pablo Picasso. The perform-ances take place, as customary, in the fabulousGardens of the Generalife, the summer residenceof the Emirs at the time of the Moorish rule.Other dance offerings include the CompañíaNacional de Danza in a tribute to MayaPlisetskaya and in their director José CarlosMartínez’s version of Don Quixote, the NationalTheatre Ballet of Prague in Swan Lake and anentire section devoted to flamenco.

Béjart galore in ParmaOn 21 and 22 June in Parma, at the Cortiledella Pilotta and in the context of ParmaEstate(the summer season of the Teatro Regio), theBéjart Ballet Lausanne presents a show thatis very representative of this present phaseunder the direction of Gil Roman. The com-pany is now concentrating on Maurice Béjartclassics (such as Boléro, to be performed here),on revivals of legendary works of his thathaven’t been performed for a long time (Étudepour une dame aux camélias, Suite Baroccoand Bakhti III), as well as on creations of to-day (Impromptu by Roman himself).

Vaison, contemporary classicVaison Danses, as always held in the ancienttheatre at Vaison La Romaine (south of France),takes place from 4 to 29 July. Classical ballet isthe common element for all the invited choreog-raphers. Alonzo King from San Francisco is pre-senting a work to a string quartet by DmitriShostakovich and Writing Ground, a ecumenicalpiece to religious music of all faiths, whileBenjamin Millepied is awaited with his L.A.Dance Project company from Los Angeles, pre-senting works by himself, William Forsythe andNew York City Ballet’s young choreographerJustin Peck. On the French side, AngelinPreljocaj’s company is presenting a series of duetsfrom its repertory, while Ballet Biarritz is danc-ing Cendrillon (“Cinderella”) by its directorThierry Malandain.

Athens after the Jan FabrescandalInternationally-known as the Greek Festival,the Festival of Athens and Epidaurus has alreadyset tongues wagging even before it opens, the boneof contention being Jan Fabre. The Belgian direc-tor and visual artist, noted for his violent andprovocative works, had been called in to replaceYorgos Loukos as the festival’s artistic directorbut his proposed programme annoyed the Greekartists too heavily-centred on artists and compa-nies from his native Belgium. This resulted in JanFabre’s resignation (“The climate was too hos-tile”, he stated) and Greek director VangelisTheodoropoulus being called in to put together aprogramme with a reduced budget and in the spaceof few weeks. In this new progamme which,from June to August, concentrates on new namesand trends, there will also be about ten danceshows, mostly featuring local artists.

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Golden Lion to Maguy MarinThe 10th edition of the Venice DanceBiennale, under the direction of chore-ographer Virgilio Sieni, is being held from17 to 26 June. This year the “Golden Lionfor Lifetime Achievement” for dance goesto French choreographer Maguy Marin “forher research through the body and space,which from one experience to the next hasbuilt an atlas of discoveries in which themeaning of art has revealed the complex-ity of contemporary man, creating relation-ships between the paths of man and thespaces necessary for choreographic re-search”. Apart from Maguy Marin, whoseDuo d’Eden is performed, this year’sBiennale is also hosting Trisha Brown (aspart of her company’s farewell tour), AnneTeresa De Keersmaeker with her companyRosas in Vortex Temporum, and EmanuelGat Dance in Sunny, a creation by the Is-raeli choreographer. In total, the festivalis inviting 25 choreographers who also col-laborate with the Biennale College (a train-ing programme for young dancers) on aseries of projects mostly involving quar-ters of Venice, thus establishing a relation-ship between “the body of the dancer”and “the body of the city”.

Maguy Marin (ph. L. Philippe)

Versailles Festival: Émilie Lalande, Jean-Charles Jousni – Ballet Preljocaj: “Blanche Neige”,c. Angelin Preljocaj (ph. J.-C. Carbonne)

Monte-Carlo: Mikhail Baryshnikov: “Letter to a Man” (ph. L. Jansch)

Nijinsky returns to Monte-Carlo68-year-old Mikhail Baryshnikov returns to thestage from 30 June to 3 July in Letter to a Manat the Monte-Carlo Opera House (in the con-text of the Monaco Dance Forum). This work,inspired by the notebooks of Vaslav Nijinsky,was created by theatre director Bob Wilson andpresented last year in Italy at Spoleto’s Festivalof the Two Worlds (See review in issue No. 255 ofBALLET2000). Later in July, Les Ballets deMonte-Carlo will present two creations by youngauthors in the context of L’été danse: L’Enfant etles sortilèges (“The Child and the Enchantments”,Maurice Ravel) by Belgian Jeroen Verbruggen andLe Baiser de la Fée (“The Fairy’s Kiss”, IgorStravinsky) by Vladimir Varvara, a 27-year-oldRussian choreographer who has already receivedtwo Golden Masks (the prestigious Russian per-forming arts award). The Monaco company willalso be reviving its director Jean-ChristopheMaillot’s Romeo and Juliet.

“Comédie-ballet” at courtThe Palace of Versailles is holding its festivalfrom 30 May to 9 July: music shows at the OpéraRoyal, Petit Trianon or Petit Théâtre de la Reine(the eponymous “Queen” being Marie Antoinette),firework displays in the gardens and fancy-dressballs and soirées in the Hall of Mirrors... as well asa comédie-ballet, Molière’s famous Le Bourgeoisgentilhomme to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully withits entrées de ballet originally created (in 1670) byPierre Beauchamp. Japanese choreographer KaoriIto (an interpreter of Alain Platel) has created thedances for this staging by Denis Podalydès. Theprogramme also features Ballet Preljocaj in Blanche-Neige (“Snow White”) by their director.

Dancing on the KibbutzThe Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, 17dancers of various nationalities who live and workon a kibbutz (a collectively-managed factory or

farm) in Galilee, has in recent years shoneamong Israeli new dance companies as beingparticularly prolific. In July they will be thefirst dance show at the Festival Grec in Bar-celona. Their director Rami Be’er is present-ing his If at All, a work about the life cyclewhich is actually built up with a circularmovement. Other companies expected at thisfestival include Alonzo King Lines Balletfrom San Francisco on tour in Europe.

Little dancing in EdinburghThe dance section of the old and prestigiousEdinburgh Festival this year appears dull(the various dates taking place in August).Apart from a show with Natalia Osipova (seea separate News item on this ballerina) and a“family” show by Akram Khan, watch outfor Scottish Ballet in a programme made upof a well-know work by Angelin Preljocaj,

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Edinburgh International Festival: Scottish Ballet: “MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps)”,c. A. Preljocaj (ph. N. Wylie)

Jacob’s Pillow: Brian Brooks,Wendy Whelan: “Some of aThousand Words”, c. Brian

Brooks (ph. E. Baiano)

MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps), inspired bythe Last Supper painting, and for Emergenceby Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, awork about “masses” and “metamorphosis”,in which dancers resemble a swarm of insects.

Jacob, America’s old festivalBecket is a town in Massachusetts, USA. Itwas here that in the 1930s Ted Shawn, pio-neer of American modern dance, bought a fac-tory, called Jacob’s Pillow, to make it into aretreat where he and his all-male companycould work. This is also where the USA’soldest dance festival, still going strong andinto its 84th edition, takes place; it kicks offin mid June and features numer-ous shows and side events (les-sons, conferences etc.) This year’sguests include the Aspen Santa FeBallet, a young company fromColorado which was founded in1996 and appeared to acclaim inNew York a few years later: just11 classically-trained dancers whowill be dancing works by youngEuropean choreographers suchAlejandro Cerrudo and CayetanoSoto.

Choreographers

Forsythe galoreAs is by now common knowledge, WilliamForsythe has left his company in Frankfurt inthe hands of Jacopo Godani (who has “re-vamped” it) and has entered into a sort of spe-cial partnership with the Paris Opéra. In July,the Opéra Ballet will be premiering a new crea-tion of his in the context of a triple Forsythebill. The American choreographer is collaborat-ing with British musician James Blake on thiscreation (to be revived in the opening pro-gramme of the Paris Opéra Ballet’s season inSeptember). A new version of Approximate

Sonata (a piece from 1996, to music by hisregular collaborator Thom Willems) and duet IfAny if And (1995), also to music by Willems,complete the triple bill. Note that another twoballets by Forsythe are also going to show upin the Opéra’s 2016/2017 season: Trio to a quar-tet by Ludwig van Beethoven andWorkwithinwork to Duets for Two Violins byLuciano Berio, while the Ballet School of theParis Opéra will dance the choreographer’s cel-ebrated The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude withStephen Galloway’s flat tutus. In January 2017,the Opéra’s audience will be able to see Im-pressing the Czar, one of Forsythe’s most origi-nal and astonishing full-evening ballets, dancedby the guesting Dresden Semperoper Ballet.

Peck in ParisLast February 29-year-old Justin Peck, thepromise of American choreography and resi-dent choreographer at New York City Ballet,presented (with NYCB) The Most IncredibleThing, a ballet based on the fairytale by HansChristian Andersen, to an original score byBryce Dessner and with an important contri-bution by visual artist Marcel Dzama in creat-ing its bewitching atmosphere. In Countenanceof Kings, to the Broadway-style music ofAmerican pop singer Sufjan Stevens, anothercreation by Peck (in this case more in line withthe kinds of works he has created for the‘House of Balanchine’), was premiered lastApril with San Francisco Ballet. Peck is awaitedin July at the Paris Opéra where he is to presenthis first creation for the Parisian troupe (al-though the Opéra’s audience got a pre-taste ofPeck’s creativity last March with In Creases,to music by Philip Glass). Set to FrancisPoulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Or-chestra in D minor, this new creation is to betwinned with George Balanchine’s Brahms-Schönberg Quartet, a ballet that is little-knownin Europe and entering the Opéra’s repertoire

for the first time.

Volpi inspired by OscarWildeAfter his Nutcracker for The RoyalBallet of Flanders (see review in ourprevious issue), 30-year-old DemisVolpi is once again creating for theStuttgart Ballet which is where, inthe folds of the Noverre Society (thecity’s institution that supports youngchoreographers), the young Argentin-ian choreographer came to public at-tention ten years ago. He has beenResident Choreographer at the Stutt-gart Ballet since 2013 following hisfull-evening creation Krabat whichwas commissioned by the compa-ny’s director Reid Anderson. Volpi’snew ballet, entitled Salomé, is basedon the homonymous play by OscarWilde.

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Fracci coaches in CannesCarla Fracci (who turns 80 in August, an age she declares with great simplicity) contin-ues occasionally to tread the boards in tailor-made roles. Last April, however, the ÉcoleSupérieure de Danse “Rosella Hightower” (the well-known centre in Cannes, currentlydirected by Paola Cantalupo) invited her to hold a two-day master class in order coachsome of its pupils as Giselle, the role that much of the dance world identifies the Italian

ballerina with. The event was partof the 8th edition of the “Journéesde la création chorégraphique” (Daysof Choreographic Creation) in thecontext of which pupils of theCannes school danced various ver-sions of Giselle, from the classic bal-let to reworkings (including MatsEk’s, restaged by Pompea Santoro).

Paris Opera Ballet: “In Creases”, c. Justin Peck (ph. S. Mathé)

Paola Cantalupo andCarla Fracci, in studio,Cannes(ph. N. Sternalski)

Companies

Controversy over the BigonzettichapterThe Ballet Company of La Scala Milan re-turns to the stage in July in AlexeiRatmansky’s so-called “choreological” versionof Swan Lake on which we reported in ourprevious issue when it was premiered at theZurich Opera House (the ballet is in fact a co-production between the Swiss and Milanesetheatres). When the season was originally pre-sented it had been announced that SvetlanaZakharova would take the role of Odette-Odile,however the ballerina’s name disappeared fromthe programme after Ratmansky’s SleepingBeauty at La Scala: rumour has it she didn’t findherself at home in a style that, while striving tobe faithful to that of the Russian Imperial Bal-let, does not showcase her strengths. Thus, thereare only house casts. Meanwhile, the balletsthat have been announced for the forthcoming2016/17 Season have given rise to controversyand protests by the dancers themselves whoare worried that their company, now led byMauro Bigonzetti, is losing its identity as aclassically-based repertoire troupe. The Sea-son in fact consists of two creations byBigonzetti himself, Progetto Händel andCoppélia (actually the revival of a previouswork of his), two new mixed bills (one con-sisting of The Rite of Spring by Glen Tetleyand Petrushka by Michel Fokine, the other ofcreations by Eugenio Scigliano (Shéhérazade)and La Scala dancers (La Valse)), and only threefull-evening ballets, namely a revival of the afore-mentioned Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’sDream by George Balanchine and Romeo andJuliet by Kenneth MacMillan.

A new OndineOn 23 June the Ballet of the Bolshoi Theatreof Moscow presented Ondine, a creation by 42-year-old Vyacheslav Samodurov (born in Esto-nia and trained at the Vaganova Academy of StPetersburg). This ballet is based on the novellaby German Romantic author Friedrich de laMotte Fouqué which tells of a water sprite andof her tragic love for a human being. Undines,

nymphs and naiads are recurrent fantasy crea-tures in the Romantic ballet and throughout the19th century. La Motte Fouqué’s story inspireda number of choreographers, including JulesPerrot whose Ondine, ou la naïade (1851), tomusic by Cesare Pugni, was the basis of PierreLacotte’s reworked ballet at the Mariinsky Thea-tre of St Petersburg in 2006). Even more famousis the ballet that Frederick Ashton created forMargot Fonteyn at Covent Garden, London in1958 (to an original score by Hans WernerHenze). It is this same score that was used at theBolshoi by Samodurov who was, in his day, aprincipal at the Mariinsky Theatre and, later, atThe Royal Ballet of London; Samodurov hasbeen the artistic director of the YekaterinburgOpera House’s Ballet Company where he beganhis work as choreographer. This creation hadoriginally been scheduled by the former artisticdirector of the Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Filin, re-cently replaced by Makhar Vaziev.

Tribute to NureyevTraditionally, in the summer the Ballet of theRome Opera House (currently directed byEleonora Abbagnato) performs at the Terme diCaracalla and this year in late June, withFriedemann Vogel from Stuttgart Ballet as guestdancer, they are a programme dedicated to RudolfNureyev consisting of extracts of his versions ofRaymonda (the Grand Pas from the third act),Swan Lake (Polonaise and the Black Swan pasde trois) and La Bayadère (Kingdom of theShades). The company takes the stage again atthe Rome Opera House next September inChristopher Wheeldon’s version of Swan Lake.

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Ferri is Juliet again in NYAs previously announced, AlessandraFerri (53 years old) is returning to dancewith American Ballet Theatre, not how-ever in a tailor-made piece (as has beenthe case since her unexpected comebackin 2013) but in one of her repertoire show-pieces: Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan’sRomeo and Juliet, a one-off performanceon 23 June at the Metropolitan in NewYork where her fans queued up excitedlyfor tickets. ABT’s principal dancerHerman Cornejo, her stable partner in thissecond stage life, is her Romeo. Last Aprilin London Ferri received the Oliver Award– England’s most prestigious performingarts prize – for her interpretations atCovent Garden of Woolf Works by WayneMcGregor and Chéri by Martha Clarke;as the young rising dancer of The RoyalBallet, Ferri (then aged 20) received thesame award 33 years ago for The Valleyof the Shadows, created for her byKenneth MacMillan.

Carsten Jung, Anna Laudere, Karen Azatyan, Marc Jubete, Alexandre Riabko, Aleix Martínez –Hamburg Ballet: “Peer Gynt”, c. John Neumeier (ph. H. Badekow)

Olesia Novikova, Leonid Sarafanov: “Romeo and Juliet”, c. Leonid Lavrovsky(ph. N. Razina)

Turangalîla…For the past 42 years the Hamburg BalletDays have been livening up the end of theseason of the Hamburg Ballet directed by JohnNeumeier: it is a two-week compendium ofthe concluded season, sometimes with a fewnovelties, showcasing it to the public and in-ternational critics. The Days kick off on 3 Julywith a creation by Neumeier, the starting point

of which is French composer OlivierMessiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie (1946), asymphony for full orchestra that was inspiredby the Celtic-Norman legend of Tristan andIseult (the title of the symphony is a Sanskritword with multiple meanings). Another sevenballets by Neumeier are scheduled, including arevival of Duse, the ballet inspired by the greatactress Eleonora Duse which he created last

winter for Alessandra Ferri, as well as a per-formance by the Hamburg Dance School, anevening dedicated to young choreographers andthe traditional final gala dedicated to VaslavNijinsky.

A vintage RomeoRomeo and Juliet by Leonid Lavrovsky, set toa score by Sergei Prokofiev in 1940 for theKirov Ballet (as it was then called) and still inthe repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre of StPetersburg, is being danced in June by the com-pany of Teatro San Carlo, Naples (Italy)with two Russian guests from Petersburg inthe title roles: Olesia Novikova, principalwith the Mariinsky Ballet, and LeonidSarafanov who is currently with theMikhailovsky Theatre Ballet.

Bordeaux rises.....The season of the Ballet de l’Opéra Bor-deaux (France) wraps up at the end of Junewith a revival of The Messiah by MauricioWainrot. The Grand-Théâtre brings togetherits ballet company, choirs and orchestra forthis work created by the Argentinian choreog-rapher in 2005 to Georg Friedrich Händel’soratorio. 29 dancers in white costumes underbluish light designs dance a choreography that,in a modern dance mode, explores the princi-ple of elevation according to both physicaland spiritual connotations.

From ‘Down Under’ to LondonThe Australian Ballet, Australia’s mostimportant ballet company based in Mel-bourne, is awaited at the Coliseum Theatre

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Reid Anderson, twenty years in StuttgartIn mid July a week of performances at the Stuttgart Ballet celebrate 67-year-old Reid Anderson’stwentieth anniversary at the helm of the troupe. Anderson’s mission has denoted a clear artisticpolicy, that of preserving the oeuvre of John Cranko as a strong hallmark of the company’sidentity, as well as of encouraging and promoting new choreographers. The opening evenings ofthe festival include a programme entitled “Next Generation”, in which dancers from companieswho have ties with Stuttgart are expected, and “Sketches” with numerous extracts from workscommissioned by Anderson since 1996, as well as a triptych of works by choreographers whobegan their careers in the German city: William Forsythe, Marco Goecke and Uwe Scholz. Fol-lowing which, centre stage goes to Cranko’s ballets Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrewand Onegin; also on offer is an afternoon performance by the John Cranko Schule (the com-pany school), followed by a closing gala performance. The extraordinary casts of stars fromthe Stuttgart Ballet will be beefed up by various guest stars. A documentary on the companyis also to be presented: Of Miracles and Superheroes by filmmaker Harold Woetzel; thetitle refers to the famous “Stuttgart miracle” worked by John Cranko from 1961 until hisdeath in 1973 AS the period during which he turned the Stuttgart Ballet from a small dancegroup in a German theatre to a company of international renown.

Reid Anderson(ph. K. Loges/A.Langen)

Principal dancers of the Stuttgart Ballet in an image chosen for the presentation of thedocumentary “Of Miracles and Superheroes” (ph. B. Weissbrod)

in London in July. It is a rare opportunityto see this company in Europe, on this oc-casion presenting remakes of two classics:Swan Lake (a creation from 2002 by Aus-tralian choreographer Graeme Murphywhich the troupe alternates with perform-ances of a traditional Swan Lake) andCinderella (Alexei Ratmansky’s creation,also from 2002, for the Ballet of theMariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg).

A Rhenish KaleidoscopeIn June the “Kaléidoscope” programme ofthe Ballet du Rhin, directed by IvanCavallari (who has announced he’ll be leav-ing Mulhouse, France in order to take thehelm at Grands Ballets Canadiens) handedthe stage in Strasbourg and Mulhouse overto two young, almost debutant, choreogra-phers: Ezio Schiavulli and Bruno Benne.

Schiavulli’s new work i-Me and Myself, to asound score created by Antonello Arciuli,plays on the theme of identi ty and“otherness” while Benne’s revists Baroquedance (to music by Jean-Philippe Rameau)in a contemporary key.

English Corsairs in ParisAfter their by-now traditional Swan Lakein-the-round, in the circular Royal AlbertHall of London, from 21 to 25 June EnglishNational Ballet (directed by Tamara Rojo)is guesting at the Paris Opéra and present-ing at the Palais Garnier its production ofLe Corsaire: Anna-Marie Holmes’ versionof the ballet, a shorter version than that cre-ated originally for American Ballet Theatre.Next September a creation for the companyby Akram Khan – a reworking of Giselle –will open ENB’s new season in London.

Erika Bouvard – Ballet du Rhin:“Ornements”, c. Bruno Benne (ph. K. Beck)

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Jason Kittelberger, James O’Hara, Natalia Osipova: “Qutb”, c. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui(ph. A. Muir)

Svetlana Zakharova, Patrick De Bana: “Rain Before it Falls”, c. Patrick De Bana(ph. P. Abbondanza)

Dancers

Osipova in recitalNatalia Osipova is awaited at London’s majordance hub, Sadler’s Wells Theatre. The Rus-sian ballerina who has been a principal dancerat The Royal Ballet of London since 2013,though continuing her international career, hascommissioned three works for herself from cho-reographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, RussellMaliphant and Arthur Pita (who, despite beingless famous than the former two, is known inEngland and recently collaborated with otherchoreographers on the creation of The Nutcrackerat the Paris Opéra – See review in our previousissue). Osipova will be joined by another Rus-sian star with whom England has a love/haterelationship on account of his rebellious and bi-zarre prsonnality: Sergei Polunin. This show willalso be offered in August at the Edinburgh Festi-val and revived at the Wells next September inthe context of their new season.

Zakahrova in LoveSvetlana Zakharova, star of the Russian balletand principal dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre,Moscow, is very popular in Italy where she is“permanent guest étoile” (a peculiar title) atTeatro alla Scala, Milan, often also performing inother theatres such as, for example, the TeatroSan Carlo in Naples, and in shows built aroundher. In these shows, such as “Amore” (Love)recently seen in Modena and Parma, Zakharovais partnered by dancers from the Bolshoi.“Amore”, consisting in works tailor-made forher by Yuri Possokhov, Patrick de Bana andMarguerite Donlon, is being presented on 30June at the Ravenna Festival and on 3 July at

Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa. Zakharova is ex-pected a few days later at the Napoli TeatroFestival Italia in Carmen Suite by AlbertoAlonso, with the Ballet Company of Teatro SanCarlo.

Bolle, from Italy to SpainOnce again this summer, as is customary, welook forward to the “Roberto Bolle and Friends”gala. Following the Spring Season at AmericanBallet Theatre, the Italian dancer returns to Italywhere he will be performing at various theatresand festivals along with dancers from (more orless famous) international companies. The first

date is on 13 July at Spoleto (Piazza del Duomo),going on to Genoa (Teatro Carlo Felice), Verona(Arena), Marina di Pietrasanta (as part of LaVersiliana festival), Rome (Terme di Caracalla),with a final stop in Spain at the Festival Castelde Peralada. After which, one will have to waituntil next October to see Bolle again – in Giselleat La Scala, Milan, alongside Svetlana Zakharova.

A Frenchman in New YorkMathias Heymann is dancing with AmericanBallet Theatre during the Spring(-Summer)Season at the Metropolitan in New York. In Junethe Paris Opéra’s danseur-étoile stars as Conradin two performances of Le Corsaire (Anna-Marie Holmes version) beside Gillian Murphyas Medora.

Competitions

Varna is backThe International Ballet Competition of Varnain Bulgaria is one of the most famous in theworld. Suffice it to mention some of the dancerswho have received the Prix since it was estab-lished in 1964: Vladimir Vasiliev (at the first edi-tion), Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov,Patrick Dupond, Sylvie Guillem, FernandoBujones, Maximiliano Guerra, VladimirMalakhov etc. This year, the 27th edition of theCompetition which takes place every other year,is being held from 15 to 30 July; Vladimir Vasilievis once again, like two years ago, the president ofthe jury which also features Aurora Bosch,Maximiliano Guerra, Éric Vu-An and ÁngelCorella. The competition gives out money prizesbut is first and foremost a highly prestigiousshowcase for dancers in the early stages of theircareers.

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ON THE COVER

Twyla multifaceted, refinedand easy-going

If there’s a star choreographer in American dance that person is Twyla Tharp.Works for the top companies, theatres, musicals, films, TV… with no boundary lines,the expression of an unmistakable style and personality. Her invented dance, while

seeming “democratic” and casual, is rigorous, if not intransigent. Like hercharacter. We speak about her on the occasion of the company’s latest tour

TwylaTharp(ph. R.

Afanador)

TwylaTharpDanceCompany:“Yowzie”,c. TwylaTharp(ph. R.Afanador)

There is a certain notion in the United States thatEurope continues to fantasise about. Utopia, a de-mocracy where opposites live and conserve together:a new frontier, a new world to be invented. The abilityto combine professionalism of excellence (spurred bya highly-competitive system) with an easy-going spiritwhere spontaneity is never a short-cut to sloppiness.Genius over and above technique. With a dab of hu-mour, to avoid taking oneself too seriously.

This idea of America has been embodied for overhalf a century in dance by the choreography of TwylaTharp. Driven to excel by the tour de force of stud-ies to which she was subjected by her music teacher“mother tiger” – far-ranging subjects (from classicalballet, which Twyla studied with Beatrice Collenette

who had danced with Pav-lova’s troupe, to baton

twirling, tap dancing,a n d t h e v i o l i n )which climaxed inher diploma in His-tory of Art fromt h e p r e s t i g i o u sBarnard College of

New York – t heformer girl from

Portland (Indi-ana) is now a7 5 - y e a r - o l dsilvery-haired

l a d y w h o

has yet to take a holiday from her-self.

“ I w o r kall the time,”she tells me,“I get up atsix o’clock in the morning andhardly ever go out at night. Creative longevity is aquestion of staying rational, emotional and instinc-tive. One needs to read a lot and to continue lovingand being open to life.”

Creative longevity seems to be in the DNA of thegreat old-timers of American choreography – MarthaGraham and Merce Cunningham having been supremeexamples, with 85-year-old Paul Taylor continuingthe tradition today. Twyla remained under their wingsfor a short while: she studied with Graham andCunningham, and danced for Taylor.

“I was very young,” she recounts “but as far backas 1965 I’d already set up my own group; my stud-ies came to an end when I began creating my ownchoreography. That said, it was an important expe-rience to work with such engaging and cultured teach-ers. When I branched off on my own, I tried to de-velop those seeds independently.”

Tharp’s starting point was the revolutionary post-modern aphorism: “all movement is dance”. And shebegan to take the mechanics of movement apart witha sense of geometrics that denote the sensibility ofan art historian (see the moving silhouettes into whichthe figures of her dancers break up in the openingscenes of her stage work to music by David Byrne,The Catherine Wheel).

“At college I had the fortune of studying painting,sculpture and architecture and of exploring the dif-ferences between various periods, for example betweenthe Baroque and the Renaissance”, she recalls. “I’vealways read a great deal, not just the classics of greatauthors such as Balzac and Dickens but, dwelling onthe creative process, also what they wrote in-betweenone book and another.”

As was customary for avant-garde artists in NewYork at the turn of the ‘70s, Tharp and her com-pany began performing at alternative venues, high-schools and art galleries, overturning the idea that‘modern’ or ‘post-modern’ were of lesser importancethan ‘classical’: similarly to a shopping mall, ‘con-temporary’ became an all-inclusive language in whichone could mix a bit of everything: jazz, primitive danc-

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Twyla TharpDanceCompany:“Yowzie”,c. Twyla Tharp

ing, classical ballet. Thus, the eclectic Twyla laid thefoundations for the “crossover” style which knockeddown barriers, not only within the dance domain, butalso between symphonic and pop music, mixing high-and lowbrow cultures. Nowadays this seems quitenormal but at the time such choices were startlingand inspired a more ‘democratic’ and informal ap-proach even to the notion of ballet per se.

“I grew up in a drive-in managed by my family inCalifornia and this instilled in me the idea that arthas to speak to everyone. My mother encouraged meto be flexible when it came to choosing music, with-out differentiating between Irving Berlin and Chopin,Beethoven, American jazz and Scott Joplin. Ameri-

can music is just as valid as

European.”This led to the creation of shows such as Deuce

Coupe for Joffrey Ballet, to songs by The Beach Boys,musicals such as Movin’Out, written with Billy Joel,and The Times They Are A-Changin’, dedicated toBob Dylan. Her “easy” attitude towards culture hasblended with another unmistakable Tharp feature: asense of humour. Mikhail Baryshnikov (who was anx-ious to have Tharp at his side during his ten yeartenure as artistic director of American Ballet Thea-tre) was the perfect instrument for embodying thisdelicate alchemy. In her celebrated 1976 work PushComes to Shove, the blond Misha, at the time the

stunning prince of ballet, revealedan unexpected comical streak: hisbody split in two, waist up andwaist down, swivelling arms thatincorporated everyday gestures(such as combing one’s hair or,

the popular scene with anumbre l la )

26

Philip Glass,Twyla Tharp,David Bowie

(ph. C. Rosegg,1996)

Alvin AileyAmericanDanceTheater:“The GoldenSection”,c. TwylaTharp(ph. P.Kolnik)

within the refined classical ballet lexicon, with legstilting at an angle, spins, rapid changes of slant. Adance that smacks of Broadway, with a soupcon of AChorus line in the bowler hat and shimmering costume,or in the en dedans and Bob Fosse-like pelvic thrusts.

In 1982 Nine Sinatra Songs saw the light with

Baryshnikov yet again as its protago-nist, wearing a tuxedo this time, thoughhe was chewing gum. The result wasthe quintessence of elegance: a miracu-lous balance, very hard to replicate to-day even by a ballet star like MarceloGomes. For the general public, however,Tharp will always be the choreographerof cult movies like Hair, Amadeus andRagtime by Miloš Forman or WhiteNights by Taylor Hackford, starringBaryshnikov and Gregory Hines.

The choreographer’s past is recountedin her autobiography entitled PushComes to Shove (later on she publishedtwo manuals, The Creative Habit andThe Collaborative Habit) – but whatdoes the future hold? More theatre,Broadway, Hollywood? “I’m alwaysthinking of everything, as if of the vari-

ous sides of the moon,” she says. “I’ve never saidnever in the past, though I can’t forecast what’s go-ing to happen in the future. One thing’s for sure: I’mworking on a new book. Watch this space, all in goodtime.”

Valeria Crippa

27

AmericanBalletTheatre:“In theUpperRoom”,c. TwylaTharp

Julie Kent,Sascha

Radetsky:“SinatraSuite”, c.

TwylaTharp (ph.J. Devant)

Thank goodness for YouTubeStrangely enough, considering what amultifaceted and celebrated artistTwyla Tharp is, very little of her actualchoreographic production is availableon home video. Therefore, in order toget an idea of her dance, we need tolook through various films and, asalways, browse on YouTube…

With her sharp and racy personality, unmistakablelissom figure and bobbed hair, Twyla Tharp has al-ways been proud of her art and knowhow, as wellas of her skilfulness at creating, conceiving and evenjudging it by herself.

Born in 1941 and in full activity today, Tharp’sname stands out among those who emerged from theremarkable post-modern American current. But shehas created dance of all kinds (almost 100 differentworks) and for all kinds of stages, both highbrow andless urbane, from musicals on Broadway (Movin’ Out,Come Fly Away, Singin’ in the Rain), to films (Hair,Ragtime, Amadeus by Milos Forman, White Nightsby Taylor Hackford starring Mikhail Baryshnikov andGregory Hines), all of which staged with the samedebonair authorial touch, self-confident to the pointof haughtiness.

This comes through in productions that are ex-tremely different from one another, now available onDVD, such The Catherine Wheel (BBC), to a spe-cially-composed score by funk musician David Byrneof “Talking Heads”, and Baryshnikov dances Sinatra,to iconic Frank Sinatra songs, where the balletic lan-guage meets the footloose nonchalance of Fred Astaire.

On www.danceheritage.org/tharp.html one can seethe aforementioned Mikhail Baryshnikov, all shim-mering, in Push comes to Shove, Tharp’s first workfor American Ballet Theatre. Push comes to Shove

is also the title of her autobiography (1992), whileThe Creative Habit (2003) is her collection of reflec-tions and instructions (including on tossing coins andastrology) on how, painstakingly and untiringly, toarouse and manage inspiration. Not forgetting her bookThe Collaborative Habit (2009), subtitled Life Les-sons for Working Together (i.e. in groups or withfriends and partners).

She still hasn’t given up on writing and establish-ing herself as a thinking artist, as testified by her pressarticles, such as www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/arts/

28

MikhailBaryshnikov:“PushComes toShove”,c. TwylaTharp (ph.M. Sohl)

AmyWatson,AlbanLendorf –RoyalDanishBallet:“Come FlyAway”(ph.C. Radu)

d a n c e /twyla-tharp-on-the-

road-shut-up-and-dance.html,penned with her characteristic witty (and

wise) approach.In a career spanning fifty years Tharp has been

able to capitalise on her talents, starting with the mostuncommon of the lot: pure choreographic skill.

Indeed, in her youth Twyla studied a range of sub-jects – from classical ballet to twirling, to various musicalinstruments; she joined Paul Taylor’s company butsoon branched out as a dancemaker in her own right,founding a group of her own in 1966 and quicklyachieving all-round success. Suffice it to think of the

conceptual The Fugue (1971) with its sound designscreated by the dancers, and the appealing Deuce Coupefor Joffrey Ballet, to songs by The Beach Boys, amongthe earliest examples of a type of choreographic workthat can be defined as “crossover”.

In 2005 the USA’s most glamorous choreographermade The Times They Are A-Changin’, to stirringsongs by a contemporary of hers, the legendary BobDylan; this show had a tremendous run and brokebox-office records.

For television Twyla Tharp devised Sue’sLeg (1976) inaugurating the Dance in America serieson PBS network, she co-produced and directed MakingTelevision Dance (1977) and co-authored the 1984Baryshnikov by Tharp special.

Excerpts of her works available on YouTube includefrom Movin’ On (the acrobatic In the Middle of theNight), Baker’s Dozen, with its citations of ballroomdancing and set to jazzy music by Willie “The Lion”Smith, Nine Sinatra Songs and Tharp’s joyful mas-terpiece In the Upper Room, to music by Philip

Glass. The latter, so packed and fast, with choreo-graphic patterns also played out backwards in bothsneakers and pointe shoes, is a real test-stand in logicand technique for outstanding dancers and should bein the repertoire of all major companies today.

All that Twyla Tharp wishes to divulge of herselfa n d h e r o e u v r e i s a v a i l a b l e o n w e b s i t ewww.twylatharp.org.

There is no doubt that, with her fighting talent,Twyla Tharp has written many a beautiful page inthe history of American dance (no genre excluded),and is currently being rightly celebrated in a tour thathighlights her career, spanning decades, at the peakof showbiz.

Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino

30

New York City Ballet in Paris

Chase Finlay, Sterling Hyltin, Tiler Peck, Ana Sophia Scheller – New York CityBallet: “Apollo”, c. George Balanchine (ph. P. Kolnik)

Ashley Bouder, Gonzalo García – New York City Ballet:“Sonatine”, c. George Balanchine (ph. P. Kolnik)

Since its opening edition in 2005 “LesÉtés” has hosted – initially at the GrandPalais, later at the Théâtre du Châtelet –troupes such as San Francisco Ballet,American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Nacional deCuba, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,The Paul Taylor Dance Company, theVienna Opera Ballet etc.

This year the arrival (or rather the returnof) – New York City Ballet. 3 weeks, 6 pro-grammes, 21 works, 6 choreographers – isawaited.

Naturally NYCB’s founding father GeorgeBalanchine will take the lion’s share. Evenif four of the Balanchine programmes on offerfeature a number of ballets that are alsodanced by European companies (such asApollo, The Four Temperaments, Symphonyin C , Serenade , Duo Concertant andTschaikovsky Pas de Deux), the main focuswill be on the rendition of the greatAmerican troupe whose ‘mother-tongue’ isBalanchine. Thus the spectator, who may

From 28 June to 16 July, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris is hosting Les Étés de la danse (“The Summers ofDance”). It isn’t just another festival come but, rather, a spotlight on one sole, major, internationally-famous dance company which presents a sampling of its repertoire in several different programmes

31

Ana Sophia Scheller, Chase Finlay –New York City Ballet: “Symphony in C”,

c. George Balanchine (ph. P. Kolnik)

Cyril Lafaurie

Marina De Brantes

already be familiar with these works but isnot necessarily a regular of New York CityBallet, will be exposed to their essence, withthe purest of ‘accents’. There are, however,other Balanchine titles on offer that are rarelyor never performed in Europe, some ofwhich will even be a total discovery, suchas Sonatine (to music by Maurice Ravel),Walpurgisnacht Ballet (Charles Gounod) orthe picturesque Western Symphony whichplunges us into the world of cowboys andtheir ranches but whose choreographic subs-t a n c e b e s p e a k s t h e e x t r a o r d i n a r yinventiveness, the bursting liveliness and themusicality of Balanchine’s most vibrantworks.

“Les Étés” closes with a “BalanchineParis-New York” programme which under-lines the choreographer’s inclination towardsthe French spirit and culture: it features theabove-mentioned ballets to music by Frenchcomposers, La Valse (Ravel) and, above all,Symphony in C (Georges Bizet) which wascreated for the Paris Opéra in 1947 and origi-nally titled Le Palais de Cristal.

N Y C B d o e s n o t j u s t s t a n d f o rBalanchine: one mustn’t forget its otherforemost “master of choreography”, JeromeRobbins, who on this occasion will how-ever be represented solely by his West SideStory Suite, a condensed version of thedances of the famous musical, reworked forballet companies.

The inclusion on the billboards of worksby the troupe’s director Peter Martins (In-fernal Machine and Barber Violin Con-

certo), as well as by two well-known cho-reographers of today – Alexei Ratmansky(Pictures at an Exhibition) and ChristopherWheeldon (Estancia) – reminds us thatNYCB is not a museum-company; indeed,NYCB is a thriving hub of creation, alsocommitted to bringing out young talent, as

testified by Everywhere We Go, a work by25-year-old Justin Peck, to be performedat “Les Étés”. Peck, a revelation of Ameri-can choreography who has already soaredto international fame, will also have anotherwork on offer in Paris during the very sameperiod, a creation for the Paris Opéra Ballet.

Festival or Étés, here come guests from AmericaWhen New York City Ballet came to Paris in 1976 it was an event, and not just for France.Forty years later, Cyril Lafaurie (then “executive secretary” of the old Festival Interna-tional de Danse de Paris, of which he became director in 1989, taking over from its founderJean Robin) says:“Ah yes, 1976 was an exceptional year for the festival: three whole weeks of performances

by NYCB (which, however, was not the sole company, asis the case today) in various programmes. It was like fire-works, with all of Balanchine’s great stars of that period:Violette Verdy, Arthur Mitchell, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, KayMazzo, Peter Martins, and I could list others by whom Iwas struck. Who impressed me the most? I’d say VioletteVerdy, not because she was French, that didn’t matter, butbecause she was an incomparable gem when it came topoise, speed, precision and brightness; she made us un-derstand the Balanchine style. I have a serene memory ofhim, that’s how he was, calm and confident, collected, adoredby his dancers. Of all the ballets on offer, however, it wasDances at a Gathering by Jerome Robbins that hit me as areal eye-opener. All the evenings were a huge successes,and this was reprised when NYCB appeared again at theFestival, in 1983 and 1989. But that first time was sensa-tional. Certainly, those were the days: a few days later, hot

on NYCB’s heel, came The Martha Graham Company, unknown and arduous for the Pa-risian public that had no qualms about booing her; at which she, one evening, turned herback on the audience and showed them her derrière...”

I asked Marina De Brantes, the current president of “Étés de la Danse” which are host-ing NYCB this year, if the “Étés”, established in2005 can in some way be ideally considered a con-tinuation of the old Festival International de Dansede Paris.“Undoubtedly. It has always been the Festival ofthe city of Paris, albeit at times changing its name(from “Nouveau Festival de Danse de Paris” etc.all the way to its present name), even though today,alas, it receives no public subsidies aside from theuse of the Théâtre du Châtelet which is granted tous by the Municipality). Suffice it to say that MmeBernadette Chirac (wife of Jacques Chirac who formany years, until 1995, was mayor of Paris andthen went on to become president of the French Re-public – Editor’s note) was the president of the oldfestival and stayed on in the same capacity as it as-sumed different names; even today she is our hon-orary president. The return of New York City Bal-let also represents for me continuity of artistic choices.The great American ballet, Balanchine (with NYCB,Miami City Ballet or San Francisco Ballet, all ofwhom have come to the “Étés de la Danse”) arewhat I personally love most. I lived in New Yorkfor 20 years, I used to go and see dance every eveningand, in my capacity as president of the “Friends ofthe Paris Opéra” in New York, I always endeavoured to foster links between Americanand French ballet. But I personally consider New York City Ballet to be the best company inthe world; it interests me more than the Opéra because it’s the most authentic manifesta-tion of the oeuvre of George Balanchine who, in my opinion, represents the most perfectand purest relationship between music and dance.”

32

New York City Ballet: “La Valse”, c. George Balanchine (ph. P. Kolnik)

Teresa Reichlen – New York City Ballet:“Western Symphony”, c. GeorgeBalanchine (ph. P. Kolnik)

Balanchine on screenIn issue No. 236 of BALLET2000 (March

2013) whose cover-story was New York CityBallet, we took a look at the few DVDs onsale with footage of the company in theBalanchine repertoire. In actual fact, there area large number of NYCB videos, though onlyfew are available as home videos.

Now, however, VAI has released five DVDs

with footage from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s offull Balanchine ballets or extracts from them(some of which seldom performed nowadays).These are a series of videos that the companyrecorded over several occasions in the CBC/Ra-dio-Canada’s studios in Montreal. The first DVDcontains Serenade and Orpheus; the second,Concerto Barocco, Pas de Dix (to music fromRaymonda by Alexander Glazunov), Agon andthe pas de deux from The Nutcracker; the third,

Act 2 from Swan Lake (the Lev Ivanov chore-ography reworked by Balanchine), the pas dedeux from Coppélia plus a work by John But-ler, The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore;the fourth, The Four Temperaments andIvesiana, together with Afternoon of a Faun byJerome Robbins; the fifth, Bugaku and a cou-ple of recordings of Apollo. Look out for reviewsof each of these DVDs in the forthcoming is-sues of BALLET2000 (on the Multimedia pages).

34

Steven McRae,Federico Bonelli –The Royal Ballet:“Frankenstein”,c. Liam Scarlett(ph. B. Cooper)

Steven McRae, Federico Bonelli – The Royal Ballet: “Frankenstein”, c. Liam Scarlett(ph. T. Kenton)

• critics • critics ON STAGE ! critics • critics •

The Royal Ballet

Frankenstein, a lifelesscreationFrankenstein – chor. Liam Scarlett, mus.Lowell Liebermann

Where to begin? Firstly that, with the crea-tion of Frankenstein, his first three-act balletfor Covent Garden, Liam Scarlett has alsoset alarm bells ringing for his Swan Lakescheduled for the season after next. Direc-tor Kevin O’Hare has made it clear that hewishes to create a ‘new generation’ of clas-sics for The Royal Ballet but, while no-onecould disagree with the premise that this isan art form which must move forward, itis also to be noted that today’s generationof choreographers is not the most blessedin terms of blazing talent: Covent Gardenrelies on the trio of Wayne McGregor,Christopher Wheeldon and Scarlett. How-ever, since the success of his first main stageballet, the abstract Asphodel Meadows, theyoung choreographer has not delivered inquite the way expected of him; it was a con-siderable mark of faith, foolhardy, say some,to en t rus t h im wi th the c rea t ion ofFrankenstein.

It is in essence a failure, an overlong, un-der-worked ballet despite the considerableamount of money it has clearly cost; pro-duction values are very high but sets andcostumes are more chic Broadway than clas-sical dance, yet another regrettable step to-

wards the seemingly inevitable fusion withdance theatre, and the commissioned scorefrom Lowell Liebermann, despite being verybusy and, at times, loud, never underpinsthe action in quite the way it should.

During its near three-hour durationFrankenstein is, for long, long passages, pe-destrian at best, a dull telling of an excitingstory; Scarlett wants to focus on the hu-man element of this Gothic tale, but whathe delivers is a great deal of narrativebackstory and precious little real dancing.

Additionally, pivotal moments,such as the animation of thecreature and his subsequent es-cape, are over in a flash, whiletoo much time is spent on other,superfluous details. Fatally,Scarlett’s choreography provesfor the most part to be deeplyhumdrum, often echoing severalexisting ballets in the company’srepertoire, not least those ofKenneth MacMillan.

It is only in the final 15 min-utes when Dr Frankenstein isconfronted by his creation thatScarlett finds his own choreo-graphic voice as the two men(Federico Bonelli and StevenMcRae) come together, both ir-res is t ib ly a t t rac ted to and

deeply repulsed by each other.There were rumours of one of the three

pairs of lead dancers refusing to performwith the result that three casts subsequentlybecame two; the performers at opening nightdid everything they possibly could, but noteven the Royal Ballet’s finest dance-actressLaura Morera could animate Scarlett’sFrankenstein – no matter how much energyshe and the others put into its creation, itremained resolutely lifeless.

Gerald Dowler

35

Paris Opera Ballet: “Les Applaudissements ne se mangent pas”, c. Maguy Marin (ph. L. Philippe)

Paris Opéra Ballet

Maguy, more radical thaneverLes Applaudissements ne se mangent pas –chor. and costumes Maguy Marin, sounddesign Denis MariotteParis, Opéra Garnier

In order to get an idea of Maguy Marin’srebellious temperament and the civic commit-ment of her oeuvre it suffices to see LesApplaudissements ne se mangent pas (“OneCan’t Eat Applause”), her work from 2002which has now been taken into the Paris OpéraBallet’s repertory. Maguy Marin, born in Tou-louse to Spanish parents who had fled fromFranco’s regime, has always shown interestin social and political themes, particularly thoseconnected with forms of totalitarianism. Anawareness of responsibility and a spirit of re-sistance that she expresses thus: “Artists ex-ist to give courage to those who want to changethe world.”

Being unable to accept injustice and iniq-uity, in her Les Applaudissements ne semangent pas she denounces the longstanding

dictatorships of Latin America and their fiercerepression. Taking a book by Uruguayan au-thor Eduardo Hughes Galeano, Open Veins ofLatin America, as her starting point, the titleof Maguy Marin’s work comes instead fromthe fact that the International Monetary Fundapplauded the austerity cuts imposed on thepoorer countries.

For 55 minutes, Marin depicts rises topower, power games, inextricable tensions,struggles, abundant failures and a few victo-ries. On a stark stage devoid of sets (excepta curtain of coloured plastic strips throughwhich the dancers appear and disappear), lighteffects or music (apart from a piercing sound),eight dancers in simple t-shirts and trousersor skirts, jump, intersect, confront or befriendone another, each time recreating a situationwhich we are able to decode thanks to ourknowledge of events relating to the Chile ofPresident Salvador Allende or the Argentinaof Presidents Alejandro Agustín Lanusse andJorge Rafael Videla: the horrors of torture, si-lence and betrayal, collusion, cover-up andindifference, resignation or despair.

But this work also reveals the power gamesinherent to human relationships. Without anyneed for words, all is said. Marin tells all byexploring the possibilities of space and thehuman body in a way that only a great cho-

reographer is capable of doing. The dancersemerge from the shadows and return therewhen their action is over. Each one is, in turn,both perpetrator and the victim, oppressoror oppressed, alone against all the others orpart of a group. Their bodies can either re-act energetically or remain inert, resist oryield, take control or fall. What is going onbehind the wings? That mystery gives thishighly radical work greater depth. But weknow full well that Marin is not one to makesallowances.

Apart from the tremendous and subtlehanding-down tasks that are being carried outby Ennio Sanmarco who has been withMarin’s company for a good many years,her eight dancers are all of extremely pre-cise and clear-cut.

Sonia Schoonejans

La Scala Ballet, Milan

Mozart above allI l g i a r d i n o d e g l i a m a n t i – c h o r .Massimiliano Volpini, music WolfgangAmadeus MozartMilan, Teatro alla Scala

36

Nicoletta Manni, Roberto Bolle – La Scala Ballet, Milan: “Il giardino degli amanti”,c. Massimiliano Volpini (ph. Brescia/Amisano)

From where does one start off in orderto create a new ballet for an opera housethat has a big classical ballet company?There are two principal starting points: ei-ther the (a) dancing or (b) the music. In sce-nario (a) one sketches out the choreographyimagining which music would be suitable.Il giardino degli amanti (“The Lovers’ Gar-den”) by Massimiliano Volpini falls into sce-

nario (b).Volpini has created his first

full-evening ballet at La Scalato Wolfgang A. Mozart ’schamber music, played byseven talented musicians fromthe theatre’s orchestra. Thisis how artistic director Al-exander Pereira has launched

the programming concept in whichhe fervently believes, and which he intendsto develop in subsequent instalments bycommissioning other novelties to chambermusic performed live. That said, Volpiniwhose entire career as a dancer has beenplayed out within the Milanese company(where he also took his first steps as a cho-reographer, initially staging works for hisfellow dancers), is highly esteemed byRoberto Bolle who has danced the Romanchoreographer’s multimedia works Prototypeand Through the Light in his Roberto Bolleand Friends shows. Unsurprisingly the pres-ence on this occasion of the popular divo,in the leading role of the Man, besideNicoletta Manni as the Woman, was a given.

Volpini was able to count on Erika Caretta

and her highly colourful scenery and cos-tume designs, on Marco Filibeck’s brightlights (shining down on La Scala’s big stage),as well as on the young generation of dancerswho emerged under the directorship ofMakhar Vaziev, now with the Bolshoi Thea-tre in Moscow, predecessor of present in-cumbent Mauro Bigonzetti.

Having chosen his starting-point, of thetwo principal choreographic choices – i.e.either tackling Mozart’s chamber/concertmusic and experimenting with steps and figu-rations, or choosing his narrative music,Volpini opted for the latter and fished hischaracters out of the Austrian composers’soperas (the Italian librettos of which writ-ten by Da Ponte) with the stated intent ofdepicting them in a real, tangible way.

Thus a group of youngsters of today, ata garden party, undergo a time-shift backto the days of Don Giovanni and Leporello,of the two fiancée-swapping couples fromCosì fan tu t te , and of the Count ofAlmaviva, Rosina, Susanna and Figaro fromLe Nozze di Figaro.

While Don Giovanni is recognisable, notleast because he emerges from the hedge

La ScalaBallet, Milan:

“Il giardino degli amanti”,c. Massimiliano Volpini (ph. Brescia/

Amisano)

37

Richard Alston Dance Company: “An Italian in Madrid”, c. Richard Alston (ph. J. Hobson)

straightening his breeches, his faithful serv-ant running towards him, as are the ficklefiancées Fiordiligi and Dorabella (with theird i sguised sweethear t s Fer rando andGugliemo flaunting a turban and moustache),Figaro and his chums are less clearly dis-tinguishable. The Queen of the Night, MartaRomagna in blue playing a dea ex machinarole, completes the dramatis personae withwhom the audience in an opera temple suchas La Scala are extremely familiar.

The choreography itself, to get down tothe brass tacks of a stage ballet, is descrip-tive, made up of tableaux that follow on fromeach other in parallel to the music and sub-servient to it; it has a chain pattern withrecurrent elements, common to “modern bal-let” as the dancers make their entrances andexits, individually or in groups, amidst mov-ing hedges.

Bolle, who dances a solo wearing a shim-mering, damask jacket, is convincing espe-cially thanks to his excellent partnering.

It is neither here nor there to go seekingchoreographic originality in this Lovers’Garden, conceived as a tribute to Mozartand Bolle, seeing as the basis of the workwas the music. An evening of non-account-ability rather than innovation, the latter nothaving been its intention in the first place.


Richard Alston Dance Company

A harpsichord in MadridAn Italian in Madrid – chor. Richard Alston,mus. Alessandro ScarlattiLondon, Sadler’s Wells Theatre

There are few working choreographers to-day who give as much pleasure as RichardAlston. This gentle giant of a man brings hisuncommon musicality and undeniable intelli-gence to the creation of work upon work whichseem true to the spirit of dance in a way whicheludes the vast majority. In common with PaulTaylor and Mark Morris, Alston’s movementinhabits the music he chooses, establishing thatmost rewarding of interplays between soundand dance which then becomes greater than thesum of its parts.

Alston is small-scale; not for him the vastforces which choreographers seem ever drawnto, but rather intense and detailed work withhis own company of ten dancers, each clearlyselected for his or her own ability to interpretand feed his artistry. Perhaps most refreshinglyin this day of over-production, Alston staystrue to a credo of simplicity of presentation,so, while costuming is always important, he

works without elaborate sets and flashy light-ing, preferring, as ever, to concentrate on theessence of his dance-making.

An Italian in Madrid, recently created, ex-emplifies all these qualities and it comes as re-freshing and unaggressive, a beautifully craftedwork which invites the viewer in and whichthen delights by the many subtleties of its form.Alston is one of the few choreographers to-day who is able to be both cerebral and acces-sible, always eschewing the merely ‘clever’.

Here, intrigued by the true story of the com-poser Scarlatti who was invited to the courtof Portugal to teach the Infanta and followingher to Spain after her marriage, Alston has takenthe resultant music as his springboard. Scarlatttiwas influenced by the Moorish music he heardin Iberia and produced compositions which wereliberated from the strict forms of his nativeNaples.

In an inspired example of lateral choreographicthinking, Alston has introduced a guest Indiankathak dancer to his troupe, thereby mirror-ing Scarlatti’s story and, in the case of this bal-let, bringing another flavour to his own con-temporary style. The dancer, Vidya Patel,blends with the other dancers in ensemble, butnever suppresses the glories of her training withher exquisite arms and careful placement; asthe Infanta Maria Barbara, her courtly duet withLiam Riddick’s Prince Ferdinand was a high-

38

Ballet du GrandThéâtre deGenève:“CarminaBurana”,c. ClaudeBrumachon(ph. G.Batardon)

light, two superlative artists establishing a move-ment dialogue between each other.

Simple, yet beautiful costumes evoking theeighteenth century, a plain stage and Scarlatti’spiano music played live on stage make this workboth joyous and satisfying; An Italian in Ma-drid is yet another work by Richard Alstonthat basks comfortably in the warm glow ofhis uncommon artistic and choreographic tal-ent.

Gerald Dowler

Ballet du Grand Théâtre deGenève

Brumachon and theGoddess FortuneCarmina Burana – chor. Claude Brumachon,mus. Carl OrffGeneva (Switzerland), Théâtre des Nations

After leaving the National ChoreographicCentre in Nantes (France), Claude Brumachonhas found fresh inspiration, as testified by hisdirection/choreography of Carmina Burana, thetowering orchestral/choral work by Carl Orff,with the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genèveand the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Freelance again, Brumachon has formed a duowith Benjamin Lamarche and, following an in-vitation by Philippe Cohen, director of theGrand Théâtre’s company, the two moved fora few months to the city of Calvin to workwith the dancers. Cohen, who had been look-ing for a choreographer to stage CarminaBurana , sensed that the intensi ty ofBrumachon’s idiom might be in line with theshattering might of Carl Orff’s music.

Not an easy endeavour: the two dozen me-dieval poems set to music by the German com-

poser in the 1930s (while Nazism was in fullswing) do not have a proper narrative plot.They extol the ephemeral nature of earthly joysand hedonistic pursuit of pleasure: the wheelof fortune turns, nothing is forever, abundancealternates with misery.

But Brumachon, without sticking closely tothe text, drew his inspiration from the grandspectacle of nature. He listened to the CarminaBurana whilst walking through Death Valleyin California and in the Pyrenees. Thus, hispoetic imagination fed on painting of the Ro-mantic period. The masses of bodies presentin the various scenes remind one of the paint-ings of Delacroix or Géricault (he cites The Raftof the Medusa). And Brumachon reminds usthat he graduated from the Academy of FineArts in Nantes before turning to dancing. Inorder to confer a certain coherency on this show,he imagines six hypothetical goddesses whobring everything together, appearing in the open-ing and final scenes: Fortune, Flora, Philomel,Hecuba, Phoebe and Venus. The curtain riseson an impressive sight: the orchestra, choir, andsolos singers, under the baton of young con-ductor Yamada Kazuki, are on a raised stageat the back, overlooking the 22 performing danc-ers. These dance in groups, trios or duets, somerising high in the air, others remaining at ground-level, whilst the thundering percussions crashout and the choir bursts into the overpower-ing invocation of Fortune; the cantata to theGoddess of destiny and fate is reprised in thefinale as if to accentuate the idea of the turn-ing wheel.

We find here the singular vocabulary ofBrumachon and Lamarche: in the spasm-rid-den bodies, taut to the extreme, in their intenseand expressive movements, both jerky and sen-sual, in the voluptuousness which denotes de-spair, rather than Epicurean delight. The troupethrew themselves with enthusiasm into thishighly-physical work which demands an en-

e rge t ic s ta te o foverexcitement.

Another duo con-tributed to the suc-cess, costume design-ers Livia Stoianovaand YassenSamouilov (who go

by the name of “On aura tout vu”); their bi-zarre and unusual costuming had already se-duced Geneva audiences in a previous Balletdu Grand Théâtre creation, Jeroen Verbruggen’sThe Nutcracker.

This is a grand spectacle that reveals theBrumachon-Lamarche duo are once again in therunning.

Sonia Schoonejans

Eastman Company

Cherkaoui away fromFlandersFractus V – chor. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, mus.Shogo Yoshii, Woojse Park, Soumik Datta, SidiLarbi Cherkaoui, Johny LloydZurich (Switzerland), Theaterhaus Gessnerallee(Festival Steps)

There have been misgivings for some timenow vis-à-vis the creativity of Belgian-Moroc-can choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui whoneeds no further introduction. The last workof his that we saw was – let’s be frank – anunsuccessful Firebird for the Stuttgart Balletlast season, while he has been director of TheRoyal Ballet of Flanders since last Autumn.What, then, has become of his Eastman com-pany? His show Fractus V, seen in Zurich, ishowever reassuring. In 2014 Cherkaoui createda work for three dancers, Fractus, to mark the40th anniversary of Tanztheater Wuppertal.It was the embryonic version of Fractus V whichis now conceived for five dancers and five mu-sicians.

The dancers come from different backgrounds(circus, hip hop, flamenco, etc.) and Cherkaouihimself, who hasn’t lost his charisma, danceswith them; the same goes for the musicians (a

40

Eastman Co.: “Fractus”, c. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (ph. F. Van Roe)

Sydney DanceCompany:

“2 in D Minor”,c. Rafael Bonachela

(ph. W. Levi Teodoro)

Japanese, a Congolese, an Indian, a North Ameri-can) who also have different cultural back-grounds and play typical instruments from theirrespective countries – such as Korean drumsor the Indian sarod – and, together, producemusic of rare beauty. Cherkaoui does not likethe word métissage (“crossover”) to be usedin connection with his oeuvre: he considers hiscreations to be the production of “cross-breed-ing”. Like the music, the choreography is ex-traordinarily homogenous, denoting a new style.It is very virile (there are only male dancers),strong and powerful. The dancing at floor levelis also highly dynamic.

This is a political work.The dancers recite a textby famous American po-litical philosopher NoamChomsky on the difficul-ties of thinking for one-self without being influ-enced. Some strikingmoments mime executions

(and yet the dead rise up again and continuedancing). However, the work is not heavy intone. As was the case in Puzzle, a marvellouswork that we saw at the Avignon Festival in2012, props are shifted around in order to re-assemble the sets into new geometric forms:in Avignon it was stones, here large triangles .

For an hour and a half the spectator is gluedto his/her seat, mesmerised. Cherkaoui’s owndescription of his intentions summarise thiswork admirably: it is “intense, compelling andflowing”.

Emmanuèle Rüegger

Sydney Dance Company

To life, Sydney!2 in D Minor – chor. Rafael Bonachela, mus.Johann Sebastian Bach, Nick Wales; RawModels – chor. Jacopo Godani, mus. UlrichMueller, Siegfried Roessert; L’Chaim – chor.Gideon Obarzanek, mus. Stefan GregoryZurich (Switzerland), Theater 11 (Festival Steps)

The Sydney Dance Company has been atthe forefront of modernism in Australia since2009, that is to say since Spanish choreogra-pher Rafael Bonachela (a former Rambert ofLondon dancer) took over as director. Bonachelahas been inviting over innovative European andUS choreographers, he is keen on promotingAustralian talent as well as indulging in crea-tion himself.

The programme of the evening presented inZurich in the context of the Festival Stepsrightly opened with his piece 2 in D Minor.The title refers to the Partita in D minor forsolo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach, playedlive onstage by a young violinist. The Partitais interpolated with synthesised music by NickWales. Two atmospheres are juxtaposed: thedancers of the Bach are vigorous as they jumpand turn, in couples or groups; the dancers ofthe interpolations are given minimal choreog-raphy, they are often alone on stage and dressedin white. There is a crescendo towards the endingin which all the dancers evolve in unison.

The dancers were good, the choreographywas pleasant, nothing more.

Quite a different story for the second piecein this mixed bill, a scathing work by Italianchoreographer Jacopo Godani. There was muchapprehension about this piece as Godani is aformer soloist of William Forsythe’s Germany-based company of which Godani himself is now

42

Anna Ol – Het Nationale Ballet:“Theme and Variations”, c. George

Balanchine (ph. A. Sterling)

Sasha Mukhamedov, Young Gyu Choi –Het Nationale Ballet: “Stravinsky Violin

Concerto”, c. George Balanchine(ph. A. Sterling)

the director. Forsythe is the author of master-pieces such as In the Middle Somewhat El-evated, however towards the end of his crea-tive activity he deconstructed dance to such adegree that it has become inexistent. That said,it is the vigour of the early Forsythe that ani-mates Raw Models, a dance of “models”, whosemovements (which don’t resemble those ofForsythe) are original and channel strength andenergy. Nevertheless, there is one element thatreminds one of Forsythe’s works: thesynchronicity between the percussive musicand the dancers’ movement. This music is bytwo German musicians, Ulrich Mueller andSiegfried Roessert. Some very bright light ef-fects cleverly sheathed the dancers, all of whomwere amazing, when they stepped out of theshadows.

Another contrast came with the last workwhich bespoke simplicity after the hyper-so-phistication of the Godani. The whole ensem-ble danced on stage in pale, everyday clothes.The choreography was light and simple, dancedin unison or “in canon”. Suddenly a voice pealsout from the public. A man holding a micro-phone addresses the dancers: it turns out tobe the choreographer of this piece, AustralianGideon Obarzanek. There is another micro-phone onstage which the dancers pass to oneanother to reply to the voice, and they do sowithout ceasing to dance. The questions areclearly improvised (for example “what thoughtsare crossing your mind right now?”) and thedancers are picked on at random. Towards theend comes what is probably a pre-agreed ques-tion: “Why do you dance?” The reply is: “Togive joy”. This work is entitled L’Chaim, thewell-known Jewish toast that means “To life!”.

Emmanuèle Rüegger

Het Nationale Ballet

Best of BalanchineTheme and Variations - chor. George Balanchine,mus. Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky; Apollon musagète- chor. George Balanchine, mus. Igor Stravinsky;Tarantella Pas de Deux - chor. GeorgeBalanchine, mus. Louis Moreau Gottschalk;Stravinsky Violin Concerto - chor. GeorgeBalanchine, mus. Igor StravinskyMuziektheater, Amsterdam

43

Bradley Waller, Harry Prince – BalletBoyz: “Life”, c. Pontus Lidberg (ph. T. Kenton)

“Best of Balanchine”, so the Amsterdam bill-boards read - although this programme couldjust as well have been titled: “See the music,hear the dance”. By this splendidly producedtribute from Dutch National Ballet to the great20th-century choreographer, offering three ofhis masterpieces, Apollon musagète, Theme andVariations and Stravinsky Violin Concerto, aswell as the delectable Gottschalk Tarantella asa sweetener, we were once again reminded whatit means to see dance emerging naturally from

a score. And considering current trends in dance,such musicality has become a rare joy. Butwhat’s more, these Balanchine ballets remainby their intelligence, sense of harmony andpurity of intent, beacons of light and hope, andby their perennial modernity, continuing sourcesof delight and inspiration. In effect, qualitiesthat can only be treasured in these troubledtimes.

The ballets were staged and well-rehearsedby Patricia Neary and Bart Cook (forStravinsky Violin Concerto). True, there wassomething to say against the way “Best ofBalanchine” was built. Ideally, Apollon musagèteshould have opened, followed by StravinskyViolin Concerto, with the Tarantella and Themeand Variations as final offerings. Yet it wasTheme and Variations that kicked off the eveningand instantly demonstrated that the companywas in excellent form. Overall Balanchine seemsto suit Dutch National Ballet much better nowthan ten or fifteen years ago. The corps anddemi-soloists danced with strong coordination,topped by the authoritative leading couple AnnaOl and Jozef Varga reminiscing about the gran-deur and v i r tuos i ty o f Pe t ipa’s andTchaikovsky’s Imperial Ballet.

Apollon musagète, danced here in its origi-nal version with prologue and ending with theascent to Parnassus, featured the attractiveyoung god of Artur Shesterikov finding a con-vincing balance between classical line and demi-caractère characterisation. His three muses,Sasha Mukhamedov, Floor Eimers and WenTing Guan, assumingly all in role debuts, werearguably still somewhat interchangeable butdanced with undeniable style.

Bubbling Maia Makhateli and RemiWörtmeyer had plenty of fun in the Taran-

tella Pas de Deux, and we with them. Need-less to say it was the Stravinsky Violin Con-certo that was the most impressive. Consid-ering it is almost 45 years old it remains atremendous piece, not in the least for its star-tling musicality. At its heart, Makhateli andVarga readily captured the delicacy of the AriaII, but it was Mukhamedov and the alwaysremarkable Young Gyu Choi who stood outin the first duet with its characteristic backbendfor the ballerina, reflecting one of Stravinsky’smost intriguing musical passages. A significantpart of the success of the evening has to becredited to the admirable playing of the Or-chestra conducted by Fayçal Karoui, and a su-perb Isabelle van Keulen as the soloist in theStravinsky Violin Concerto. It was aural blissadded to visual splendour.

More of that, please.Marc Haegeman

BalletBoyz

BalletBoyz with rabbitheadsRabbit – chor. Pontus Lidberg, mus. HenrykGórecki; Fiction – chor. Javier de Frutos, mus.Ben FoskettLondon, Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Balletboyz continues to form a vital and vi-brant part of the British dance scene, an en-semble of talented young men whose differingphysicalities and temperaments are realstrengths. A new double bill of works showsjust how good they are: Pontus Lidberg’s UK

Eleonora Abbagnato, Stéphane Bullion –Rome Opera Ballet:“Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”,c. Roland Petit (ph. M.-L. Antonelli)

choreographic debut and a spectacular returnto form from the controversial Javier de Frutos.

In Rabbit, Lidberg, one of the brightest starsin the current Scandinavian dance constellation,brings his usual intelligence and fascination withanimals in an intriguing work about exclusionand the desire to belong to community. Openingwith just two men on stage, the work imme-diately draws the spectator in as one of themsports a rabbit’s head. More arrive, all simi-larly attired, although the heads are not alwaysworn at each entrance, thereby constantly chang-

ing the dynamic. Rabbit has a dream-like qual-ity; it is a ballet of the subconscious and psy-chological rather than the literal which takesplace in a moonlit box set which features oneoutsize children’s swing. Lidberg has eliciteda smooth, almost weightless quality to themovement of his dancers, supported lifts mak-ing grown men seem light as feathers as theyare born aloft, and the dance retaining a nota-ble fluidity throughout. The central characterseems to want to join in, to be part of what isgoing on, but he is not always successful as

the others, clad in 1920s outfits, go about theirown business. He also seems to possess anemotional yearning, a desire for love and to beloved which emerges in moments of intimacyand tenderness. Lidberg’s choice of Górecki’svaried music establishes intelligent counterpointwith his movement.

Javier de Frutos has certainly experiencedprofessional as well as personal lows, so it isgood to report on a successful new work fromhim. Indeed, Fiction is extremely successful, areal return to form, perhaps a mark of anotherstage in his career as dance creator and set tobecome one of the Balletboyz best-loved works.The initial premise is his own death, the an-nouncement of which is heard spoken as if onthe radio; the dancers, standing around on stageat an outsized ballet barre begin to move, thevery words providing them with the motor formovement. The work grows into something veryspecial with virtuosic use of the barre over,under and at which the cast move, often in canon,sometimes together in a seemingly endless flowof creative and imaginative ways. Emotionsbubble up, an individual is seemingly excludedfrom the group, another bullied; de Frutos notonly knows how the male body moves butwhat motivates its owner, and all of this is putinto the choreography. In an age when ‘com-missioned dance score’ are words almost guar-anteed to chill the dance-goer’s blood, to dis-cover such a successful new musical creationas Ben Foskett’s is doubly welcome.

Gerald Dowler

Rome Opera Ballet

Abbagnato for RolandPetitChor. Roland Petit: La Rose malade – mus.Gustav Mahler; L’Arlésienne – mus. GeorgesBizet; Le Jeune Homme et la Mort – mus.Johann Sebastian BachModena (Italy), Teatro Comunale LucianoPavarotti

Eleonora Abbagnato has been at the helm ofthe Rome Opera Ballet since April 2015. Howthe étoile of the Paris Opéra Ballet – a posi-tion she still holds – manages to conciliate twocareers in two different capitals remains a mys-tery. Be that as it may, in less than a yearAbbagnato has rejuvenated the company, addeda number of works to its repertory and invitedover choreographers such as William Forsythe,Christopher Wheeldon and Angelin Preljocaj.She has just presented a Roland Petit pro-gramme which has been touring Italy.

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Compañía Daniel Abreu: “Silencio”, c. Daniel Abreu (ph. P. Prieto)

La Rose malade, L’Arlésienne and Le JeuneHomme et la Mort make up a well-balancedtriple bill which pays tribute to the choreog-rapher who influenced the career of this Sicil-ian ballerina, while showcasing the quality ofthis troupe that is clearly back on its feet.

La Rose malade (“The Sick Rose”), createdin 1973 for Russian diva Maya Plisetskaya,underscores the lyricism of which Abbagnatois capable. Her expressive arms, supple pliés,flimsy pink tunic designed by Yves St Laurentand a partner like elegant principal dancerGiuseppe Schiavone, allow us to forget howoutdated the classicism of the choreography(to music by Gustav Mahler) is and, instead,give this duet a twee charm.

It is the male dancer who stands out inL’Arlésienne, created a year later and based ona novella by Alphonse Daudet in which a youngbridegroom, haunted on the eve of his wed-ding by the memories of a bygone love, goescrazy. The plot reminds one of La Sylphide.

150 years later Roland Petit revived thesame subject, relocated it from the mists ofScotland to a warm and sensuous Provence,and treated it without any romanticism.Georges Bizet’s relentless music accompa-nies the mounting madness until the tragicfinale. Alessio Rezza is completely immersedin his character, giving it an emotional depthwhich, however, never degenerates into pa-thos. As his fiancée, Rebecca Bianchi alsodisplays a fine, vivacious and clean technique.

And so we come to Le Jeune Homme etla Mort (“The Young Man and Death”), cre-ated by three artists in 1946: poet JeanCocteau, choreographer Roland Petit and itsbrilliant protagonist, dancer Jean Babilée:Despite being 70 years old, the work has notlost its oomph. Petit was surrounded andegged on by collaborators of the BalletsRusses who were then still alive (BorisKochno, Cocteau, etc.), with Cocteau experi-

m e n t i n g h i s t h e o r y o f “ a c c i d e n t a lsynchronicity” which entailed usually choos-ing his music on the day of the premiere andfinding a perfect accord between sound andimages. The theme of the artiste maudit tor-mented by demons, the choreographic idiomakin to everyday gestures, the setting of adingy student bedsitter that suddenly be-comes a Parisian cityscape – all of these con-jure up a 1950s Existentialist atmosphere.

Paris Opéra étoile Stéphane Bullion wascalled in for the occasion to dance the YoungMan. His athletic physique and slightly mel-ancholic temperament make him the ideal in-terpreter for this role. Beside him Abbagnatoas the icy, dominatrix sans merci, the oppo-site of the lyrical Rose malade. This was be-yond doubt the climax of the programme.

Sonia Schoonejans

Daniel Abreu Company

Silence: Abreu is dancingSilencio – chor. Daniel Abreu, mus. varieCollegno-Turin (Italy), Lavanderia a Vapore(Palcoscenico Danza-TPE)

A Spaniard from Tenerife who has studiedpsychology and been a member of several theatreand dance groups, Daniel Abreu has been di-recting a company of his own since 2004. Aswell as the choreographer of trio Silencio (oneof the most appreciated works in his Madridproduction), he is also its set designer, authorof texts and dancer.

Abreu is certainly not a stickler for going be-yond dance and clearly believes in the possi-bilities of dancing – and of doing so with rhymeand reason.

Together with Anuska Alfonso and DacilGonzáles, Abreu designs moving enchaînements,balanced, poised between litheness and extremecontrol, between fluidity and absolute precision,as if their bodies had a natural need to connect,to compose perfectly- honed images, to freezein positions that are about to progress into theensuing movement. Using few props (includ-ing an armchair, a carpet and an unusual andspectacular necklace), with a transparent dis-play of sentiments – crafted with precision –and inner calm, the three dancers in jeans giftus with the pleasures of virtuosic “contempo-rary dancing” devoid, however, of narcissisticaffectation or self-satisfaction. The climate, ofdeep, tight concentration, prevents the publicfrom ever taking their eyes off the action.


Rebecca Bianchi, Alessio Rezza – RomeOpera Ballet: “L’Arlesienne”,c. Roland Petit (R. P. Guerzoni)

46

Mats’ axe: a prize forMats Ek

At the end of April in Craiova (Romania)Swedish choreographer Mats Ek received the“Europe Theatre Prize” which has now reachedits 15th edition. The text that explains for whatreasons the prestigious international jury de-cided to award Ek with this prize, given to lead-ing word theatre directors, highlights his abil-ity to “mix dance and theatre in his ownpersonal and very original expression.” Theawardee himself then participated in a round-table with critics, historians and academia, mod-erated by the Swedish author of a book on hiswork, Margareta Sörenson. He began by stress-ing how much he owes his mother, the legen-dary Birgit Cullberg, innovator of dance in Swe-den during the second half of the 20th century;Ek then went on to explain how, over and be-yond any (albeit) appreciable analysis of histheatre, he personally conceives of creation asthe writing of a “story” on sand or water: allthat remains is a purely emotive state. Andhe reminded us, with tangible examples, howcrucial and powerful the female figures in hisoeuvre are.

Noted for his reworking of some of the chiefclassics of 19th-century ballet, from Giselle toSwan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, Ek is pre-eminently a great man of the theatre who de-fines as his objective the exploration of the in-nermost core of the human being. As AdaD’Adamo, author of the only Italian monographon Mats Ek (published by Epos in 2002) un-derlined during the discussion in Craiova, “hischoreography is based on expression and pas-sion, even when it is not telling a story. It is

Limelight on Mats Ek, Ana Laguna and Ivan Auzely (ph. L. Rossetti)

Ivan Auzeli, Ana Laguna: “Axe”, c. Mats Ek (ph. L. Rossetti)

never hieroglyphically cold, but dense with fleshand blood.” For his part, Ek stated that he isin love with body movement: “I try to con-vey its essence. For me there can be no beautywithout authenticity.”

On the closing night, Ek’s duet entitled Axewas performed at the Marin Sorescu NationalTheatre. It was danced by Ana Laguna, his museand partner in real life, and Yvan Auzely. Inthis work Ek provides us with a shatteringlyexpressive cameo synthesis of the most recur-rent theme in his works: the contradictions andhurdles in the relationship between a couple.Moments of tension and tenderness bring closeror divide a man and woman, no longer young,

through a series of psychological tableaux modu-lated by tenderness, pain or remorse, culmi-nating in a sense of abandonment. The inexo-rable passing of time and the process of ageingare also ever-present themes in Mats Ek’s thea-tre and he announced that he has decided tocease his activity as a choreographer. In Axethe action of chopping wood (with a real axechopping a real log) proceeds in crescendo andthis intensifies the dramatic atmosphere of thepiece where it is quite possible that Lagunarepresents a ghost from the past who crossesthe memory of her partner with intense poign-ancy.

Leonetta Bentivoglio

47

Prix Benois in MoscowThe Prix Benois of Moscow shines out among

the galaxy of dance competitions and prizes.It is one of the most prestigious choreographicevents and held in a unique setting: the his-toric Bolshoi Theatre. To dance at such a venueis an unrivalled experience, to receive a prizefrom such a jury as the one presided over byYuri Grigorovich, is equally unbeatable.

Founded 25 years ago, the Benois de la Danseis also a tribute to the memory of another greatfamily of Russian artists that includes paint-ers (like Alexandre Benois, obviously, the setdesigner of Petrushka, and his son Nicholas,stage director at La Scala in Milan), musicians(like Alexander Tcherepnin, composer of LePavillon d’Armide), architects (like AlbertoCavos who built the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky),scenographers (like Nadia Benois who designedthe scenery and costumes for Tudor’s DarkElegies), actors (like Peter Ustinov, the unfor-gettable detective Poirot in Death on the Nile)and sculptors (like Igor Ustinov who createsthe prize trophies awarded to the winners). TheBenois Family Museum in StPetersburg testifies to the ex-traordinary creativity of this ar-tistic dynasty.

Every year, around the dateof Alexandre Benois’ birthday(3 May), Regina Nikiforova andNina Kudriavtseva-Loory, re-spectively the Prix’s directorgeneral and artistic director, or-ganise a grand gala performanceduring which, in the presence ofthe jury and the nominees, thewinners are announced.

There was many a surprise instore when it came to the nomi-nees and, especially, the win-ners. These included Dmitry

Oksana Skorik, Philipp Stepin– Mariinsky Ballet: “Sylvia”,

c. Frederick Ashton(ph. J. Devant)

Zagrebin (Royal Swedish Ballet), startlinglyvirtuosic in Tschaikovsky Pas de deux byBalanchine (with Emily Slawski); HugoMarchand (Paris Opéra), a very eleganttechnicien and magnificent partner of thesprightly Hannah O’Neill (it was she who wasthe awardee) in Esméralda; Alessandro Riga(Compañía Nacional de Danza), particularlyabsorbed in the role of Frédéri (L’Arlésienneby Roland Petit) alongside Rebecca Bianchi ofthe Rome Opera House, not forgetting OksanaSkorik (Mariinsky), all flair and zest in the pasde deux from Sylvia (Ashton) with PhilippStepin.

Of note among the awardees was Bolshoichoreographer Yuri Possokhov whose balletA Hero of Our Time conquered us: sensibil-ity, musicality e grace. The other Prix Benoisfor Choreography went to Johan Inger whoseCarmen, on the other hand, left us un-moved…

The highly creative Jean-Marc Puissant(who collaborates with Christopher Wheeldon)received a nomination as Best Scenographer ofthe year but was disappointed when the prizewent instead to Chinese Ren Dongsheng.

Edward Watson (Royal Ballet), even thoughhardly shown to advantage in MacMillan’sRomeo and Juliet, was one of the winners, to-gether with Kimin Kim (Mariinsky) for hisSolor (La Bayadère, Nureyev version), AliciaAmatriain (Stuttgart Ballet) for her intense AStreetcar Named Desire by Neumeier, as wellas Oleksandr Ryabko (Hamburg Ballet) for“Great Partnering Artistry.”. Ryabko was mag-nificent in Neumeier’s duet from GustavMahler’s Third Symphony with Silvia Azzoni.

John Neumeier himself was honoured withthe Lifetime Achievement Prize. As always,he found just the right words to express hisadmiration for the Russian people who are sosteeped in culture. “There are few countries”,he said, “where people queue up at -10°C togo and see an art show, as I have seen themdo here.” He was referring to the exhibition ofpaintings by Valentin Serov who did a por-trait of Diaghilev.

This festive event was followed, the nextevening, by a benefit gala on the theme of Shake-speare and which brought together numerousinternational stars.

Jean Pierre Pastori

49

BalletTube

Gamzatti and the Kirovhallmark

The variation of Princess Gamzatti (the sup-porting role in the ballet) – which is embeddedin the grand pas of the second act of La Bayadère– is one for virtuoso ballerinas of temperament.It is rather complicated to trace its origins be-cause initially this grand pas was in the fourthact and Ludwig Minkus had not written themusic for a female variation: each ballerina woulddance a variation of her choice (extracting it fromother ballets, as was the custom in the 19th cen-tury) showcasing her specific strengths. When,in the 1920s, La Bayadère was condensed intothree acts, this important dance number wasmoved to the second act; it was reworked intoits present format in 1941 in the legendary ver-sion by Vladimir Ponomariov and VakhtangChabukiani which has lived on as the canon ver-sion. However, the choreography of the femalevariation which is danced nowadays dates backto a few years after this – 1947 it seems – andis usually attributed to Pyotr Gusev (the mu-sic by Riccardo Drigo having originally been anadd-on to another old ballet by Marius Petipa

Élisabeth Platel in Gamzatti’s variation (“La Bayadère”, Rudolf Nureyev version, 1992)

Maria Alexandrova

Tatiana Terekhova

Darcey Bussell

This column compares a selection of videos of the same piece danced by different artists. This time, we takea look at Gamzatti’s variation from the “grand pas” of “La Bayadère” 2nd act. The videos mentioned can befound on YouTube channel: magazineBALLET2000

to music by Cesare Pugni, Le Roi Candaule).Later, this variation was also used in other con-texts, in the famous Corsaire Pas de Deux (re-placing that of Medora).

Tour, jump and a wide parcours: these arethe strengths required of any ballerina who pro-poses to tackle this variation’s dazzlingdiagonales and manège made up of grand jetéand piqué-arabesque.

As always, we set out from the place of ori-gin, the Kirov Ballet (as it was then called) witha recording from 1977 featuring TatianaTerekhova, a splendid virtuosic ballerina in thosedays. Notwithstanding the choreography’s “bro-ken” structure ( in which the variousenchaînements alternate with showy momentsof preparation and transition), Terekhova givesthe impression of an almost-uninterrupted flowthanks to her aérien jump and her broad qual-ity of movement that is capable of filling upthe stage and she shines with naturalness andbrio. Yet, at the same time, each detail is finelywrought: each retiré perfectly sustained, eachport de bras and épaulement exquisitely pol-ished and refined.

Maria Alexandrova of the Bolshoi Theatre ofMoscow (in Yuri Grigorovich’s version) paintsthe variation with broad and vigorous brush-strokes, almost masculine in her astounding turns

(note her diagonale of pirouettes and chaînés),in her powerful forward jump and her ultra-firmand prolonged aplomb en arabesque at the end.

Darcey Bussell of The Royal Ballet of Lon-don (in the Natalia Makarova version, with afew changes to the choreography) has a gen-tler, softer approach, less showy (and techni-cally firm) but academically elegant; she putsgreater emphasis on the upper part of the body,for example in the counterpoints of the diagonaleof pas balancés or when she accentuates withher port de bras the soutenus en tournant ofthe diagonale of pirouettes and chaînés.

The spotlessness of Elisabeth Platel in theRudolf Nureyev version for the Paris Opéraalso impresses even though she is decidedlypenalised by the absence of parcours (note thatin this version the differences from the tradi-tional Mariinsky-Kirov version are more sig-nificant).

After watching other videos with famous bal-lerinas online my advice is to go back to squareone and watch Tatiana Terekhova all over again;a comparison will bring out more markedly itshighly distinctive trait, the blend of brillianceand gentleness that make her breathtaking vir-tuosity almost impalpable. That is the grand(and unsurpassable) Kirov hallmark.

Cristiano Merlo

50

MultiMEDIA

Alessandra Ferri in Boots No. 7 advert

Davide Dato in Nespresso commercial

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo: “Bella Figura”, c. Jirí Kylián (ph. A. Blangero)

Commercials

Available on YouTube. Dance, as per-formed by young, good-looking and elegantdancers, is being increasingly featured in ad-vertising which feeds on this kind of aes-thetic look.

The latest case is that of 25-year-oldDavide Dato, newly-appointed principaldancer at the Wiener Staatsballett. Dato tookhis first steps in hip hop and salsa and pro-gressed into classical ballet at 14 years ofage, moving from Biella to Milan to studyat MAS (Music Arts & Show); at 16 he

was admitted to the Ballet Academy at theVienna Opera to complete his training andthen entered the company. He is the celeb-rity endorser of one of Lancia Y’s “Por-trays”, eight video-portraits of men andwomen who are “established professionalsoutside the current star system”. Dato statesthat “Journey and the destination areequally wonderful” – and this applies bothto an artist and to a car. Look for the videoon YouTube.

Instead Giorgio Armani Eyewear has cho-sen as its celebrity endorser 28-year-old Si-cilian Damiano Artale, currently withAterballetto, a dancer who conveys strengthand lightness – the same characteristics asa fine pair of glasses.

WEB

Dance Channel TV. Dance Channel TV(www.dancechanneltv.com) is a free on demandonline TV channel dedicated to different formsof world dancing, with little advertising. Thechannel, established by a former Bolshoi ofMoscow dancer, Arsen Serobian, is based inLos Angeles and produces its own videos onvarious dance genres (TV series, interviews,shows, classes and documentaries). FromNatalia Osipova at American Ballet Theatre andthe Bolshoi to Elektro Botz, one can watchvarious films, including a cameo dedicated toAlessandra Ferri (the “face” of Boots No. 7cosmetics, following in the steps of DianaVishneva who has instead been chosen as thecelebrity endorser of Kérastase hair care prod-ucts) in which she explains how and why she

has decided to make her stage comeback.Jirí Kylián. For some time now this cho-

reographer has been intent of communicatingwith his numerous fans via his own website(www.jirikylian.com) and on Facebook. Andhere he is in person announcing his news, start-ing with rehearsals – revealing his “author’sinstinct” –of his creation Archipel with theAalto Ballett, Essen (Germany), the recent all-Kylián programme with Ballets de Monte-Carlo,which featured Bella Figura, Gods and Dogsand Chapeau, along with with a new, short duetfor Jean Christophe and Bernice Coppietiers.Meanwhile, the Norwegian National Ballet ofOslo has presented a programme entitled “Black& White” that comprises works such as NoMore Play, Sweet Dreams, Falling Angels,Sarabande, Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze.

Kylián himself writes: “I am very proud topresent my new photo study, Free Fall, at theKorzo Theatre in The Hague (...) Motionlessphotos, artificially constructed emotional state,art and artificiality”. The choreo-photographerexplains that this is “frozen choreography”. His

“Free Fall” – photo study by Jirí Kylián

51

A still from German Kral’s film “Un tango más/Our Last Tango”

subject is his eternal muse “Sabine Kupferbergand her duplicate”; as Kylián affectionately con-tinues: “It is another step yet in our creativerelationship.... Another step of holding on, andletting go....”

E.G.V.

Balanchine on YouTube. The GeorgeBalanchine Foundation has its own channel onYouTube (www.youtube.com/user/blnchn).One of the Foundation’s most significantprojects, which BALLET2000 frequently looksat, is the video-recording of coaching sessionswhere dancers of the past, who worked per-sonally with George Balanchine, coach danc-ers of today (mostly from New York City Bal-let) in excerpts from the Balanchinian repertoire;the purpose is that of preserving for future gen-erations the authentic spirit of the works inquestion (in fact the coaching sessions, for cam-era, concentrate principally on honing details andstyle). Each video (dedicated to a specific title,with a prominent Balanchine interpreter as coach)is enhanced by an interview with the coach. Itis these interviews, often rich in anecdotes, thatare featured on the new YouTube channel whichoffers a total of about fifty videos.

Cinema

Un tango más/Our Last Tango: this recently-released film by German Kral tells the extraor-dinary personal and artistic story of eighty-year-

olds María Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes, thetango equivalent of the Gene Kelly/Cyd Charissepartnership. This is a story that sees them inglory for decades, from the suburbs of Rio dela Plata to the big theatres of Calle Corrientesin Buenos Aires – and from there on to Broad-way, American TV, world tours and TangoArgentin, by Héctor Orezzoli and ClaudioSegovia. From 1983 onwards this major show

hit Paris, London and New York, becoming “themother” of all the tango shows that tour theworld today. The film cast includes “tango nuevo”divo Pablo Veron (The Tango Lesson by andwith Sally Potter), the exquisite Melina Brutman(who danced in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s ¡Milonga!)and choreographer Leo Cuello with his companyof excellent (and not just of tango) dancers.

E.G.V.

52

Ballet Nice Méditerranée: “Soir de fête”, c. Léo Staats (ph. D. Jaussein)

Éric Vu-An – Ballet NiceMéditerranée: “Pas deDieux”, c. Gene Kelly(ph. D. Jaussein)

DVD

The French traditionWhen he presented the Paris Opéra 2015/

2016 ballet season Benjamin Millepied wasaccused of having in one simple move, doneaway with the choreographic legacy of the grandParisian “house”. Such a legacy is commonlyidentified with the Nureyev repertory: i.e. thegreat Russian ballet classics altered by a dancersuperstar who clearly wasn’t a choreographer,classics staged or re-conceived for the companyin relatively recent years. What these have to

do with the French ballet tradition isn’t at allclear. The truth is that the Opéra ditched itsreal legacy a long time ago. What has happenedto the ballets of Arthur Saint-Léon and LouisMérante, of Léo Staats and Albert Aveline, notto mention those of Serge Lifar (whose sub-stantial list of works has been reduced to a cou-ple of rarely-performed titles)?

In recent years the Ballet Nice Méditerranée,i.e. the company of the Nice Opera House di-rected by Eric Vu-An, has tackled some of theseballets from the old French repertoire. Thusthe Niçois have been able to see, among oth-ers works, a veritable gem such as Soir de fête,created in 1925 at the Paris Opéra by Léo Staats(the theatre’s maître de ballet and choreogra-pher at the turn of the 19th century). A 2014

recording of this ballet is now avail-able on a Bel Air Classiques DVD.

To music by Léo Delibes, Soir defête alternates ensembles and solos fora main couple and demi-soloists. Itis an ultra balletic work without be-ing conventional in the slightest, itfeatures virtuosity without garishness.From the point of view of its basicconstruction and geometrics, the vari-ous parts that make up the ensem-bles link up in an ingenious, essen-tially symmetrical manner, yet alwayssoftened by a sort of “neat romanticuntidiness”. There are few poetic

moments with in-depth vocabulary, the balletis dominated by sparkling sections with cleverand fast combinations, notably “petit allegros”mostly built-up in rotation. Which gives thework an original vibrant quality.

The Nice troupe dances this joyful “festiveevening” with appropriate nonchalance,showcasing (despite a few blurs and slip-ups)those values of elegance, spotlessness and ap-parent spontaneity that are the hallmark of theFrench School of ballet.

The DVD also features Pas de Dieux (“Danceof the Gods”, a pun on pas de deux) whichwas also created at the Paris Opéra (for ClaudeBessy, in 1960) by the “king” of musicals,Gene Kelly. An unusual commission by thegreat Parisian theatre for one of its unusualétoiles. Bessy herself restaged this ballet inNice: the gods, bored with life on Olympus,decide to come among mortals and indulge inaudacious flings in a Paris teeming with joiede vivre. The plot’s “parody” is choreographi-cally achieved initially through the juxtapo-sition of classical ballet (the gods) and a mu-sical comedy style (the mortals) and,ultimately, through a successful mutual con-tamination of the two.

Painter/strip cartoonist André François’sscenery and costumes are droll and multi-col-oured, with the add-on of an amusing touchof kitsch for the Olympians.

The Nice troupe’s performance may besomewhat modest (of note, however, is a cameoappearance by Eric Vu-An himself as the Gang-ster who makes advances on Aphrodite), butis the only one that provides a chance to watchthis unusual and marvellous work today.

The video direction of both pieces is “trans-parent”, in the sense that it goes unnoticed;the extra content includes an interview withClaude Bessy.

Cristiano Merlo

54

programmes • programmi • calendar • programmes TV programmi • calendar • programmes • programmi

Mezzo

www.mezzo.tv1. VII: Cendrillon – c. Rudolf Nureyev –Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, int. AgnèsLetestu, José Martínez; Agnès Letestu,l’apogée d’une étoile (docum.)4, 9, 22. VII: Déesses et démones –Blanca Li, Maria Alexandrova8. VII: La Chambre noire; Le Sacre duprintemps – c. Stephan Thoss; DonQuichotte, ou l’illusion perdue – c. RuiLopes Graça – Ballet du Rhin11, 16, 29. VII: Le Lac des cygnes – c.Mar ius Pe t ipa , Lev I vanov , Yur iGirgorovich – Ballet du Bolchoï deMoscou12, 18, 23. VII, 5. VIII: Les Racines – c.Abou Lagraa – Cie La Baraka; DecaDance – c. Ohad Naharin – BatshevaDance Company15. VII: La Belle au bois dormant – c.Marius Petipa, Konstantin Sergeyev –Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky19, 25, 30. VII, 12. VIII: Cléopâtre – c.Patrick de Bana; L’Après-midi d’un Fau-ne – c. Vaslav Nijinsky; Les Sylphides;Les Danses polotvsiennes – c. M. Fokine– Ballet du Kremlin26. VII, 1, 6, 19. VIII: Magifique; Unedernière chanson; Le Spectre de la rose– c. Thierry Malandain – Ballet de Biarritz2, 8, 13, 26. VIII: Le Petit Cheval Bossu– c. Alexei Ratmansky; La Bayadère –c. Marius Petipa (Vakhtang Chabukiani)– Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky9, 20. VIII: Roméo et Juliette – c. Leonid

Lavrovsky – Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky,int. Diana Vishneva, Vladimir Shklyarov16, 22, 27. VIII: Dance Open, Saint-Pétersbourg: les meilleurs pas de deux23, 29. VIII: Gnosis – c. Akram Khan –Akram Khan Company; Twin Paradox –c . M a t h i l d e M o n n i e r – C e n t r eChorégraphique National de Montpellier30. VIII: Anna Karenina – c. Boris Eifman– Eifman Ballet; Flammes de Paris – c.Mikhail Messer – Ballet du ThéâtreMikhaïlovsky

Mezzo live HD

www.mezzo.tv1. VII: Les Racines – c. Abou Lagraa –Cie La Baraka; Deca Dance – c. OhadNaharin – Batsheva Dance Company2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 16, 17, 21, 22. VII: Le PetitCheval Bossu – c. Alexei Ratmansky; LaBayadère – c. Marius Petipa (VakhtangChabukiani) – Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29. VII: Roméo etJuliette – c. Leonid Lavrovsky – Balletdu Théâtre Mariinsky, int. Diana Vishneva,Vladimir Shklyarov31. VII, 1, 4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 29. VIII:Un jour ou deux – c. Merce Cunningham;Siddharta – c. Angelin Preljocaj – Balletde l’Opéra de Paris6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27. VIII:

Daphnis et Chloé; Triade – c. BenjaminMillepied; In the Night; En Sol – Ballet del’Opéra de Paris

Classica

www.mondoclassica.it1, 3. VII: Co. Meredith Monk: Education ofthe Girlchild; Danza in scena: Vita daspinazitt6, 15, 17. VII: Alice’s Adventures inWonderland – c. Christopher Wheeldon– The Royal Ballet, int. Lauren Cuthbertson8, 10. VII: “Una serata con i Trocks” –Les Ballets Trockadéro de Montecarlo13, 22, 24. VII: The Ring – c. F. Ruckert –Co. Felix Ruckert20, 29, 31. VII: Carmen – c. Antonio Gades– Compañía Antonio Gades27. VII, 5, 7. VIII: I Rimasti – c. SimonaBucci – Co. Simona Bucci3, 12, 14. VIII: Les Patineurs – c. FrederickAshton – The Royal Ballet, London17, 28. VIII: Combustioni – c. EmanuelaTagliavia – Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi10, 19, 21. VIII: Pulcinella – c. Heinz Spoerli– Ballett Basel24. VIII: Le Belle au bois dormant – c.Marius Petipa, Yuri Grigorovich – BolshoiBallet, int. Svetlana Zakharova, DavidHallberg31. VIII: Shéhérazade – c. Alonzo King –Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet

Hervé Moreau, Émilie Cozette, Fabien Revillon – Paris Opera Ballet:“Un jour ou deux”, c. Merce Cunningham (ph. J. Benhamou)

Blanca Li: “Déesses et démones”(ph. V. Pontet)

56

afafafafafffffficiciciciche • carhe • carhe • carhe • carhe • cartellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • afffffficiciciciche • carhe • carhe • carhe • carhe • cartellonetellonetellonetellonetellone

AUSTRIA

InnsbruckTanzsommer

Dogana23 , 24 . VI : Hess i scheStaatsballett: A Walk Above –c. I. Galili; Ssss.... – c. E. Clug;Suite Suite Suite – c. M. Goecke26. VI: Co. “#fomo”1-5. VII: Cie “Les 7 Doigts dela main”: Cuisine et confessions7-10. VII: Co. “Djuki Mala”

Wien Volksoper

16, 21, 27. VI: Marie-Antoinette– c. P. de Bana – WienerStaatsballett

ImPulsTanz Schauspielhaus

18, 20. VII: Bryana Fritz,Christoffer Forbes Schieche:Sixteen Candles22, 24. VII: Thiago Granato:Treasured in the Dark26, 28. VII: Sonja Jokiniemi:HMM30. VII, 1. VIII: Will Rawls: ThePlanet-Eaters: Seconds3, 5. VIII: Marco Berrettini, MarionDuval: Claptrap7, 9. VIII: Valentina De PianteNiculae: M.E.L.T.10. VIII: Ivo Dimchev: I-Cure11. VIII: Ivo Dimchev: Songsfrom my Shows12. VIII: Pieter Ampe: So YouCan Feel

14. VIII: Michikazu Matsune:Goodbye

Kas i no amSchwarzenbergplatz16 , 19 . VI I : Lea Mo ro :(B)reaching Stillness21. VII: Ivo Dimchev: Paris25 , 27 . VI I : Be r s tad ,Helgebostad, Wigdel: Soil Girl29, 31. VII: Simone Aughterlony,Antonija Livingstone, HahnRowe: Supernatural2, 4. VIII: Linda Blomqvist:Cosmos the Beach6. VIII: Marten Spangberg: LaSubstance, but in English9, 11. VIII: Bojan Djordjev: Fu-ture Read in Concrete andStone

Leopold Museum17 . VI I : “Do ro thea vonHantelmann x Jérôme Bel”19. VII-14. VIII: Ian Kaler: MeBecoming Myself; Ian Kaler,Anne Quirynen: On Orientations| Shifting the Burden19, 21. VII: Michikazu Matsune:Mattress Pieces20-14. VII: Tino Sehgal23. VII: Berlinde De Bruyckere,Romeu Runa: Sibylle23, 25, 26. VII: Georg Blaschke/M.A.P. Vienna: Fluid Theatre25, 26, 27, 28. VII: Holzinger,Large, Machaz, Riebeek,Scheiwiller: Body+Freedom28 . VI I : Akemi Takeya :Lemonism X Japonism &

Minimalism29 , 31 . VI I : Magda lenaChowaniec: What’s in the Artist’sHead1, 3, 5, 8. VIII: Trajal Harrell: TheReturn of La Argentina4, 6. VIII: Cie Willy Dorner: One14. VIII: Ivo Dimchev, Lea Petra:Concert Improvisation andBook Presentation

Arsenal

Summer Dance

The Court of Honour at the Papal Palace in Avignon, main venue of the Avignon Festival (ph. C. Raynaud)

ImPulsTanz: Simone Aughterlony, Antonija Livingstone, Hahn Rowe:“Supernatural” (ph. J. León)

ImPulsTanz: Cie BenoîtLachambre: “Lifeguard”

(ph. V. Soucy)

57

calendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afffffficiciciciche • carhe • carhe • carhe • carhe • cartellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • afffffficicicicichehehehehe23. VII: Ray Chung, Andrew deLotbinière Hardwood, Nita Little,Nancy Stark Smith, Mike Vargas:Surfers of the Glebe13. VIII: Biblioteca Do Corpo:Black out – c. I. Ivo

Odeon15, 17, 18. VII: Cie Rosas: DieWeise von Liebe und Tod desCornets Christoph Rilke – c. A.-T. De Keersmaeker 20, 22. VII: Simon Mayer: Songsof Sissy23. VII: Clara Furey, Peter Jasko:Untied Tales27, 29. VII: Holzinger, Lange,Machaz, Riebeek, Scheiwiller:Jungle1. VIII: P.A.R.T.S.: Dawn6, 8. VIII: Aline Landreau: Vox;Katerina Andreou: A Kind ofFierce10, 12. VIII: Dana Michel:Mercurial George

Volkstheater14. VII: Cie Maguy Marin: Bit17, 18. VII: Ultima Vez: In Spiteof Wishing and Wanting – c. WVandekeybus20, 22. VII: Israel Galván:Fla.Co.Men24, 26. VII: Cie Rosas: VerklärteNacht – c. A. T. De Keersmaeker29, 31. VII: Sankai Juru: Meguri– c. U. Amagatsu2, 4. VIII: Ultima Vez: Speak Lowif You Speak Love – c. W.Vandekeybus8, 10. VIII: Cie Marie Chouinard:Hieronymus Bosch: The Gardenof Earthly Delights13. VIII: Needcompany: TheBlind Poet – c. J. Lauwers

Akademietheater21. VII: Xavier Le Roy: Untitled23. VII: Kaori Ito: I DanceBecause I Do Not Trust Words27. VII: Ich Bin O.K. DanceCompany: Kein Stück Liebe5, 7. VIII: Liquid Loft: Candy’sCamouflage – c. C. Haring

Mumok24, 26. VII, 3. VIII: Jule Flierl:Operation Orpheus27, 29. VII: Peter Stamer: On Truthand Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense28. VI I : Peaches , Ke i thHennessy: Critical Joy10, 12. VIII: Alice Chauchat:Togethering, A Group Solo

CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague Estate Theatre

1, 2. VII: Valmont – c. L. Vaculík– Prague National Ballet

GERMANY

Berlin Schiller Theater

23. VI: White Darkness; StaticTime – c. N. Duato; Click-Pau-se-Silence – c. J. Kylián –Staatsballett Berlin

Deutsche Oper21, 29. VI, 3, 5, 9. VII: La Belleau bois dormant – c. N. Duato– Staatsballett Berlin

Komische Oper27. VI: Vielfältigkeit – Formenvon Stille und Leere – c. N. Duato– Staatsballett Berlin

Duisburg Theater Duisburg

18, 25. VI, 1. VII: Young Moves– Ballett der Deutschen Operam Rhein

Düsseldorf Opernhaus

1, 4, 12. VI, 3, 7. VII: Esplanade– c. P. Taylor; Tenebre – c. H.Essakow; Different Dialogues– c. N. Christe – Ballett derDeutschen Oper am Rhein

Hamburg Staatsoper

24, 27, 29, 30. IV, 9, 10. VII:Matthäus-Passion – c. J.Neumeier – Hamburg Ballet3, 5, 8. VII: Turangalîla – c. J.Neumeier – Hamburg Ballet6. VII: Peer Gynt – c. J. Neumeier– Hamburg Ballet7. VII: Winterreise – c. J.Neumeier – Hamburg Ballet14. VII: A Cinderella Story – c.J. Neumeier – Hamburg Ballet15. VII: Duse – c. J. Neumeier– Hamburg Ballet16. VII: Giselle – c. J. Coralli, J.

Perrot, M. Petipa, J. Neumeier– Hamburg Ballet17. VII: Nijinsky Gala XLII

Leipzig Oper

2. VII: Othello – c. M. Schröder– Leipziger Ballett

München Nationaltheater

27, 29. VI: Für Die Kinder vongestern, heute und Morgen –c. P. Bausch – BayerischesStaatsballett

Stuttgart Opernhaus

10, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26.VI, 2, 7. VII: Salomé – c. DemisVolpi – Stuttgart Ballet

16, 17. VII: “Next Generation” –Stuttgart Ballet19. VII: The Second Detail – c.W. Forsythe; Lucid Dream – c.M. Goecke; The SeventhSymphony – c. U. Scholz –Stuttgart Ballet20. VII: Romeo and Juliet – c.J. Cranko – Stuttgart Ballet21. VII: The Taming of the Shrew– c. J. Cranko – Stuttgart Ballet22. VII: Onegin – c. J. Cranko –Stuttgart Ballet23. VII: John-Cranko Schule24. VII: Stuttgart Ballet Gala

Kammertheater17, 18. VII: “Sketches” – StuttgartBallet

Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein: “Esplanade”, c. Paul Taylor(ph. G. Weigelt)

Marc Jubete – Hamburg Ballet:“Matthäus-Passion”, c. John

Neumeier(ph. K. West)

ImPulsTanz: Ismael Ivo,Dimos Goudaroulis:

“Discordable” (ph. C. Akriviadis)

58


SPAIN

BarcelonaFestival Grec

Teatre Grec8, 9. VII : Kibbutz DanceCompany: If at All – c. R. Be’er15, 16. VII: Alonzo King LinesBa l l e t : Wr i t i ng Ground ;Biophony – c. A. King30. VII: Brincadeira + BrodasBros: BrincaBros

Teatre Lliure8-10. VII: Cesc Gelabert: Escriten l'aire

Hiroshima1-3. VII: Arcane Collective: Returnto Absence14, 16. VII: United Cowboys:Appearance

Sala Apolo6, 7. VII: Inés Boza: Eden Club

Teatre Mercat de les flors13, 14. VII: Stéphanie Fuster:Questcequetudeviens?? – c. A.Bory21, 22. VII: Cia. Mar Gómez: Asíen la tierra como en el cielo26, 27. VII: Companyia Rober-to G. Alonso: La fragilitat delsverbs transitius30, 31. VII: Sebastián GarcíaFerro: +45

Plaça de Margarida Xirgu

21, 22. VII: Cia. Vero Cendoya:La partida

Graner27-29. VII: Eulàlia BergadàSerra: Gold Dust Rush

La Caldera28, 30. VII: Alberto Velasco:Dance to death

GranadaFestival Internacional de Músicay Danza de Granada

Teatro del Generalife18. VI: Compañía Nacional deDanza: Don Quichotte – c. J.C. Martínez20. VI: Compañía Nacional deDanza: Homenaje a MayaPlisetskaya25. VI: Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow:Apollo – c. G. Balanchine;Classical Symphony – c. Y.Possokhov; Petrushka (solo);Le Spectre de la Rose – c. M.Fokine; Le Tricorne (Farruca)– c. L. Massine; L’Après-Midid’un Faune (solo) – c. V. Nijinsky27. VI: Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow:Le Pavillon d’Armide (duo);Shéhérazade (duo); La mort ducygne; Les Sylphides – c. M.Fokine; Pas de deux “CygneNoir”30. VI : Eva Yerbabuena:Aparencias7. VII: Prague National BalletTheatre: Le Lac des cygnes

Madrid Teatro Real

22-25. VII: Compañía Nacionalde Danza: Anhelos y Tormentos– c. D. Kirilov; Suite n. 2, op.17, III: Romance – c. U. Scholz;In the Night – c. J. Robbins;Raymonda Divertimento – c.J. C. Martínez

El Escorial

15. VII: In the Night – c. J.Robbins; Anhelos y Tormentos– c. D. Kirilov; Don QuichotteSuite – c. J.-C. Martínez –Compañía Nacional de Dan-za

PeraladaFestival Castell Peralada Auditorum Jardines del Castillo

16. VII: Ailey II: In & Out – c. J.Emile; Gêmeos – c. J. Roberts;Something Tangible – c. R.Mercer; Revelations – c. A. Ailey29. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriends

FRANCE

Paris Opéra Garnier

21, 22, 23, 24, 25. VI: EnglishNational Ballet: Le Corsaire –c. A.-M. Holmes – Ballet de

l’Opéra de Paris4, 5, 6, , 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15,16. VII: Approximate Sonata;création; Of Any If And – c. W.Forsythe – Ballet de l’Opéra deParis

Opéra Bastille2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15. VII: création– c. J. Peck; Brahms-SchönbergQuartet – c. G. Balanchine –Ballet de l’Opéra de ParisLes Étés de la Danse

Théâtre du Châtelet28, 29. VI, 2, 8, VII: New YorkCity Ballet: Apollo; The FourTemperamen ts ; D u oConcertant; Symphony in ThreeMovements – c. G. Balanchine30. VI: New York City Ballet:Mozartiana; Tschaikovsky Pasde Deux; Walpurgisnacht Ballet;Symphony in C – c . G .Balanchine1, 2, 5, 13. VII: New York CityBallet: Serenade; Mozartiana;Tschaikovsky Piano ConcertoNo. 2 – c. G. Balanchine4, 6, 9. VII: New York City Ballet:Western Symphony; Tarantella– c. G. Balanchine; The InfernalMachine – c. P. Martins; BarberViolin Concerto – c. P. Martins;West Side Story Suite – c. J.Robbins7, 11, 15, 16. VII: New York CityBal le t : Estanc ia – c . C.Wheeldon; Pictures at anExhibition – c. A. Ratmansky;Everywhere We Go – c. J. Peck12, 14, 16. VII: New York CityBallet: Walpurgisnacht Ballet;Sonatine; La Valse; Symphonyin C – c. G. Balanchine

Théâtre de la Ville

Jeffrey Van Sciver – Alonzo KingLines Ballet: “Writing Ground”

(ph. M. Moritz)

Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada: Elisa Badenes,Esteban Berlanga – Compañía Nacional de Danza:

“Don Quixote”, c. José Carlos Martínez (ph. J. Vallinas)

Ballet de Marseille: “Boléro”, c. Emio Greco (ph. J.-C. Verchere)

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23. VI-2. VII: Sankai Juku: Meguri– c. U. Amagatsu

Théâtre Chaillot (Salle JeanVilar)9-11. VI : Korea NationalCon tempo ra r y Dance

Company: AlreadyNotYet – c.A. Ahn16-24. VI: Korea NationalCon tempo ra r y DanceCompany: Shiganè naï – c. J.MontalvoParis Quartier d’été

Centre Culturel Irlandais18-23. VII : Joseph Nadj,Dominique Mercy: Petit Psaumedu matin

Carreau du temple22-24. VII: Eun-Me Ahn &Company: Let me change yourname; We are Korean, Honey! Musée National Picasso-Paris

28. VII: Pierre Rigal, Hassan

Razak, Pierre Cartonnet: Bataille Parc de Bercy Village

27. VII-1. VIII: Pierre Rigal,Hassan Razak, Pierre Cartonnet:Bataille5, 6. VIII: Brigel Gjoka, RileyWatts: DUO2015 – c. W. Forsythe

AvignonFestival d’Avignon Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs

7-9. VII: Cie Thierry Thieû Niang:Au coeur

Cour du Lycée Saint-Joseph17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23. VII: CieMarie Chouinard: Soft virtuosity,still humid, on the edge

Cloître des Carmes9-12. VII: Cie Trajel Harrell:Caen Amour

Chartreuse de Villeneuve lezAvignon15-17. VII: Cie Thierry ThieûNiang: Au coeur

Collection Lambert21-23. VII: Cie Thierry ThieûNiang: Au coeur

Cloître des Célestins16-18. VII: Ali Chahrour: Fatmeh21-23. VII: Ali Chahrour: Leïlase meurt

Gymnase Paul Giéra18, 29, 20, 21, 23, 24. VII: LisbethGruwez: We’re pretty fuckin’ farfrom okay

Cour du Palais des Papes20-23. VII: Eastman: Babel 7.16– c. S. L. Cherkaoui, D. Jalet

Bastia Théâtre Municipal

19. VII: Ballet Preljocaj: SpectralEvidence; La Stravaganza – c.A. Preljocaj

Bordeaux Grand-Théâtre

19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29,

30. VI, 1. VII: Le Messie – c. M.Wainrot – Ballet de l’Opéra deBordeaux

Cannes Palais des Festivals

31. VII: Prix BALLET2000L’Été à Cannes – Festival del’Art Russe

Théâtre Debussy23. VIII: Ballet Folklorique deKhakassie27. VIII: École ChorégraphiqueLavrovsky de Moscou

CarcassonneFestival de Carcassonne

Théâtre Jean-Deschamps11. VII: Ballet Nacional deEspaña: Ritmos – c. A. Lorca;Solea del mantón – c. B. delRey; Bolero – c. R. Alguilar; Alento– c. A. Najarro13 . VI I : Ma r i e -C laudePietragalla, Julien Derouault:Je te rencontre par hasard

Château Comtal10. VII: “Nuit de la jeunechorégraphie”

Marseille

Festival de Marseille Ballet National de Marseille

12, 13. VII: Radhouane ElMeddeb: Heroes18. VII: Ballet National deMarseille: Boléro – c. E. Greco

KLAP25, 26. VI: Anania Danses/Taoufiq Izeddiou: En Alerte –c. T. Izeddiou

Le Merlan7, 8. VII: Lisbeth Gruwez: It’sgoing to get worse and worseand worse, my friend

Le Silo2. VII: Koen Augustijnen,

Ballet de l’Opéra de Bordeaux:“Le Messie”, c. MauricioWainrot (ph. S. Colomyes)

Festival de Carcassonne: Ballet Nacional de España: “Ritmos”, c. Alberto Lorca (ph. J. Vallinas)

Marie-Claude Pietragalla, JulienDerouault: “Je te rencontre par

hasard”

Paris Quartier d’Été: Eun-Me Ahn & Company: “Let Me ChangeYour Name” (ph. J. Perez)

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Rosalba Torres Guerrero,Hildegard De Vuyst: Badke

Théâtre Joliette-Minoterie1-3. VII: Valda Setterfield, GusSolomons Jr.: Monument 0.1– c. E. Salamon6. VII: Lisbeth Gruwez: LisbethGruwez dances Bob Dylan

La Criée5, 6. VII: Jérôme Bel: Gala9, 10. VII: Mélanie Lomoff: ThreeStudies of Flesh (for a Female)9, 10. VII: Cie Mau: Stones inher Mouth – c. L. Ponifasio16, 17. VII: Marlene MonteiroFreitas: Guintche16, 17. VII: Ballets C. de la B.:Coup fatal – c. A. Platel

MontpellierMontpellierDanse

Odysseum23-27. VI: Cie Le Patin Libre:Vertical Influences

Théâtre La Vignette4, 5. VII: Cie Oumaima Manai:Time out / Temps Mort

Théâtre de Grammont25-27. VI: “Passion(s)”30. VI-2. VII: Cie Robyn Orlin:And so you see...

Studio Bagouet/Agora23, 25. VI: Cie Nacera Belaza:Sur le fil27, 28. VI: Danya Hammoud:Il y a longtemps...1, 2. VII: Radhouane El Meddeb:À mon père, une dernière danseet un dernier baiser5, 6. VII: Compagnie Selonl’Heure: Man Anam... – c. A. Moini8, 9. VII: Anania Danses / TaoufiqIzeddiou: En alerte

Opéra Berlioz23, 24. VI: Dresden FrankfurtDance Company: The Prima-te Trilogy – c. J. Godani

29. VI-1. VII: Lia Rodríguez: Paraque o céu não caia4, 5. VII: Dimitris Papaioannou:Still Life8, 9. VII: Andrés Marín et KaderAttou: Yatra

Studio Cunningham/Agora2. VII: Sorour Darabi: Farci.E

Opéra Comédie25, 26. VI: CCN de Montpellier:Le Syndrome Ian – c. C. Rizzo29, 30. VI: Impure Company:The dead live on... – c. H. Sharifi3 , 4 . VI I : Compagn ieMouvements perpétuels: DuDésir d’horizon – c. S. Sanou7, 8. VII: L-E-V: OCD Love – c.S. Eyal, G. Behar

Théâtre Jean Vilar6, 7. VII: Compagnie 2 temps3 mouvements: Du chaosnaissent les étoiles – c. N.Hemaizia

Salle Béjart/Agora23-25. VI: Collectif MobileMapping: Espace puissanceespace; Centon digital

Théâtre de l’Agora25, 26. VI: Emanuel Gat Dance:Sunny – c. E. Gat29, 30. VI: Cullberg Ballet: Fi-gure a Sea – c. D. Hay6-8. VII: Pierre Rigal: Même

Sur les places de Montpellieret de la Métropole3-9. VII: Groupe de danseursde la région: Le Rouge et laNoir – c. E. Gat

Ollioules CNCDC de Châteauvallon

8, 9. VII: Ballet Preljocaj: Roméoet Juliette– c. A. Preljocaj12. VII: CNN-Ballet de Lorraine:The Vert iginous Thri l l ofExactitude – c. W. Forsythe;Shaker Loops – c. A. Foniadakis;Nine Sinatra Songs – c. T. Tharp22, 23. VII: L.A. Dance Project:

Hearts and Arrows – c. B.Millepied; Quintett – c. W.Forsythe; Harbor Me – c. S. L.Cherkaoui

Uzès Jardin de l’Évêché

10. VI: Marion Muzac: LadiesFirst11. VI: Aude Lachaise: EnSouvenir de l’Indien12. VI: Arnaud Saury: En dépitde la distance qui nous sépare16. VI: Cie David Wampach:Sacre17. VI: Marlene Monteiro Freitas:Jaguar18. VI: Emmanuel Eggermont:Strange Fruit

Salle de l’ancien Évêché12. VI: Nadia Beugré: Quartierslibres16. VI: Magali Milian, RomualdLuydlin: B&B17. VI: Mickaël Phelippeau:Llámame Lola

Salle de l’ancien Évêché

18. VI: Karl Van Welden: MarsI I

Parc du Château10. VI: Collectif Mobile Casabah

Belvédère11. VI: Atlas/étude #1

Vaison La RomaineVaison Danses

Théâtre antique4. VII: Ballet Junior du CNRRToulon12. VII: Alonzo King’s LinesBallet: Shostakovich; WritingGround18. VII: L.A. Dance Project:Hearts & Arrows – c. B. Millepied;Murder Ballades – c. J. Peck;Quintett – c. W. Forsythe20. VII: Enclave Español: Enplata – c. A. Pérez, D. Sánchez23, 24. VII: Ballet Preljocaj: “Lesduos mythiques” – c. A . Preljocaj28, 29. VII: Ballet Biarritz:

Vaison Danses: Enclave Español: “En plata”, c. Antonio Pérez,David Sánchez

Vaison Danses: Ballet Biarritz: “Cendrillon”, c. Thierry Malandain(ph. O. Houeix)

Uzès Danse: Cie Marlene Monteiro Freitas: “Jaguar”(ph. U. Tirronen)

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calendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afffffficiciciciche • carhe • carhe • carhe • carhe • cartellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • afffffficicicicichehehehehe

Cendrillon – c. T. Malandain

Versailles Château de Versailles

15-17. VI: Ballet Preljocaj:Blanche Neige – c. A. Preljocaj

GREAT BRITAIN

Edinburgh

Edinburgh International Festival Festival Theatre

12, 14. VIII: Natalia Osipova18-20. VIII: Scottish Ballet:Emergence – c. C. Pite; MC 14/12 (Ceci est mon corps) – c. A.Preljocaj

The Edinburgh Playhouse8, 9. VIII: The Holy Body Tattoo:Monumental – c. D. Gingras,N. Gagnon

Edinburgh InternationalConference Centre13, 14. VIII: Co. Akram Khan:Chotto Desh – c. A. Khan28, 29. VIII: Kabinet K: Raw –c. J. Laureyns, K. Manshoven

London Royal Opera House

25-28. VII: Bolshoi Ballet: DonQuichotte – c. A. Fadeyechev29, 30. VII, 1, 2, 8, 9, 10. VIII:Bolshoi Ballet: Le Lac des cygnes– c. Y. Grigorovich3, 4. VIII: Bolshoi Ballet: TheTaming of the Shrew – c. J.-C.Maillot5, 6. VIII: Bolshoi Ballet:Flammes de Paris –c. A.Ratmansky11, 12, 13. VIII: Bolshoi Ballet:Le Corsaire –c. A. Ratmansky

Sadler’s Wells Theatre24, 25. VI: LA Dance Project:Gems Trilogy; Hearts & Arrows– c. B. Millepied; Harbor Me –c. S. Larbi Cherkaoui29. VI-3. VII: Natalia Osipova6-8. VII: Hofesh ShechterCompany: Barbarians12-16. VII: Paco Peña FlamencoDance Company: Patrias

Coliseum13-16. VII: The Australian Ballet:Swan Lake – c. G. Murphy20-23. VII: The Australian Ballet:Cinderella – c. A. Ratmansky

GREECE

Athens Peiraios 260

2 0 , 2 1 . VI : A l e s s a n d r oSciarroni: Untitled_I will be therewhen you die22, 23. VI: Co. Jan Martens: The

Dog Days Are Over2-3. VII: Georgia Vardarou: NewNarratives4, 5. VII: Sophia Mavragani: TheSwell Season8, 9. VII: YELP danceco, MariellaNestora: It’s only this, nothingelse, only this12, 13. VII: Ermira Goro: AfterParty21, 22. VII: Lia Tsolaki: Flux23, 24. VII: Michèle Anne De Mey,Jaco Van Dormael – CollectifKiss & Cry: Cold Blood30 , 31 . VI I : A r iaBoumbaki,Pauline Brun,NogaGolan,Calixto Neto: and we arenot at the same place; KaterinaAndreou: A Kind of Fierce

ITALY

Acqui TermeAcquiDanza

Teatro Verdi3. VII: Thedancecompany8. VII: Compagnia BeatriceBelluschi: “G&G – omaggio aGeorge Gershine e GeorgeBalanchine” – c. B. Belluschi10. VII: “Vivere di danza-inter-preti e coreografi a confronto”15. VII: Premio AcquiDanza; JASArt Ballet: Il mantello di pelle didrago – c. M. Volpini17. VII: Balletto Teatro di Tori-no: Maestoso; Aliento del alma– c. M. de Alteriis; Fragile – c. I.Galili19. VII: Artemis Danza: ToscaX – c. M. Casadei22. VII: Egribiancodanza: Orlan-do – c. R. Bianco2. VIII: Flamenco Libre: Sevillaflamenco sextet

Tagliolo Monferrato (Asti) –Castello3. VIII: Flamenco Libre: Sevillaflamenco sextet

Alessandria La Cittadella

28. VII: Buenos Aires Tango:Tango Historias de Amor

Bassano del GrappaOperaEstate Festival

Piazza della Libertà22-24. VII: Sharon Fridman: InMemoriam

Centro Storico20. VII: No Limita-c-tions, DanceWell: “Dance Raids” Le Bolle di Nardini

28-30. VII: Cie Ivan Pérez Áviles:

“Progetto Bolle” Teatro al Castello “Tito Gobbi”

26. VII: Balletto di Roma: Giselle– c. I. Serussi, C. Haring14. VIII: Cie Marie Chouinard:Jérôme Bosch: Le Jardin desdélices23. VIII: Cullberg Ballet: Figurea Sea – c. D. Hay

Montorso/Villa da Porto14. VII: Silvia Gribaudi, MatteoMaffesanti, Giorgia Nardin:“Dance in Villa”

Santorso/Parco di Villa Rossi17. VII: Daniele Ninarello, DanKinzelman, No Limita-c-tions,Dance Well: “Un’altra bellezza”

Edinburgh International Festival: Scottish Ballet: “Emergence”,c. Crystal Pite (ph. A. Sterling)

Amber Scott, Adam Bull –Australian Ballet: “Swan Lake”,

c. Graeme Murphy(ph. J. Busby)

Montpellier Danse: Cullberg Ballet: “Figure a Sea”, c. Deborah Hay(ph. U. Jörén)

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Cittadella/Palazzo Pretorio24. VIII: Francesca Foscarini:Good Lack

Val di Sella/Borgo Valsugana15, 16. VIII: Compañía SharonFridman: All Ways

Ciclopista del Brenta/Borsodel Grappa4. IX: No Limita-c-tions, DanceWell: Cycling Dance

BergamoFestival Danza Estate

Teatro Sociale9. VI: Balletto Civile: Ruggito –c. M. Lucenti22. VI: D.R.O.N.E. DanceCompany: D.R.O.N.E. – c. G.Lucca ; Danzarea .Comp:Gaetano 54 – c. C. Rota26. VI: Imperfect Dancers: Ma-dama Butterfly’s Son – c. W.Matteini

Cineteatro Brancaleone12 . VI : A l l eg ra B r i ga taCinematica: Blackout – c. S.Marossi

Piazza Italia9. VII: Zerogrammi: Fuori gio-co – c. E. Sciannamea

BolzanoBolzanoDanza

Teatro Comunale18. VII: Alonzo King Lines Ballet:Biophony; Writing Ground – c.A. King20. VII: Helena Waldmann:Made in Bangladesh22. VII: Balletto di Roma: HomeAlone – c. A. Sciarrone25. VII: Emanuel Gat Dance:

Sacre; Gold – c. E. Gat27. VII: Gauthier Dance: Nijinsky– c. M. Goecke30. VII: Cie Eco: Catania Cata-nia – c. E. Calcagno

Teatro Studio19. VII: Aakash Odedra: Inked– c. D. Jalet; Murmur – c. A.Odedra20. VII: Anticorpi eXpLo: Fran-cesca Penzo, Tamar Grosz:Why are we so f***ing dramatic?22. VII: Lali Ayguadé: Kokoro26. VII: Centre ChorégraphiqueNational de Grenoble: Tordre– c. R. Ouramdane27. VII: Anticorpi eXpLo: Clau-dia Catarzi: 40.000 centimetriquadrati29. VII: Cie Heddy Maalem:Toujours sur cette mer sauvage;Nigra sum, Pulchra es

Parco dei Cappuccini25. VII: Anticorpi eXpLo: Gabrie-le Valerio: Triptych

Cividale del FriuliMittelfest

nelle vie di Cividale19. VII: “Danza nelle vetrine”

Parco del Convitto Nazionale23. VII: Areaarea: Le Quattrostagioni – c. R. Cocconi, M.Bevilacqua

Civitanova MarcheCivitanova Danza

Teatro Rossini16. VII: Balletto di Roma: Giselle– c. I. Serussi, C. Haring6. VIII: Compagnia Blucinque:WE273’

Teatro Cecchetti16. VII: Civitanova Casa dellaDanza: Delle ultime visionicutanee; Nicola Galli: Mars6. VIII: Silvia Gribaudi: Rosa

Teatro Annibal Caro

9. VII: Alessandro Sciarroni:Joseph_Kids16. VII: Fattoria Vittadini: Can-tiere aperto per odio – c. D.Abreu6. VIII: Cristiana Morganti: cre-azione

Palasport Eurosuole Forum24. VII: DCE Dance: Carmen –c. A. Amodio

ComoFestival Como Città della Mu-sica

Teatro Sociale10. VII: DCE Dance: Carmen –c. A. Amodio

16. VII: Evolution Dance Theatre:Black and Light – c. A. Heinl

FiesoleEstate Fiesolana

Teatro Romano4. VII: Junior Balletto di Tosca-na: Romeo e Giulietta – c. D.Bombana

5. VII: Opus Ballet: Othello – c.A. Benedetti8. VII: Serata di gala9. VII: Sankai Juku: Utsushi –c. U. Amagatsu

FirenzeFlorence Dance Festival

Teatro Verdi21. VI: Twyla Tharp Dance:Country Dances ; BrahmsPaganini; Beethoven Opus 130– c. T. Tharp Museo Nazionale del Bargello

5. VII: Balletto di Roma: Romeoe Giulietta – c. F. Veratti15. VII: New York’s Joffrey Ballet

Concert Group: AmericanDance Now! – c. G. Arpino, A.Guzman, D. Rhoden16. VII : Ar temis MonicaCasadei: Traviata – c. M. Casadei18. VII: ImPerfect DancersCompany: In-Faust; MadamaButterfly; Anne Frank – c. W.Matteini21. VII: Balletto Teatro di Tori-no: CHOPinLOVE – c. M. DeAlteriis, I. Galili23. VII: Toscana Dance Hub24. VII: Kinesis Danza27. VII: Urban Contamination:Mystes – c. G. Nieddu; Antitesi– c. A. Benedetti

Gardone Riviera Anfiteatro del Vittoriale

23. VII: Gala con i solisti delTeatro dell’Opera di Roma

Genova Teatro Carlo Felice

3. VII: Svetlana Zakharova: Fran-cesca da Rimini – c. Y.Possokhov; The Rain Before it

Claudia Marsicano: “Rosa”,c. Silvia Gribaudi

Estate Fiesolana: Balletto di Toscana: “Romeo and Juliet”, c. Davide Bombana (ph. L. Angelucci)

Bolzano Danza: Emanuel Gat Dance: “Gold”, c. Emauel Gat

63

calendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afcalendar • afffffficiciciciche • carhe • carhe • carhe • carhe • cartellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • aftellone • calendar • afffffficicicicicheheheheheFalls – c. P. De Bana; StrokesThrough the Tails – c. M. Donlon14, 15. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriends

Marina di Pietrasanta Teatro La Versiliana (Festival

La Versiliana)21, 22. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriends

Milano Teatro alla Scala

30. VI, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14,15. VII: Il lago dei cigni – c. M.Petipa, L. Ivanov (A. Ratmansky)– Balletto del Teatro alla Scala

Teatro Strehler14-17. VI: Aterballetto: L'ecodell'acqua – c. P. Kratz; LostShadows – c. E. Scigliano; Bliss– c. J. Inger24-26. VI: Aterballetto: 14'20"– c. J. Kylián; Upper East Side– c. M. Di Stefano; LEGO – c.G. Spota

Napoli Teatro di San Carlo

21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28. VI:Romeo e Giulietta – c. L.Lavrovsky – Balletto del TeatroSan Carlo di NapoliNapoli Teatro Festival Italia

Teatro Politeama10, 11. VII: Balletto del TeatroSan Carlo di Napoli, SvetlanaZakharova: Carmen Suite – c.A. Alonso

Nepi Castello “Forte dei Borgia”

22-25. VI: “Festival Internazio-nale della danza e delle danze”

ParmaParmaEstate

Cortile della Pilotta21, 22. VI : Béjart Bal letLausanne: Suite barocca;Étude pour une dame auxcamélias; Bakhti III; Boléro –c. M. Béjart; Impromptu – c. G.Roman

RavelloRavello Festival

Belvedere di Villa Rufolo31. VII: Compagnia VirgilioSieni: Di fronte agli occhi deglialtri; La mer – c. V. Sieni2. VIII: Balletto Civile: KillingDesdemona – c. M. Lucenti6. VIII: Danzatori di Ailey II,Armitage Gone! Dance, NewYork City Ballet: “AmericanDream” – c. K. Armitage

20. VIII: Gala: “Cubanía en elBallet”

RavennaRavenna Festival

Palazzo Mauro De André14. VI: Sankai Juku: Utsushi –c. A. Ushio24. VI: Twyla Tharp Dance:Country Dances ; BrahmsPaganini; Beethoven Opus 130;Sinatra Suite – c. T. Tharp30. VI: Svetlana Zakharova,Mikhail Lobukhin, Denis Rodkin:Francesca da Rimini – c. Y.Possokhov; The Rain Before itFalls – c. P. De Bana; StrokesThrough the Tails – c. M. Donlon6. VI I : Ba tsheva DanceCompany: Last Work – c. O.Naharin9. VII: Alonzo King Lines Ballet:Writing Ground; Shostakovich– c. A. King

Roma Terme di Caracalla

22, 24, 26. VI: Balletto dell’Operadi Roma: Serata Nureyev:Raymonda (III atto); Il lago deicigni (Polonaise, Cigno Nero);La Bayadère (III atto)25, 26. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriends Auditorium – Parco della Musica

26. VI: Twyla Tharp Dance:Country Dances ; BrahmsPaganini; Beethoven Opus 130– c. T. Tharp

SansepolcroFestival Kilowatt

Piazza Garibaldi15. VII: HURyCAN: Je te haime23. VII: Los Innato: No/Nato

Teatro alla Misericordia

16. VII: Giorgia Nardin: Season19. VII: Nicola Galli: Venus; Mars20. VII: Ilenia Romano: OneWoman Cliché Show21. VII: Compagnia Dionisi/Renata Ciaravino: Idiota22. VII: Korper: Aestethica –esercizio 1; Dehors/Audela:Perfetto indefinito

Auditorium Santa Chiara17. VII: Salvo Lombardo: Ca-sual bystanders18. VII: Tommaso Monza/Natiscalzi: Sketches of Freedom

Piazza Torre di Berta19. VII: Giovanni Leonarduzzi:Ci sono cose che vorrei dav-vero dirti22. VII: Glen Caci: Tutorial

SpoletoFestival dei Due Mondi diSpoleto

Teatro Romano24. VI: DCE Dance: Carmen –c. A. Amodio1-3. VII: Batsheva DanceCompany: DecaDance Spoleto– c. O. Naharin7-9. VII: Balletto dell’Opera diPraga: Romeo e Giulietta – c.Y. Vàmos

Piazza del Duomo13. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriends

TorinoTeatro a Corte

Palazzo Madama7-10. VII: Paolo Mohovich:Picasso Parade

Parco della Tesoreria8, 9. VII: Willi Dorner: Bodies inUrban Spaces

Venaria – Reggia di Venaria8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18. VII: Ambra

Senatore: Promenade auChâteau

Agliè – Castello di Agliè10. VII: Inés Boza, Roser LopezEspinoza, Andrea CostanzoMartini: RE-al Dances

Rivoli – Castello di Rivoli15. VII: Compagnia Adrien M &Claire B: Hakanaï; Billy Cowie:Under Flat Sky16. VII: Vero Cendoya: La Partida:Co. Reckless Sleepers: A StringSection

VeneziaBiennale Danza

Teatrino Palazzo Grassi –Auditorium23, 24. VI: Francesca Foscarini:Back Pack

Teatro alle Tese17. VI: Emanuel Gat Dance:Sunny22. VI: Rosas: Vortex Temporum– c. A. T. De Keersmaeker25. VI: Trisha Brown DanceCompany: Planes; Opal Loop;Locus; For M.G.: The Movie

Tese dei Soppalchi – Arse-nale17. VI: Cie Nacera Belaza: Sur le fil18. VI: Isabelle Schad, LaurentGoldring: DER BAU22. VI: Yasmine Hugonnet: La

Svetlana Zakharova – Ballet ofthe San Carlo Theatre, Naples:

“Carmen Suite”, c. AlbertoAlonso (ph. P. Abbondanza)

Rome Opera Ballet: “Raymonda”, c. Rudolf Nureyev(ph. Y. Kageyama)

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Ronde/Quatuor24. VI: Co. Adriana Borriello:Col corpo capisco25. VI: Annamaria Ajmone: TinyExtended

Teatro Piccolo Arsenale18. VI: Cie Maguy Marin: Duod’Eden23. VI: Hiatus: DBDDBB – c.D. Linehan25. VI: Zoo: Inaudible – c. T.Hauert

Sale d’Armi – Arsenale21. VI: Camilla Monga: 13Objects; Albert Quesada, ZoltánVakulya: Onetwothreeonetwo22. VI: Lara Russo: Ra-Me23. VI: Gabriel Schenker: PulseConstellations24. VI: Marina Giovannini: Duet-to nero

Teatro La Fenice (SaleApollinee)17, 18. VI: Daniele Ninarello:Kudokusenale

Cenacolo Palladiano18. VI: Shobana JeyasinghDance: Outlander

Verona Arena

18. VII: Roberto Bolle andFriendsEstate Teatrale Veronese

Teatro Romano25. VII-6. VIII: Momix: Opus Cac-tus – c. M. Pendleton19, 20. VIII: Ballet du GrandThéâtre de Genève: Roméo etJuliette – c. J. Bouvier

Cortile Mercato Vecchio1, 2. VII: Ersilia Danza: La stessasostanza dei sogni – c. L.Corradi9. VII: Co. Simona Bucci: EnterLady McBeth – c. S. Bucci

17. VII: Co. Fabula Saltica: Acuore aperto – c. C. Ronda30. VII: Balletto di Sardegna:La Tempesta – c. C. Genta

MONACO

Monte-Carlo Opéra Garnier

30 . VI - 3 . VI I : M i kha i lBaryshnikov: Letter to a man21-24. VII: L’Enfant et lesSortilèges – c. J. Verbrugen; LeBaiser de la Fée – c. V. Varnava– Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo28-30. VII: Roméo et Juliette –c. J.-C. Maillot – Les Ballets deMonte-Carlo

RUSSIA

St. PetersburgStars of the White Nights

Mariinsky Teatr22. VI, 8. VII: Chopiniana; LeSpectre de la Rose; La Mort ducygne; Shéhérazade – c. M.Fokine – Mariinsky Ballet29. VI, 23, 24. VII: Le Lac descygnes – c. M. Petipa, L. Ivanov(K. Sergeyev) – Mariinsky Ballet2. VII: La Sylphide – c. A.Bournonville – Mariinsky Ballet3. VII: Evening with UlyanaLopatkina5, 6. VII: Raymonda – c. M.Petipa – Mariinsky Ballet16. VII: Marguerite and Armand– c. F. Ashton; Chopiniana – c.M. Fokine; In the Night – c. J.Robbins – Mariinsky Ballet

Mariinsky Theatr II15, 16, 17. VI: The BronzeHorseman – c. Y. Smekalov –

Mariinsky Ballet19. VI: Symphony in ThreeMovements – c. R. Poklitaru;Sacre – c. S. Waltz – MariinskyBallet2 0 . V I : A n E v e n i n g o fContempory Choreography26, 27. VI: Anna Karenina – c.A. Ratmansky – Mariinsky Ballet30. VI: The Little HumpedbackHorse – c. A. Ratmansky –Mariinsky Ballet4. VII: Prodigal Son – c. G.Balanchine; Russian Ouverture– c. M. Petrov; Violin Concertono. 2 – c. A. Pimov – MariinskyBallet14. VII: La Belle au bois dormant– c. M. Petipa – Mariinsky Ballet20. VII: Symphony in C – G.Balanchine; Symphony in ThreeMovements – c. R. Poklitaru –Mariinsky Ballet25. VII: Jewels – c. G. Balanchine– Mariinsky Ballet

Mikhailovsky Theatre11, 12. VI, 12, 13, 14, 15. VII:Don Quichotte – c. M. Petipa,A. Gorsky – Mikhailovsky Ballet21, 22, 23, 24. VI, 5, 6, 7, 9. VII:La Belle au bois dormant – c.N. Duato – Mikhailovsky Ballet27, 28, 29. VI, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.VII: Le Lac des cygnes – c. M.Petipa, L. Ivanov (A. Gorsky, A.Messerer) – Mikhailovsky Ballet1, 2. VII: La Bayadère – c. M.Petipa – Mikhailovsky Ballet18, 19, 20. VII: Giselle – c. J. Coralli,J. Perrot, M. Petipa – MikhailovskyBallet22, 23. VII: Laurencia – c. V.Chabukiani – Mikhailovsky Ballet1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 25, 26,27, 28. VIII: St PetersburgTchaikovsky Ballet Theatre: LeLac des cygnes

Moscow Bolshoi Teatr (new stage)

25, 26, 28, 29. VI: Ondine – c. V.Samodurov – Bolshoi Ballet2, 3. VII: Anyuta – c. V. Vassiliev– Bolshoi Ballet14, 15, 16, 17. VII: The BrightStream – c. A. Ratmansky –Bolshoi Ballet Bolshoi Teatr (old stage)

6, 7. VII: Romeo and Juliet – c.Y. Grigorovitch – Bolshoi Ballet8, 9. VII: Jewels – c. G. Balanchine– Bolshoi Ballet

SWITZERLAND

Zürich Opernhaus

4, 9, 11, 12, 26, 30. VI: DerSandmann – c. C. Spuck – BalletZurich

Mariinsky Ballet, St. Petersburg: “Chopiniana”, c. Michel Fokine (ph. V. Baranovsky)

Svetlana Bednenko, Ivan Zaitsev – Mikhailovsky Ballet,St. Petersburg: “La Bayadère”

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Roberto Bolle, Terme di Caracalla, Roma(ph. F. Squeglia)

twyla tharp - letsballet · twyla tharp ... is to be given to hans van manen, the great dutch...

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