Preljocaj, Research and Creation: Dance

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.
COM/WSNWS
ENGLISH
edition
n° 276 • the international DANCE magazine
€ (Euro zone) • UK 5,00 £ • Switzerland 8,00 CHF • USA 8,00 $ • Canada 7,00 $; TOM 650 CFP)
Preljocaj,
Research
and Creation
4,90
9
РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
10
3
4
Editor-in-chief
Alfio Agostini
Contributors/writers
Erik Aschengreen
the international dance magazine
Leonetta Bentivoglio ENGLISH Edition
Donatella Bertozzi
Valeria Crippa
Clement Crisp
Gerald Dowler
Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino
Marinella Guatterini This issue’s cover story
Marc Haegeman is devoted to
Anna Kisselgoff choreographer Angelin
Dieudonné Korolakina Preljocaj . On the cover
Kevin Ng Isabel García López,
Jean Pierre Pastori from Ballet Preljocaj, in
“Gravité” at the Lyon
Martine Planells
Biennale (ph. J.C.
Olga Rozanova
Carbonne)
Roger Salas
Sonia Schoonejans Above, Preljocaj
René Sirvin rehearsing his new
Lilo Weber “Winterreise” for La
Scala ballet company;
Editorial assistant
with Antonella Albano
Cristiano Merlo and Nino Sutera
Translations ( ph. Brescia & Amisano,
Simonetta Allder Teatro alla Scala)
Cristiano Merlo
Editorial services, design, web
Luca Ruzza
6 News – from the dance world
Advertising
pub@ballet2000.com
ph. (+33) 09.82.29.82.84
20 Cover story :
(+39) 011.19.58.20.38 Angelin Preljocaj: Research and Creation
Subscriptions
service@ballet2000.com
28 On stage! Reviews :
La Scala Ballet, Milan
n° 276 - XII. 2018 Paris Opéra Ballet
Ballet du Rhin
Staatsballett Berlin
Compañía Blanca Li
Ballet du Capitole, Toulouse
Zurich Ballet
Grupo Corpo Staatsballett Berlin: “La Bayadère”
Tanz Luzerner Theater
Batsheva Dance Company
Ballet Nice Méditerranée
Compañía Nacional de Danza, Madrid
Stuttgart Ballet
The Royal Ballet, London
BALLET 2000
B.P. 1283 – 06005 Nice cedex 01 – F
tél. (+33) 09.82.29.82.84 Paris Opéra Ballet: “Glass Pieces”
Éditions Ballet 2000 Sarl – France 46 Cuba, ballet as heritage

ISSN 2493-3880 (English Edition)
Commission Paritaire P.A.P. 0723K91919 50 Multimedia : TV, Web, DVDs, Cinema...
Distribution : Messageries Lyonnaises de
Presse, 76 rue de Reuilly, 75012 Paris
Imprimé en France/Printed in France by
51 Things change: dance gets nasty
Imprimerie Trulli - 06140 Vence
54 Programmes TV
www.ballet2000.com
e-mail: info@ballet2000.com 56 International Calendar Zurich Ballet: “Winterreise”
5
Anna Laudere, Edvin Revazov –

Hamburg Ballet: “Brahms-Schoenberg
Quartet”, c. George Balanchine
(ph. K. West)
6
ECHOS
NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • BREVI
NEWS •• ECHOS
ECHOS ••BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • NEWS
ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS• BREVI
• ECHOS
• BREVES
• ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS
Companies
Lyon’s homage to Trisha
In January, the Lyon Opera Ballet is paying a
tribute to Trisha Brown, a leading figure of
American post modern dance who passed away
in 2017. The French company is dedicating to
her one of its “portrait programmes” of this
year (after a Merce Cunningham evening and
prior to a Jirí Kylián programme). Three works
by Brown have been chosen, the first of which
is Newark, a French creation made in 1987 for
the Centre National de la Danse Contemporaine
of Angers, an institution that holds historical
significance for French contemporary dance.
Rising and dropping backdrops, like a second
musical score, give Newark its tempo. The other
two works in this triple bill were made in col-
laboration with visual artist Robert
Rauschenberg: Foray Forêt (1990) is a sort of
foray into the subconscious, while the ultra-
famous Set and Reset/Reset (1983), to music by
Laurie Anderson, constitutes a manifesto of the
choreographer’s aesthetic principles, with the Lyon Opera Ballet: “Newark”, c. Trisha Brown (ph. M. Cavalca)
dance’s continuous flowing movement actually
concealing a complex and precise pattern of
trajectories. “Walpurgis Night” sequence of an imaginary Soir de fête), to George Balanchine. The Nice
and wild witches’ Sabbath teeming with de- company’s focus on period French repertory
mons. Various choreographers over the years is again borne out by their revival of Les Deux
A Nice Faust by Eric Vu-An have created to this music, some to produce Pigeons by Albert Aveline (1919) from the old
At the end of 2018 Ballet Nice Méditerranée ballets in their own right, independently of (and longer) late 19th-century ballet The Two
(i.e the troupe of the Nice Opera directed by the opera – from Léo Staats, director and Pigeons by Louis Mérante: a “charming” and
Éric Vu-An) presented a creation and a revival. choreographer of the Paris Opéra Ballet in the romantic ballet, it is emblematic of the elegance
Vu-An himself choreographed the dances from early 1900s (from whom Vu-An probably took and joie de vivre of the French school that Vu-
Charles Gounod’s Faust, the famous, long his cue, having already “resuscitated” Staats’ An has been reviving of late.
Marlene Fuerte, Luis Valle – Ballet Nice Méditerranée:“Faust”, c. Éric Vu An (ph. F. Levieux)
7
NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • NEWS • ECHOS • BREVI • BREVES • ECHOS
•
Louis Stiens, new kid on the

block in Stuttgart
As from September 2018 the Stuttgarter
Staatstheater (National Theatre of Stutt-
gart, Germany) has three new directors:
in addition to Tamas Detrich (who, as we
know, is the new artist director of the Stutt-
gart Ballet), there are also Victor Schoner,
Intendant of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and
regisseur Burkhard C. Kosminski, who is
at the helm of its drama company, the
Schauspiel Stuttgart. To inaugurate this
“new era”, a collaboration between the
ballet, opera and theatre companies has
been devised with a new production of
Die sieben Todsünden (“The Seven Deadly
Sins”), the ballet chanté (“sung ballet”)
created by Kurt Weill (music), Bertolt
Brecht (libretto) and George Balanchine
(choreography) in 1933. The new produc-
tion, directed by Anna-Sophia Mahler and
with choreography by Louis Stiens, will
debut in Stuttgart in February. Stuttgart
Ballet dancer Stiens is German and not yet Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo: “Petrushka”, c. Johan Inger (ph. A Blangero)
30; with a few works already to his name,
he began creating for the Stuttgart troupe
consequently, to the Ballets Russes too), albeit in
in 2014, having emerged as a dancemaker Nijinsky in Paris again a modern key, and presenting some recent
from the Noverre Society that sponsors Vaslav Nijinsky continues to be a source of recreations of famous works, all of which originally
young choreographers. inspiration also for contemporary choreographers danced by Nijinsky himself. The programme is
who, as well as creating shows on the life and entitled “En compagnie de Nijinsky” and was
Louis Stiens artistic personality of one of the most famous performed in Monte-Carlo in December; it is made
dancers of all times, often also re-create those up of titles all dating back to the early 20th century
works of which Nijinsky was the protagonist, or (a prolific and exciting era for ballet), including:
the few ones he created as a choreographer (and Daphnis et Chloé, re-choreographed by Jean-
which in his day had given rise to a great deal of Christophe Maillot, director of the Monaco
sensation and scandal). Thus, when they guest at company; Le Spectre de la Rose by Marco
the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris next Goecke; Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune by
February, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo will be Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen and
paying tribute to the “Dieu de la danse” (and, Petrushka by Swedish choreographer Johan Inger.
Ballet du Rhin: “The Heart of my Heart”, c. Gil Carlos Harush (ph. A. Poupeney)
France and Switzerland team up

As a result of an unprecedented collaboration,
two French companies and a Swiss one will be
sharing the same stage, at the Filature, Mulhouse
during the month of March and presenting three
recent creations which – according to a press release
– “underline the intention of these three
institutions to open up their repertoires to works
with a decidedly contemporary feel”. The
companies in question are the Ballet du Rhin
(the troupe of the French Rhine Opera, with a
triple base in Mulhouse, Strasbourg and Colmar),
the Ballet de Lorraine of Nancy and the Ballet
Theater Basel. The Rhine company are reviving
The Heart of my Heart by Israeli choreographer
Gil Carlos Harush, the Ballet de Lorraine Record
of Anciant Things by their director Petter
Jacobsson, while the Swiss company are to dance
There is Everything by Puerto Rican
choreographer Bryan Arias.
8
ECHOS
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • BREVI
NEWS •• ECHOS
ECHOS ••BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • NEWS
ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS• BREVI
• ECHOS
• BREVES
• ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS
Preljocaj and Kor’sia in Sicily

Svetlana Zakharova, Denis
The 2019 dance season at the Teatro Massimo Rodkin: “Carmen Suite”,
di Palermo (Sicily, Italy) begins in March with c. Alberto Alonso
a creation – the result of an unprecedented col- (ph. L. Romano)
laboration between Angelin Preljocaj and
Antonio De Rosa/Mattia Russo, a duo of young
Italian artists who have founded a tiny com-
pany called Kor’sia in Spain and have recently
come to the fore also creating for groups other
than their own. In May, Belgian choreographer
Micha Van Hoecke is creating a work for the
Palermo company entitled Atom Heart Mother,
from the title of an album by British rock bank
Pink Floyd; it will be coupled with Carmen
Suite by Alberto Alonso, with Svetlana
Zakharova in the title role. Mark your calen-
dars also for December 2019 when Jacopo Tissi,
the Italian dancer who emerged at La Scala,
Milan and is now with the Bolshoi, Moscow,
is billed to star in The Nutcracker by Cuban
choreographer Lienz Chang.
Ballet de Lorraine: “In the Upper Room”,

c. Twyla Tharp (ph. M. Rousseau)
Twyla Tharp in Nancy

In February the Ballet de Lorraine (based in
Nancy, France) is proposing its “Plaisirs
Inconnus” (Unknown Pleasures) programme
consisting in surprise choreographies to be dis-
closed only when the show starts. The month
of March is instead devoted to Twyla Tharp, a
‘grande dame’ of American dance, with a pro-
gramme that includes The Fugue, a work for
three dancers created in 1970 modelled on The
Musical Offering by Johann Sebastian Bach,
and of Nine Sinatra Songs, Tharp’s famous trib-
ute to ballroom dancing where romantic rela-
tionships are formed to the rhythm of tangos,
9
•
swings or cha-cha-chás. The programme is how-
ever completed by a completely different kind of The Bolshoi remembers Ekaterina Maximova
work inspired by the aesthetics of the Surrealist
movement and its political criticism, especially as Taking advantage of this or that anniversary, the Russian companies always find an
expressed in the films of director Luis Buñuel. It is excuse to celebrate their great artists at special soirées that lace the regular seasons’
by Spanish choreographer/director Marco Morau programmes. This is the case also, first and foremost, at the Bolshoi Theatre of
of the La Veronal company and borrows its title Moscow. Thus, on 1 February the great Muscovite theatre is paying tribute to Ekaterina
from that of the famous Surrealist periodical: Le Maximova on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of her birth and 10th of her passing.
Surréalisme au service de la révolution (“Surrealism Maximova was one of the most loved and internationally-famous Russian ballerinas
at the Service of the Revolution”). of her era and with her stage partner and husband Vladimir Vasiliev formed one of
the legendary partnerships of the Russian ballet. Various current principals of the
Bolshoi are to perform in this commemorative show, devised and organised personally
The Grand-Théâtre reopens in glory by Vladimir Vasiliev, which will feature some of the most significant roles of this
Following the Abou Lagraa creation Wahanda, next technically-dazzling ballerina whose stage personality ranged from roles “of charm”
March the Ballet du Grand-Théâtre de Genève to more academic and even dramatic ones.
(Switzerland) is returning to its home-stage which
reopened to the public at the end of 2018, after a Ekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vassiliev in 1979 in "Romeo and Juliet",
revamp of the theatre (which had been built in the c. Maurice Bejart (ph. F. Levieux)
Eclecticism style at the end of the 19th century)
that has brought to light some of its original
ornamental motifs. The Geneva-based dancers will
be dancing ballets by Jirí Kylián who has been
absent from their repertoire for the last 10 years.
Despite announcing his retirement as a
choreographer, the 71-year-old Czech
choreographer’s works nevertheless continue to
feature extensively on the billboards of many
European theatres. The Geneva troupe are reviving
two of Kylián’s most famous ballets: Bella Figura
and Petite Mort. Greek choreographer Andonis
Foniadakis’s Glory (to Händel’s Gloria) completes
the programme; it was created in Geneva in 2012
and thus returns to its origins after going all around
the world thanks to the numerous international
companies that have acquired it.
Ballet du Grand-Théâtre de Genève:

“Glory”, c. Andonis Foniadakis
(ph. M. Kunttu)
Belgium looks to Sweden

A distinctly Swedish breeze has been blowing
through the dance world for some time. After Birgit
Cullberg, a mother-figure of North European
modern expressionist dance, and her son Mats Ek,
choreographer/star of international note (who, after
announcing his retirement is now returning to the
Paris Opéra to create two new works next summer),
a whole generation of dancemakers has come to the
fore on the current European scene. It includes names
such as Johan Inger (51) and Alexander Ekman
(34) who are being coupled together by Ballet
Flanders for an evening of Swedish dance in
Antwerp and Ghent (the two Belgian cities where
the company mostly performs) in March and April.
The creativity of these choreographers seems to
find a common denominator in a playful approach
to life and to its funny and eccentric angles. B.R.I.S.A.
(Spanish for “breeze”) is a work by Inger according
to whom “a fresh wind of change always starts
with just the slightest breeze”, prelude to
revolution; it was created for the Nederlands Dans
Theater in 2014. It is coupled with Joy by Ekman,
created for Joffrey Ballet in 2017, a work whose
intent is self-explanatory.
10
11
•
Merce, 100 years, 100 solos

Albeit posthumous, this will perhaps be the biggest event in the history
of Merce Cunningham’s oeuvre: it is being organised to mark the centenary
of the birth of the great American modern dance choreographer, to date
one of the most influential authors on contemporary world dance. It is
undoubtedly the dance world’s most significant anniversary of 2019. The
‘event’ (to use a Cunningham word) is entitled Night of 100 Solos and
will take place on what would have been Cunningham’s 100th birthday
(he was born in 1919), on the night of 16 April, in chronological order at
the following institutions (taking into account the multiple time zones):
the Barbican, London – the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York –
the Center for the Art of Performance at the University of California,
Los Angeles. In each of these cities dancers of note from international
companies will perform 100 solos from the Cunningham repertory spanning
70 years; each show will last 75 minutes which, multiplied by three, will
give life to the greatest Cunningham event ever as there will be a live-
stream allowing anyone anywhere to experience each venue’s perform-
ance live. This international happening reflects Cunningham’s avant-garde
spirit and interest in technology and will kick off a series of events and
initiatives planned by the Merce Cunningham Trust which preserves the
oeuvre and copyrights of the greater innovator of modern dance. Cunningham
died in 2009 at the age of 90.
Merce Cunningham in “Antic Meet”

in 1958 (ph.Walker Art Center)
choreographer Johan Kobborg’s version of Don

ModenaDanza 2019 Quixote, with scenery and costumes by Jérôme An Anglo-French Fille
The ModenaDanza Festival at the Teatro Kaplan. In March South African choreographer The title is French (indeed it was, originally,
Comunale “Luciano Pavarotti”, Modena Dada Masilo presents her take on Giselle, a a French ballet) but in modern times it is
(Italy) kicks off in January with Aterballetto work from 2017 that followed on from a simi- one of the best-known ballets of the English
and its Johann Sebastian Bach programme that lar reworking of Swan Lake. Israeli dance takes repertory. We are of course referring to La
consists of a work by Jirí Kylián (Sarabande) centrestage in March and April, first with Sharon Fille mal gardée created by Frederick
with a recent creation by Diego Tortelli. In Feb- Eyal and, afterwards, with the Batsheva Dance Ashton in London in 1960 for an extraordi-
ruary the festival hosts the Yacobson Ballet, a Company in Sadeh21, a work by their director narily bubbly Nadia Nerina as Lise, the
Russian company which will be touring in that Ohad Naharin. The festival tops off with young peasant girl who manages to elude
period and was founded in 1969 by Leonid Svetlana Zakharova, accompanied by a group her mother in spite of heavy surveillance.
Yacobson, a leading light of modern Soviet bal- of dancers from the Bolshoi Theatre of Mos- This rural ballet, with its droll characters
let; the Yacobson Ballet will be offering Danish cow, in her signature show entitled Amore. (who bring out the dancers’ acting/mime
skills), is in the repertoire in France, not
only at the Paris Opéra, where it is often
revived to acclaim, but also in Bordeaux
where in December the Ballet de l’Opera
National de Bordeaux performed it exten-
sively at the Grand-Théâtre. At the Paris
Opéra étoile Léonore Baulac and premier
danseur Paul Marque (who recently caught
the public’s attention in Paris) danced the
lead roles, with Alina Nanu, principal at the
Prague Opera House, taking the title role at
some performances.
Sofia Matyushenskaya,
Kimin Kim –
Yacobson Ballet:
“Don Quixote”
(ph. M. Logvinov)
12
ECHOS
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • BREVI
NEWS •• ECHOS
ECHOS ••BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • NEWS
ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS• BREVI
• ECHOS
• BREVES
• ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS
Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli

in rehearsal
Ferri and McGregor, the

enduring idyll
Alessandra Ferri is expected at La Scala, “Orphée et Eurydice” directed and with choreography by John Neumeier
Milan in April where she is to dance (seen at the première with Joffrey Ballet and singers from the Los Angeles Opera).
Woolf Works, the full-evening ballet cre- To debut shortly with the Hamburg Ballet (ph. T. Rosenberg)
ated for her by choreographer Wayne
McGregor at The Royal Ballet of Lon-
don in 2015. 55-year-old Ferri, it will Choreographers The Bubeníceks on trial
be remembered, returned to the stage in
2013 after retiring from it six years “Les Ballets Bubenícek” is a duo consisting in
Neumeier, Orpheus and Eurydice the 44-year-old twins Jirí and Otto Bubenícek.
earlier. The Italian ballerina began her
“second stage life” taking on custom- In February Orphée et Eurydice by Natives of the Czech Republic, the twins
made roles in dramatic – rather than Christopher W. Gluck will open at the Hamburg emerged at a young age at the Hamburg Ballet
dance – shows, but eventually made a Opera (Germany); as can be inferred from the as interpreters of John Neumeier (Jirí was later
full comeback to dance, even dancing title, this is the French version of Orfeo ed a principal also at the Semperoper, Dresden)
Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet (and Euridice. 79-year-old John Neumeier is and today create shows jointly with Jirí pro-
other repertory roles) with the three main reviving for his Hamburg Ballet (at whose ducing the choreography and Otto the sets,
companies where her amazing interna- helm he has been since 1973) this 18th-century costumes and (being also a musician) sometimes
tional career unfolded: The Royal Ballet opéra-ballet which he choreographed and the music too. A creation by Jirí, Carmen to
of London, American Ballet Theatre in directed last year for a Joffrey Ballet music by Georges Bizet, is awaited at the Rome
New York and La Scala Ballet in Milan. coproduction with the Los Angeles Opera Opera House in February; another by both
At The Royal Ballet (and elsewhere), (orchestra, choir and singers). twins (as always producing the choreography
Alessandra Ferri has formed a sort of The American choreographer, and scenery between
artistic partnership with one of Covent as is his wont, has also the two of them) is
Garden’s Resident Choreographers, designed the sets, costumes awaited in March at
Wayne McGregor, whose sculpturing of and lights for this show. the Stockholm Opera
movement has found its creative vehicle Neumeier’s big creation for the House for the Royal
in Ferri’s special personality, physique current season in Hamburg – a Swedish Ballet – in
and lines. Thus La Scala’s audiences will work based on the play The this case a full-
be able to see “their ballerina” again in Glass Menagerie by Tennessee evening work based
April in this long, three-act ballet, Williams (an author who is very on Franz Kafka’s
inspired by the life and works of English dear to Neumeier) – which was masterpiece The
writer Virginia Woolf. In fact Woolf supposed to debut next summer Trial.
Works is a somewhat controversial show has been postponed to
that has received a number of major December 2019. In the context
awards, but also some unfavourable of programmes dedicated to
reviews (see BALLET2000’s cover- young choreographers, it will be
story, issue No. 255, August 2015). An- replaced by three creations by
other Italian dancer, and one of The Royal three young company dancers
Ballet’s current principals, Federico (Marc Jubete, Aleix Martínez
Bonelli, will also be returning to Milan and Edvin Revazov) inspired Twins Otto
alongside Ferri. by sonnets by William and Jirí
Shakespeare. Bubenícek
13
•
Justin Peck (ph. M. J. Franklin)
Justin Peck commutes between

Broadway and NYCB
After creating for Mikhail Baryshnikov (see
News in our previous issue), 31-year-old
Justin Peck will shortly be presenting, during
the first part of 2019, two new creations for
New York City Ballet whose Resident
Choreographer he has been since 2014. The
Musical “Carousel” on Broadway directed and with choreography by Justin Peck first, at the end of January, is the novelty of
(ph. S. Krulwich) the company’s Winter Season. For the
occasion Peck will be working once again with
Goodbye to Richard Alston’s Company

Richard Alston Dance Company is to close in 2020. The company has been resident at The
Place in London for the past 24 years and has been English choreographer Richard Alston’s
principal vehicle for creation. The Place, London’s famous dance hub, has announced that it
wishes to embrace change and provide opportunities to younger dancemakers and their groups.
Stating that he appreciates The Place’s wish to provide a venue to the next generation, Alston
has thanked it for the support and encouragement he has received during his time there; at the
same time, he has announced that he is not ready to stop creating and will thus try to find new
opportunities to make dance. Now 70 years old, Richard Alston trained in London and with
Merce Cunningham in New York, and later went on to become Ballet Rambert’s Resident Cho-
reographer, setting up his own company in 1972. He has been a figure of note on the British
dance scene dur-
Richard Alston
ing recent decades
and has also been (ph. H. Glendinning)
appreciated
abroad for his musicality and refined choices in music.
Various celebrities in the dance world (both artists and
critics) have received the above news with sadness, ex-
horting Alston not to stop creating. Meanwhile the com-
pany has announced the mixed bill they are presenting
at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in March (the first of the
two final programmes to be performed at the Wells): it
is made up of two works by Alston, Brahms Hungar-
ian and Proverb (the latter to music by Steve Reich who
is also celebrating his 70th birthday), plus a creation by
Martin Lawrance, another choreographer closely asso-
ciated with the company.
Elly Braund, Nicholas Shikkis – Richard Alston

Dance Company: “Brahms Hungarian”,
c. Richard Alston (ph. C. Nash)
14
ECHOS
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • BREVI
NEWS •• ECHOS
ECHOS ••BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • NEWS
ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS• BREVI
• ECHOS
• BREVES
• ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS
American minimalist folk composer Sufjan

Stevens from whom a score has been
commissioned. It is their fourth work
together. The second creation debuts in May,
with no further information available at this
time. Meanwhile in 2018 Peck, whose career
is also flourishing in Europe (with creations
for major European companies), also made
his debut on Broadway by producing the cho-
reography for musical Carousel (music by
Richard Rodgers), in the best tradition of
NYCB choreographers, first and foremost
Balanchine and Robbins, with the crossover
between the worlds of ballet and musicals
‘jazzing up’ both genres respectively.
San Francisco Ballet: “Hummingbird”, c. Liam Scarlett (ph. E. Tomasson)
Californian shades of Scarlett Millepied’s French creation

33-year-old English choreographer Liam Scarlett’s 41-year-old French choreographer and former
international career (also on the other side of the ‘flash-in-the-pan’ director of the Paris Opéra
‘Pond’) is well underway at this point, Covent Garden Ballet (where he stayed for a single season),
Pompea Santoro and Mats Ek, of London’s Artist in Residence having already Benjamin Millepied, is returning to the French
a genuine artistic partnership worked with New York City Ballet, American Ballet capital for a few days with his own company,
Theatre and Miami City Ballet. However, the L(os)A(ngeles) Dance Project, which he, a
The name of Pompea Santoro is associ- American company with which he works the most former New York City Ballet dancer, founded
ated with that of Mats Ek, whose faith- is San Francisco Ballet, having already created in 2011 after leaving NYCB where he had
ful interpreter and muse (alongside his wife Hummingbird and Fearful Symmetries for them in already emerged as a dancemaker. Millepied
Ana Laguna) she has been, as well as as- the past (his full-evening ballet in 2016, presents his Californian company as a lab/
sistant and reconstructor of his works in Frankenstein, was a co-production between this hotbed for interdisciplinary collaboration
major theatres all over the world, from the company and The Royal Ballet of London). Scarlett between artists. At the Théâtre des
Paris Opéra, to La Scala and The Royal now returns to San Francisco for a new wor,k to be Champs-Élysées, from the end of January
Ballet of London. The 62-year old left her presented at the end of March as part of a mixed to the beginning of February, they will be
native Italy at the age of 17 to join the bill which will also include works by Justin Peck presenting a creation by their director/
Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm where she and another English choreographer, Arthur Pita. choreographer.
practically spent her entire 30-year career
as a brilliant dancer. Today, while con-
tinuing her artistic connection with Mats L.A. Dance Project – from left, Amanda Wells, Nathan Makolandra, Charlie Hodges, Frances
Ek, Santoro runs a school and young com- Chiaverini, Morgan Lugo, Julie Eichten and choreographer Benjamin Millepied (ph. R. Yager)
pany in Turin (Italy) where she grew up.
She recently presented a show at the Teatro
Astra in the context of the TorinoDanza
festival: modestly entitled Focus@MatsEk,
it actually recounted Santoro’s own artistic
career, citing numerous works by the Swed-
ish choreographer, from his earliest mas-
terpiece, The House of Bernarda Alba, to
Giselle, Carmen and an ensemble from Old
Children (Gamla Barn). The show was
interpreted by Santoro’s young dancers
on whom her passion and stage person-
ality have clearly rubbed off – the latter
there for all to see yet again when Santoro
made a brief personal appearance in the
course of the evening.
15
•
reshaped the physiognomy of this 40-dancer
strong German company and of its repertoire,
Polunin, from Nutcracker to adding his own creations to it, as well as
Sacre important acquisitions by leading choreogra-
The name of Sergei Polunin has re-ap- phers on the international scene. He is
peared in papers all over the world awaited in Vienna in September 2020 as next
thanks to the success of the new Walt director of the Staatsoper Ballet but will
Disney movie The Nutcracker and the continue his association with the Deutsche
Four Realms directed by Lasse Oper as “Resident Choreographer”. Noted
Hallström (director of Chocolat), a big for his choice in music, the first of Schläpfer’s
box office hit. (See review in this two creations, is awaited in February in
issue’s Multimedia section). Actress Duisburg and is set to Sergei Prokofiev’s
Keira Knightley is the protagonist of Seventh Symphony; the other one, scheduled
this film which, in a way, qualifies as in April in Düsseldorf, is set to Béla Bartók’s
a “ballet film” seeing as the cast also 44 Duets for 2 Violins.
features Misty Copeland of American
Ballet Theatre and Polunin in the
dance sequences. Alongside his film Directors
activity (which began in 2017 with
Sergei Polunin: “Sacré”, c. Yuka Oishi Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Murder
(ph. A. Das Neves) on the Orient Express), Polunin “the
Sweden looks to France
bad boy of ballet”, as he has been Nicolas Le Riche arrived at the Stockholm
nicknamed by the international media, continues to perform in Sacré, his signature Opera House last September and has taken
show devoted to Vaslav Nijinsky devised with Japanese choreographer Yuka Oishi. over at the helm of the Royal Swedish
It ran in December in Milan and Amsterdam. Nowadays Polunin, who caused a Ballet. He has firmed up a season that
sensation when he quit The Royal Ballet of London, isn’t tied to any one company preserves a few of the company’s repertory
but regularly performs at the Munich Opera House with the Bavarian State Ballet ballets, such as Marcia Haydée’s version of
directed by Igor Zelensk as “permanent guest dancer” together with various other The Sleeping Beauty or Pär Isberg’s The
well-known Russian dancers. Nutcracker (ispired by The adventures of
Peter and Lotta, the famous Swedish
children’s book invented by author/painter
creations by its director, Martin Schläpfer, Elsa Beskow), whilst also introducing works
Martin Schläpfer’s pre-Vienna planned in the two cities where it is based, by choreographers of note on the international
creations Duisburg and Düsseldorf. 58-year-old plane, from Jirí Kylián to Angelin Preljocaj
During the coming months the Deutsche Schläpfer, is Swiss and a prolific and Alexander Ekman. Next February there
Oper am Rhein ballet company has two choreographer; in the past few years he has will be a French mixed bill that includes Suite
Marco Goecke, a German of Europe

Two creations by Marco Goecke are expected over the next few months – in
February at the Paris Opéra and in March at the Opernhaus Zürich. Today
46-year-old Goecke is one of the internationally best-known German choreog-
raphers. He began his career as an author with the Nederlands Dans Theater in
The Hague and then with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany (in the context of
the Noverre Society, the institution that trains and mentors young choreogra-
phers): in fact Goecke is considered a discovery of Reid Anderson (until a few
months ago director of the Stuttgart) thanks to whom he was the company’s
Resident Choreographer as from 2005. Meanwhile he has been creating for various
other companies in Europe and the rest of Europe where his creations stand
out thanks to his hallmark style characterised by abrupt, frenzied movements.
Although Goecke ceased to be the company’s Resident Choreographer last Sep-
tember with the incumbency of new Stuttgart Ballet director Tamas Detrich, it
suffices to glance at the Calendar pages towards the end of this issue to note
how many works of his are being offered by major theatres and companies
around Europe. As from the next season, Goecke is to take over at the helm of
the Ballet of the State Opera in Hanover (Germany), thereby embarking on a
new artistic adventure. His first creation for the Paris Opéra Ballet is awaited Première of Marco Goecke’s “Nijinsky” (with Rosario
in February: no details are available as yet, apart from an anticipation by the Guerra and Luke Prunty of Gauthier Dance,
choreographer himself who has described his new work as “a daydream”. The Stuttgart), now awaited at the Ballett Zürich
creation will be part of a mixed bill, along with works by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (ph. R. Brocke Klein)
and Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg. In March, Goecke is to stage Nijinsky
for the Zürich Ballet – a recreation of a work he originally created for Gauthier
Dance of Stuttgart and is now reviving and expanding for the more numerous Zürich troupe and facilities offered by a large opera house.
The show, to music by Chopin and Debussy, recounts the life and career of iconic Ballet Russes dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, the boundary
between artistic creativity and madness, the uniqueness of Nijinsky’s interpretative genius and the phantasms of a mind overrun with
serious mental problems.
16
ECHOS
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • BREVI
NEWS •• ECHOS
ECHOS ••BREVI
ECHOS• •BREVES
ECHOS • NEWS
ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS• BREVI
• ECHOS
• BREVES
• ECHOS• ECHOS
• ECHOS
Royal Swedish Ballet: “The Sleeping Beauty”, c. Marcia Haydée (ph. S. Vilks)
en blanc, one of the few works by Serge Lifar Édouard Lalo’s Namouna, the ballet features up by a multi-tiered unadorned stage. A
still performed today: created at the Paris a series of “academic technique studies” in creation by former Paris Opéra danseur-étoile
Opéra in 1943 to various extracts from the poetic and serene atmosphere conjured Jérémie Bélingard completes the programme.
Obituary
Arthur Mitchell
Arthur Mitchell passed away in New York last September at the age of 84.
He was one of the male leading lights during New York City Ballet’s heyday,
joining the company in 1955 and becoming the first Afro-American dancer to
be nominated principal in a US ballet company and, thus, a symbol of re-
demption and social achievement for Black Americans. It was precisely in or-
der to give opportunities to black classical dancers – for many years discrimi-
nated against in ballet, an art considered for “Whites only” – that Mitchell
founded the Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969 with Karel Shook and created a
number of ballets for them. He remained at the company’s helm for many
years although it was put on hiatus in 2004 owing to severe financial con-
straints. As of 2012 the Dance Theater of Harlem is back to its full company
status, albeit with a reduced activity. But Mitchell will be remembered espe-
cially as one of NYCB’s big male stars. George Balanchine created various
roles for him, including (to mention only the most notable titles) Allegro Brillante
(1956) and Agon (1957 – period footage of the central pas de deux, which
Mitchell dances with Diana Adams, can be seen on YouTube); in 1962 Mitchell
also created, to huge acclaim, the sprightly and humorous role of Puck in
Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After training at the School of
American Ballet (NYCB’s school), and before entering the company, he per-
formed on Broadway and with the modern dance ensembles of Donald McKayle
and John Butler, the latter creating for him (as did choreographer John Taras)
once Mitchell was with NYCB.
Arthur Mitchell in 1963 at the

New York City Ballet
(ph. Getty Images)
17
•
English National Ballet rings in

the New Year
As the curtain at the London Coliseum falls
at the end of December 2018 on English Na-
tional Ballet’s traditional performances of The
Nutcracker by Wayne Eagling (concept by Toer
van Schayk), ENB kickstarts the New Year (3-
13 January) with Swan Lake, choreography by
Derek Deane (after Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov)
with principals Jurgita Dronina and Isaac
Hernández in the main roles. A limited re-run
(16 to 20 January) of Kenneth Macmillan’s
Manon follows hot on the heels of this timeless
ballet classic, with Joseph Caley as the penni-
less student René Des Grieux, and Alina Mark Morris Dance Group in “Pepperland”,
Cojocaru as the frivolous but endearing Manon, c. Mark Morris (ph. M. Hayward)
as ENB prepares to take Akram Khan’s ac-
Promotional photo of Scottish Ballet’s claimed Giselle on an international tour.
“Crucible” c. Helen Picket outside of his own company. The Richard
Alston Dance Company is offering mixed pro-
Pepperland comes to Sadler’s gramme featuring two new works, Brahms
Scottish Ballet’s golden jubilee Wells Hungarian (choreography by Alston, to music
Scottish Ballet is celebrating its 50th anniver- A crammed programme of dance continues at by Brahms played live by pianist Jason
sary in 2019 with two new, major productions. the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London even Ridgway), Detour by Martin Lawrance, and
The first, The Crucible by American choreog- once the long run of Matthew Bourne’s Swan the revival of Proverb, one of Alston’s most
rapher Helen Pickett, is based on Arthur Mill- Lake ends on 23 January. The Tanztheater telling pieces, set to the vocals of Steve Reich.
er’s emotionally-gripping play by the same name Wuppertal Pina Bausch is expected (14-17 Feb- Mark your calendars (20-23 March) for the
about the witch trials in 17th-century colonial ruary) performing Since She by Greek choreog- Mark Morris Dance Group in Pepperland, a
Massachusetts. To a score by British composer rapher and 2004 Athens Olympic Opening show bursting with energy and colour and
for contemporary ballet, film and television, Ceremony Dimitris Papaioannou – their first clearly inspired by one of the most iconic pop
Peter Salem (whose name, one cannot help no- full-length work by a guest choreographer, while albums of all times, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
ticing, is the same as that of the village where also being the first work that he has created Club Band. With choreography by Mark Mor-
the witch hunt took place), ris and Ethan Iverson’s new orchestrations to
The Crucible will receive its be played alongside the original Beatles songs.
world premiere in the opening
week of the Edinburgh
International Festival 2019. Don Q revived at Covent Garden
The second creation, The The Royal Ballet of London’s most recent
Snow Queen, will bring version of Don Quixote (choreography by Carlos
Scottish Ballet’s 50th year to Acosta after Marius Petipa), created by the
a spectacular close. Inspired Cuban dancer in 2013, gets a new run at Covent
by Hans Christian Andersen’s Garden from 15 February to 4 April, with vari-
much-loved fairytale, billed as ous casts, the principal one being led by
“a glittering winter tale” and Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov.
bound to attract a family
audience during the Christmas
season, The Snow Queen will Marianela Nuñez, Carlos Acosta –
be set to the music of Rimsky- Royal Ballet: “Don Quixote”,
Korsakov performed live by c. Carlos Acosta (ph. J. Persson)
the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.
The story-ballet will be
choreographed by Scottish
Ballet’s Artistic Director
Christopher Hampson, with
designs by the award-winning
Lez Brotherston who has
worked extensively with
Matthew Bourne.
Jurgita Dronina and

Isaac Hernández –
English National Ballet:
“Swan Lake”,
c. Derek Deane
(ph. L. Liotardo)
18
19
ON THE COVER
Angelin Preljocaj, Research

and Creation
The most famous choreographer primed in France in recent decades has a special
flair for a “contemporary” imbued with classical dance. After the Paris Opéra, New
York City Ballet, the Bolshoi of Moscow and other big companies,
in January La Scala Ballet Milan is to present “Winterreise”, a new creation
by Preljocaj, to music by Schubert
There are few French choreographers capable of cre- didn’t consider dance a ‘male’ thing, the young Alba-
ating with the same ease both for classical dancers and nian boy took off his judo kimono and donned a leo-
“contemporary” dancers (meaning those who haven’t tard instead.
had classical/academic training). 61-year-old Angelin Hip hop hadn’t yet reached the suburbs of Paris where
Preljocaj, on the other hand, has no difficulty in switching the Preljocaj family lived, thus the future choreographer’s
from the former to the latter and he does so with the training began with ballet classes. The teenager how-
ease of an all-round artist endowed with special talent. ever felt the need to express himself over and beyond
Probably part of his ability comes from having had a the rules that govern academic ballet and so he began
broad-based training: he started off in ballet, studied to attend lessons given by Karin Waehner, a pupil of
German Expressionism, discovered American modern Mary Wigman, who was then teaching Expressionist
dance and then joined the company of Dominique Bagouet movement and improvisation.
who was the leading light of French contemporary dance However, thanks to a proactive undersecretary of cul-
in the 1980s. Some of Preljocaj’s works feature in the ture, Michel Guy (who founded the famous Festival
repertoires of the big ballet companies which have been d’Automne in Paris), it was American modern dance
commissioning bespoke creations from him. that was especially popular in France in the 1980s –
Why does a dancer become a dancer? Some will re- first and foremost Merce Cunningham. Preljocaj dis-
ply that it couldn’t be otherwise for them: they have covered him at one of the Events presented at the Angelin
always danced. Others will concede that chance may Centre Pompidou. Like many other young dancers, Preljocaj
have played a part in it. In Angelin Preljocaj’s case, he went off to New York to attend courses given by rehearsing
one can talk of a revelation: a photo of Rudolf Nureyev the great American choreographer, albeit continuing his creation
in his heyday, with a caption alluding to his defection to go to ballet lessons as well. Thus, at under 25 years “Winterreise”
from the Soviet Union, fascinated the twelve-year-old of age, he had a triple grounding, having added to his with La Scala
whose parents, similarly, were opponents of the Alba- classical training the modern idioms of German and dancers
nian regime and émigrés in France. The die was cast American dance which privilege, respectively, free (ph. Brescia/
and so, regardless of severe reproof from his father who expression and technique and form. Amisano)
20
Ballet Preljocaj:
“Gravité”,
c. Angelin Preljocaj
(ph. L. Philippe)
21
Upon returning to France, he soon entered the com- fiancées are anything but submissive and relations be- Ballet Preljocaj:
pany of Dominique Bagouet, one of the key figures of tween the two sexes soon veer towards collision. Geared “Roméo et
so-called French “nouvelle danse”. This was his big op- towards a basic form of story-telling, Preljocaj’s vo- Juliette”,
portunity. Similarly to Preljocaj, Bagouet had been clas- cabulary was already easily recognisable here with its c. Angelin
sically-trained but had also studied with Cunningham fast changes in direction, ground-level jumps and arms Preljocaj
in New York and Carolyn Carlson in Paris before win- flung into space – and it was praised by critics. (ph. J.-C.
ning the famous Concours de Bagnolet in 1976 and es- Shortly afterwards, in 1990, the Lyon Opera Ballet Carbonne)
tablishing his own group. The distilled dance of this commissioned from Preljocaj a Romeo and Juliet to music
“Pierrot lunaire” had such poetic impetus and gestural by Prokofiev. And once again, the French-Albanian cho-
punch that they left traces in his mature style. For two reographer nailed it. In his version the two lovers are
years Angelin danced for Bagouet, then became his as- no longer victims of two feuding families but, rather,
sistant and was encouraged by him to branch out into of a social structure in which classes remain categori-
creation. cally separate. Preljocaj put the girls on pointe, thereby
In 1985, after winning the Concours de Bagnolet him- demonstrating that he didn’t wish to be labelled as an
self – the first step towards official recognition, Preljocaj exclusively contemporary choreographer (a term that
established his own company for which he created, among in France, at the time, was in blatant contrast with classical
other works, Larmes blanches (“White Tears”, 1985) dance). Above all, by asking cartoonist Enki Bilal to
and À nos héros (“To our Heroes”, 1986), two short create the designs, Preljocaj kicked off a longstanding
works in which, along with a precision of lines and a collaboration with artists of all stripes to whom, from
diversified approach (he was still working under the dual then onwards, he was to turn for almost all his crea-
influences of Cunningham and Bagouet), his choreogra- tions. As was the case with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
phy’s hallmark sensuality, energy and calligraphic clarity which he admires, Preljocaj wants to work with con-
were already emerging. temporary creators. His intention also being that of testing
Thanks to the cultural policy of decentralisation and dance’s “resistance” vis-à-vis the other arts, collabo-
generous subsidies given to French institutions for cho- rating with visual artists, composers, writers, costumers
reographic creation, various CCNs (national choreo- or film directors, almost always of note, is thus an op-
graphic centres) and dance festivals began cropping up portunity for him to cultivate his imagination.
all over France. In 1989 one of these commissioned from But Preljocaj does not deny himself any kind of ex-
Preljocaj a choreography to Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces. perience, the search for pure movement being just as
It was his first big success. Thanks to his knowledge interesting to him as an all-round show. Throughout his
of Balkan traditions, Preljocaj de-russified the wedding entire career, passing through the various territories of
rite conceived by Igor Stravinsky and Bronislava Nijinska choreography, from one style to another – from an ab-
in 1923, stripping the work of any form of hierarchy stract ballet, such as Empty Moves, to story-ballets such
and transforming it into a wild abduction in which the as Snow White or Romeo and Juliet, from renderings of
22
Preljocaj: my winter’s journey towards La Scala

From 24 January to 9 March La Scala, Milan is offering a creation for the company by Angelin Preljocaj
entitled Winterreise (“Winter Journey”), from the title of one of Franz Schubert’s major works, the song-
cycle of 24 Lieder for voice and piano (op. D 911) which the choreographer has chosen for his latest work.
From La Scala’s perspective, this work is part of its successful series of ballets to chamber music; from
Preljocaj’s, it’s a venture into a spiritual and intimistic music, permeated with melancholy and human suffer-
ing. It’s a venture with a troupe that has already danced his works but on whom he hasn’t yet created. In
fact, the choreographer rarely works with companies other than his (this is only the third time in his long
career, having previously worked with the Paris Opéra and New York City Ballet), preferring to use his own
Ballet Preljocaj, based in Aix-en-Provence, as vehicle for his creations.
It was for Ballet Preljocaj that he created his latest full-evening work, Gravité, seen at the Lyon Dance
Biennale last September. That work, for 13 dancers only and set to a string of music (from Bach, to Xenakis,
to Ravel’s Boléro), is a sort of formal study of gravity as both the source and delimitation of human move-
ment in dance. Instead, Winterreise – if we are to go by his choice of music and the poems (by Romantic
poet Wilhelm Müller) – is going to be an inner journey, albeit a narrative, emotional one.
Alternating explicit content and abstraction is a characteristic of Preljocaj’s oeuvre. He himself tells us
about it:
– Yes, of course, there’s a sort of contrast between

abstract and narrative in my works, but perhaps this
is merely what appears. For example, the theme of
Gravité, is abstract and concrete at the same time;
from my point of view I was writing a syntax on gravity
in dance. It’ll be a completely different matter when I
approach the verses of Müller’s Lieder, set to music
by Schubert, which express moods through the me-
dium of poetry and are a journey – a thrilling jour-
ney – into the depths of the soul.
Personally, however, I’m also very interested in the
science of the basic interrelations that govern body
movement in choreographic construction, even in the
possibility of calculating these interrelations. This is
a highly concrete study that can lead to a technologi-
cal kind of result: it’s pure research, as carried out
by John Cage or Stockhausen. My wish is to do the same vis-à-vis movement, energy, speed, the use of space
in pure choreographic work.
– How does this research apply to your story-ballets, for example your Romeo and Juliet?
– Here I can give you a precise example. At a certain point Juliet is believed to be dead, a dead weight in
other words, but you see her standing up and Romeo dances with her inert body; the effect is the result of my
“laboratory side”, of a study I conducted myself into the principles of active/inactive, unconnected to the
dramaturgy to which it was later applied. It’s what I call the concrete application of pure research. This is all
the more evident in my abstract works, such as Gravité, where I’m continually asking myself the question of
heaviness, of physical weight, as the first datum of an equation to be solved. I obtain all the lab findings that I
then need to develop into a “research work for public viewing” that will show choreographic thought in
progress, the actual process that takes place in my mind during creation. But all this detracts nothing from
the theatrics. I love story-telling, just as I love research: it’s an essential part of my work.
– Will the new Winterreise at La Scala also tell a story?
– In a way, but it will tell of sentiments in an entirely free interpretation of the lyrics, although there is cer-
tainly going to be a “story” of sorts underlying the idea of a journey.
– It has been noted that it’s rather unusual for you to work with a company other than your own...
– Indeed it is. The artistic understanding that, clearly, the dancers of my own company can guarantee is
important to me. Various pre-existing works of mine have entered the repertoires of other companies but so
far I’ve only produced creations for the Paris Opéra, New York City Ballet and, now, for La Scala. But let’s
not forget that I’ve already restaged Le Parc and La Stravaganza for La Scala’s dancers – hence they are
familiar with my style and work, which is highly reassuring when it comes to a challenging work like Winterreise.
That’s why I was happy to accept Frédéric Olivieri’s invitation to create a new work for them. When I met
them again I found the company has further grown as a whole, with some really interesting personalities. I
immediately singled out some of them for specific roles which are going to be – to get back to what we were
saying – abstract, but not too abstract...
(A.A.)
23
If you click on “Boutique” on Ballet Preljocaj’s website (www.preljocaj.org) you’ll find a selection of DVDs
with works by Preljocaj. His great success Le Parc, created for the Paris Opéra and also restaged at La Scala,
Milan, is available on a Bel Air Classiques label. The recording dates back to the year it was created, 1994,
with the original cast led by Isabelle Guérin and Laurent Hilaire.
Another Opéra creation of his, Siddharta, with Nicolas Le Riche and Aurélie Dupont, is available on an Art
Haus label, while a DVD released by Opus Arte features the Parisian troupe in Le Songe de Médée (“Medea’s
Dream”), with Marie-Agnès Gillot and Wilfried Romoli, and in MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps).
Ballet Preljocaj can instead be seen on two DVDs released by MK2, Eldorado and Blanche-Neige (“Snow
White”), while a TF1 DVD brings us a film directed by Preljocaj and Valérie Müller, Polina, danser ma vie:
it’s the story of a promising young Russian dancer who is about to enter the Bolshoi Ballet when a contem-
porary dance show reveals a new facet of dance to her…
the Ballets Russes repertory, such as Le Sacre du or Laurent Mauvignier for Ce que j’appelle oubli (“What
printemps or Noces, to spiritually-inspired works such I Call Oblivion”). Not to mention his forays into film,
as MC 14/22 Ceci est mon corps (“This is my Body”), in particular his direction (jointly with Valerie Müller)
or to works that are based on a desire to represent re- of Polina.
ality, such as N. However, Preljocaj’s talent is all the In 2009, at the age of 52 after he had gradually stopped
more fired-up when it is juxtaposed with that of other dancing in his works, he made a solo stage comeback
creators he admires or when it is inspired by literary (in which he both acted and danced) in Le Funambule
works such as those by Pascal Quignard for L’Anoure (“The Tightrope Walker”); with a text by Jean Genet,
Elisa Carrillo
Cabrera –
StaatsBallett
Berlin:
“Snow White”,
c. Angelin
Preljocaj
(ph. E.
Nawrath)
24
Aurelie
Dupont and
Nicolas Le
Riche of the
Paris Opéra
in the famous
kiss scene
from “Le
Parc” by
Angelin
Preljocaj (ph.
P. Victor)
this one-man-show explored the willpower, needs and

loneliness of an artist. Preljocaj made this long poetic
At the Pavillon Noir...
meditation, which Genet dedicated to his acrobat lover, Since 2006 Angelin Preljocaj has been at the helm
an excellent viaticum for any dancer. of Ballet Preljocaj/National Choreography Centre of
The versatility with which the choreographer switches Aix-en-Provence (south of France), based at the Pavillon
from one genre to another is replicated in his relation- Noir, a building which he himself partially designed
ship with dancers and the way he is capable of switch- alongside architect Rudy Ricciotti. The locales include
ing from creations for his own company of contempo- four rehearsal studios, several offices and a theatre.
rary dances to others for ballet troupes, and of adapting Apart from 24 permanent company dancers and ad-
to the technique of his interpreters and bringing it out ministrative staff, it’s worth noting that there is a
to the maximum – as he did when he worked with New choreologist, i.e. a choreography notator, so that each
York City Ballet for the first time (1997) and infused creation, noted down, can be restaged as per its original
La Stravaganza with the athletic energy of these Ameri- format without the stratifications of subsequent
can dancers. revivals. At the onset of the 1990s, the demise of many
By contrast, Le Parc, Preljocaj’s first creation for the still fully-active choreographers had raised the problem
Paris Opéra Ballet in 1994, is infused with the more of memory and of the survival of their works. Conscious
traditional style of the august ‘maison’ consisting in a of the transience of dance, Preljocaj immediately rose
detached elegance. An absolute control is of essence also to the challenge of preserving and transmitting it. He
in the iconic kiss scene – perhaps the longest one in himself filmed a number of his ballets and, above all,
the history of ballet – which became famous thanks to thanks to his encounter with choreologist Noémie
the advert Preljocaj made for Air France shortly after- Perlov, became an enthusiast in dance notation and its
wards. various systems.
In L’Apocalypse de Saint-Jean (“The Apocalypse of S.S.
St John”) he teamed up ten dancers from his own com-
pany with ten from the Bolshoi of Moscow, thereby
creating an interesting juxtaposition between the aca-
demic rigour of an ancient code and the flexible supple-
ness of a contemporary group.
Preljocaj’s style proved itself yet again to be an unu-
sual fusion of influences, always however supported
by a search for formal clarity.
Sonia Schoonejans
The Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence,

the headquarters of Ballet Preljocaj
(ph. J.-C. Carbonne)
25
victims of that love disease called AIDS. What fasci-

...and at the Paris Opéra nated Preljocaj was not so much the adventurous per-
sonality of Casanova the unrepentant libertine, but,
Preljocaj’s innovative rendering of Les Noces in 1989 rather, what goes on below skin-level, the fluids and
was noticed by Rudolf Nureyev who was then at the humours circulating voluptuously among bodies that are
helm of the Parisian troupe. A few years later, in 1993, victims of a sexuality that leads them towards dissolu-
Preljocaj was invited back to the Opéra with his own tion and consumption. Yet again, the work was a win-
company to recreate two other Diaghilev titles as part ner. In 2004, with a new generation of dancers having
of a tribute to the Ballets Russes: Le Spectre de la Rose stepped in to revitalize the company, Preljocaj was once
and Parade. The following year, the Opéra’s new di- more asked to create for the Opéra Ballet in the con-
rector Brigitte Lefèvre asked him to create Le Parc for text of a bill featuring his new work, Le Songe de Médée
the Parisian dancers: a first commission, a first hit. To (“Medea’s Dream”), alongside a creation by English cho-
music by Mozart (with additional music by Goran reographer Wayne McGregor. Preljocaj approaches the
Vejvoda) and with a shrubbery scenography in which myth from an unusual angle, that of the ambiguity of
each shrub conceals one of love’s perils, our choreog- maternal love, rather than of the murderous jealousy of
rapher seeks to bring forth a new art of love by explor- an abandoned wife. Lastly, in 2010, came Siddharta,
ing the whole palette of love, from sublimation to lib- presented as a spiritual quest.
ertinism, from detachment to frenzy. Unanimously In addition to the above creations we must add the
Alice acclaimed by press and public and revived many times, famous female duet L’Annonciation (“The Annuncia-
Renavand – Le Parc went on to enter the repertoires of other big tion”) , the male duet Trait d’union and a work for 12
Paris Opera companies such as Teatro alla Scala and the Mariinsky male dancers, MC 14/22, subtitled Ceci est mon corps
Ballet: “Le of St Petersburg. (“This is my Body”), which entered the repertoire in
Parc”, c. Four years later a new commission resulted in Casa- 1996, 2003 and 2004 respectively. All these works have
Angelin nova, allowing him to reflect again on love, but this time built up a relationship of deep trust and shared pleas-
Preljocaj (ph. with a more melancholic and “medical” slant. In those ure between Preljocaj and the Opéra dancers.
A. Poupeney) days, the ballet world was still grieving for its dead, Sonia Schoonejans
26
27
• critics • critics ON S TA G E ! critics • critics •
La Scala Ballet Nevertheless, after Nicoletta Manni’s tech- Paris Opéra Ballet
nique-based Manon, alongside Timofej
Andrijashenko’s elegant Des Grieux, we wit-
nessed with pleasure the birth of a new cou-
Manon, the Lescauts and ple, Emanuela Montanari and Claudio A tribute to Jerome
La Scala’s family Coviello, carried along by their common vision Robbins
of this ballet and whose lines and proportions
L’Histoire de Manon – chor. Kenneth were totally in sync. At home in the story- Chor. Jerome Robbins: Fancy Free, mus.
MacMillan, mus. Jules Massenet ballet repertory, Montanari was a sensitive Leonard Bernstein; A Suite of Dances, mus.
Milan, Teatro alla Scala and ever-changing Manon, credible both as Johann Sebastian Bach; Afternoon of a Faun,
a social climber in Paris’s salons and in her mus. Claude Debussy; Glass Pieces, mus.
After a long tour of China last September, ruinous downfall and deportation to Louisiana; Philip Glass
the Ballet Company of La Scala, Milan returned Coviello, bursting with passion, demonstrated Paris, Palais Garnier
to their home stage in L’Histoire de Manon. an interpretative maturity capable of delving
The cast was led, during the first few deep into Des Grieux’s self-harming roman- The Paris Opéra chose not to pay tribute
performances, by star couple Svetlana ticism. to French choreographer Marius Petipa, the
Zakharova/Roberto Bolle who have been danc- The choreography has a wealth of charac- bicentenary of whose birth fell this year. For-
ing the lead roles successfully for several ters and the company as a whole, and its in- tunately however, like most big companies in
years, in Milan and elsewhere. dividual soloists, were able to find therein the west, it did celebrate the centenary of the
Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet entered the numerous opportunities to shine alongside birth of another giant: American choreographer
repertoire at La Scala in 1994 thanks to the two protagonists. Thus, the role of Jerome Robbins. The programme consisted in
Alessandra Ferri (at the time dancing alongside Lescaut, Manon’s perverse brother, was four highly diverse works that pointed up the
Julio Bocca) who bought it back to the theatre portrayed in all its multiple nuances: in the freedom of inspiration and expression of a cho-
as part of her ‘dowry’ of pièces de résistance first cast, Nicola Del Freo, very strong reographer who, as the case may be, could be
from her early career in London. Ferri’s technically, brought out an unexpected dark austere or light, jovial or melancholic, scathing
finely-wrought interpretation remains and bullying aspect; in the second cast or funny, and whose style ranged from so-called
unparalleled, with the sinuosity of her Christian Fagetti’s Lescaut was neurotic and “neoclassical” ballet to jazz, often blending the
shoulders, her ample cambrés, her ability to lecherous, while in the third cast Walter two together.
break the line of her back as she flies tragically Madau emphasised the character’s cynicism Fancy Free, created in 1944, with its trio of
in the finale and her rendering of the workings and vileness, a puny upstart ambitiously sailors looking trying to find themselves girl-
of the mind of a teenager swept away by weaving his wanton web. friends before their shore leave ends, conjures
her own mischief in an unforgiving world. Valeria Crippa up a scene that wasn’t far removed from what
Nicoletta Manni, Massimo Garon, Nicola del Freo – La Scala Ballet, Milan: “L’Histoire de Manon”, c. Kenneth MacMillan
(ph. Brescia/Amisano)
28
Paris Opéra Ballet: “Glass Pieces”, c. Jerome Robbins (ph. S. Mathé)
could actually be seen on the streets of New the latter has a more serious, less vigorous ap- be doing in any big city. About forty dancers
York in those days. The versatile talent of young proach. in bright colours cross paths, seemingly indif-
Rabinovitch, who had of late adopted the stage Vaslav Nijinsky’s L’après-midi d’un Faune ferent to each other until the pace revs up and
name of Robbins, came together in a flash: a is definitely at the root of Afternoon of a Faun out of the crowd emerge couples that seem to
classic vocabulary, everyday gestures and ar- which Robbins created in 1953, but there is seeking out their own paths. In the second
ticulate mime, all of which exhilarated with an nothing traditional about his version. Robbins scene, which is set out like a fresco, a couple
entertaining zest of “swing”. The sets, wor- shows us two dancers in front of a mirror in a dance a serene duet while behind them silhouettes
thy of an Edward Hopper painting, together rehearsal studio as they rehearse Nijinsky’s of girls, moving in a file, can be seen in a bluish
with Leonard Bernstein’s score, conjure up choreography and observe one another. It’s a light. The ethereal – almost sci-fi – atmosphere
magnificently the very mood Robbins was seek- perturbing duet and not devoid of traps be- of this sequence conjures up the picture of a
ing: exciting and jolly – yet not happy, because cause the dancers have to convey the impres- perfect world in which Sae-Eun Park e Florian
the shadow of war looms over the feeling of sion of a mirror that isn’t actually there and Magnenet float around. The rhythm acceler-
happiness giving it a fleeting flavour. Fancy Free make the studio rehearsal a reflection of real ates in the third scene, as men come on stage,
was an immediate hit, giving Robbins and life, without slipping into Narcissism. Couple like gymnasts ready for the Olympics.
Bernstein the idea of turning it into a musical Myriam Ould-Braham/Mathias Heymann do No sets, no story, all is told in terms of motion
– On the Town – which soon afterwards be- this outstandingly, Léonore Baulac/Germain and rhythm, with a clarity of movement that
came a film starring Gene Kelly and Frank Louvet less so. makes Glass Pieces an authentic crystal gem.
Sinatra. Lastly, Glass Pieces, created in 1983 to Philip Sonia Schoonejans
No complaints about the Opéra dancers’ Glass’ repetitive music, joins
impeccable interpretation: sailors Paul Marque, together expressive force and
Alexandre Gasse and Alessio Carbone are funny, classical rigour and purity. Whilst
feisty and irresistible as they seduce Dorothée Dance – the lovely work that Philip
Gilbert, Valentine Colasante or Roxane Glass, choreographer Lucinda
Stojanov, girls with a spark, whose movements Childs and visual artist Sol Lewitt
are instantaneously responsive to those of the had created together four years
boys. A gem of a work, and now in the Opéra’s earlier – remains nothing but a
repertoire. merely formal piece, Glass Pieces
A Suite of Dances, which Robbins created arouses sentiment, kindles the im-
in 1994 for Mikhail Baryshnikov to music by agination and enthrals the public.
Bach, is always a challenging solo for any dancer: Here the girls aren’t in sneakers
the technical difficulties must appear seamless but on pointe.
to the spectator whose eyes are meant to fo- People are just walking around
cus on his amusing and jaunty interpretation in the first scene, as they would
and elegant complicity with the onstage cel-
list, in this case Sonia Wieder-Atherton.
François Alu, a principal who resembles a
danseur-étoile, and Hugo Marchand, a danseur-
étoile who resembles a principal, share the role: Francois Alu – Paris Opéra
the former is “foot” loose but incisive and al- Ballet: “A Suite of Dances”,
luringly scornful of the piece’s complexities; c. Jerome Robbins (ph. S. Mathé)
29
Ballet du Rhin must underline that one of the reasons The

Green Table doesn’t age is thanks to its ro-
bust architecture, expressionist vocabulary (al-
beit based on classical technique), and to a pur-
Dance as a political pose that remains topical.
manifesto The other work in this mixed bill, Fireflies,
is Bruno Bouché’s first creation for the Ballet
“Spectres d’Europe”: Fireflies – chor. Bruno du Rhin. After his first year as director, dur-
Bouché, mus. Nicolas Worms; La Table verte – ing which he opened up his company’s pro-
chor. Kurt Jooss, mus. Fritz A. Cohen gramme to international choreographers with
Mulhouse (France), Théâtre La Sinne a ‘distilled’ aesthetic, such as Jirí Kylián, Bouché
has now kicked off this second season with a
There is a certain logic to stitching together in more political slant as he explores the role of
this programme a “political ballet” from the the artist. How can he/she remain steadfast in
1930s and a creation that draws its inspira- a world that is going haywire?
tion directly from the contemporary world. First and foremost, Fireflies alludes to a fa- Ballet du Rhin: “The Green Table”,
After all, the intention of both German chore- mous article written in 1975 by Italian writer/ c. Kurt Jooss (ph. A. Poupeney)
ographer Kurt Jooss in 1932 and French cho- film director Pier Paolo Pasolini who drew a
reographer Bruno Bouché (director of the CCN parallel between the dying out of fireflies, those entrance and occupy the entire stage which ought
Ballet du Rhin) today is to entrench their art fragile little insects who light up summer nights, to have been more spacious to give greater
in the surrounding social reality. and the dying out of culture as people are breadth to all the running, jumping, grands jetés
Jooss created Die Grüne Tisch (“The Green drugged by TV and hoodwinked into uniformity and lovely arabesques which feature promi-
Table”), this vibrant satirical and tragic invec- and forced consumerism. nently as Bouché knows the classical vocabu-
tive against war, in a Germany that was al- Using the interpretation which Georges Didi lary and how to make good use of it. At times
ready preparing for war and a year before Hit- Huberman gives in his book La Survivance des the dancers, wearing rings of fluorescent lights,
ler’s rise to power; it was immediately banned lucioles (“Survival of the Fireflies”) and with dance in darkness to a very lyrical trio. There
in his country but came to be performed in the help of his dramaturge, writer Daniel are twenty of them but they seem far more
the rest of Europe and in America, still fea- Conrod, Bouché has created a work in which numerous thanks also to the shiny black lino-
turing today in the repertoires of various in- the light of the fireflies becomes that of a hu- leum that reflects their silhouettes and on which
ternational companies. mankind which is still capable of giving some the girls dance on pointe.
In France the Rhine Opera’s troupe has been signs of life, albeit intermittently. Not all is The soundtrack by Nicolas Worms is a patch-
dancing this work since 1991 when Jooss’ eldest lost, therefore, and although the world seems work of existing pieces ranging from Jordi Savall
daughter Anna Markard came to stage it for them. to be precipitating towards perdition, a shin- to British band Gorillaz, to an early composition
The Green Table is therefore almost 80 years ing intermittent light still radiates from the soul. by Worms himself, re-orchestrated for this work.
and has often been revived and “readjusted” by The ballet begins with a long walk. While There is much poetic melancholy in this quest
this artist who danced it under the guidance of spectators begin to take their seats, one of the for light, into which one enters as if in a dream
its creator (Jooss died in 1979). We must dancers, seated in a corner of the stage, sings and from which any form of resignation is
commend how precisely and correctly it has been Via del Campo, a song by Italian chansonnier banned. Fireflies should be seen as a beckon-
interpreted, restaged on this occasion by Fabrizio de André. ing to go lucidly (luminously?) into the night
Jeannette Vandersaar and Claudio Schellino. There is no shortage of symbols in this poign- “in flashes of light”.
Apart from the excellent interpretation, we antly poetic ballet. Soon the dancers make their Sonia Schoonejans
Ballet du Rhin: “The Green Table”, c. Kurt Jooss (ph. A. Poupeney)
30
Staatsballett Berlin
An old new Bayadère

La Bayadère – chor. Marius Petipa
(reconstruction Alexei Ratmansky), mus.
Ludwig Minkus
Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden
If you like pomp and circumstance, look

no further than Berlin. Germany’s capital of
our time is not known for its love of glam-
our, glory and expressive emotionality. This
seems to remind too much, as you can hear
people say in podium discussions, of times
when people let themselves be led too much
by their emotions. But now the Staatsoper
Unter den Linden shines in old glory. The
Staatsballett Berlin performs a new La
Bayadère which is the old one. Alexei
Ratmansky has reconstructed Marius Petipa’s
choreography; Jérôme Kaplan has put the story
of love and ugly scheming into a lavish set-
ting of Asian luxury and sublime landscapes
and the company indulges in opulent images
and expressive narrating.
The announcement of Johannes Öhman and
Sasha Waltz as joint directors of the
Staatsballett Berlin caused an uproar, espe- Polina Semionova, Alejandro Virelles – Staatsballett Berlin: “La Bayadère”,
cially among the dancers. They feared that the c. Alexei Ratmansky (ph. Y. Revazov)
repertoire might shift towards contemporary
dance and dancers’ jobs would be lost. This
was not the case as the first months of Celis and Sharon Eyal that went down well Sergeyev – according to him they are very de-
Johannes Öhman’s directorship have shown with press and public, and now a historic tailed in this case. The “Kingdom of the
– Sasha Waltz is to join next year. The number Bayadère that demands superb musicality, love Shades” is of bewitching beauty, with tiny
of dancers’ positions has been raised to 92 for detail and convincing acting skills. stops with each arabesque changing the pace.
and the Staatsballett Berlin has mastered two As with The Sleeping Beauty, Paquita and The 32 ballerinas come down from the moun-
entirely different new programmes – a dou- Swan Lake, Alexei Ratmansky has relied on tains – Solor seems to look from his sofa di-
ble bill with contemporary pieces by Stijn Harvard University’s notations by Nicolas rectly towards the Himalayas. It goes with-
Staatsballett Berlin: “La Bayadère”, c. Alexei Ratmansky (ph. Y. Revazov)
31
Cie Blanca Li:

“Solstice”
(ph. L. Philippe)
at dance festivals to actively

follow a nascent movement
that was developing into the
amalgam of choreographic ten-
dencies that were to assert
themselves in the following
decades, right up until the
present.
Blanca Li (stage name of
Blanca María Gutiérrez Ortiz,
born in Granada 54 years ago)
is Spanish but her artistic
career has raised her to a non-
secondary position in French
“nouvelle danse”. It was
precisely at Suresnes that Mac-
adam Macadam, a creation
commissioned by the festival
itself, was premiered in 1999.
The work was a remarkable
undertaking with its own aes-
thetic hallmark and quite an
unusual style that amalgamated
Li’s various American modern
dance experiences, especially
the Martha Graham technique,
as well as the young street
dance of Harlem from which
hip hop descends.
Solstice, which we recently
saw in Madrid, is a medium-
out saying that the fourth act remains, with ever opens their eyes and heart up to it, will sized production with 14 dancers on stage,
the palace collapsing during the wedding. experience a fairytale evening where music, one musician and extremely well-implemented
The structure of the ballet does not vary plot and dance meet harmoniously and, in- visuals. Sets, video, costume and light designs
that much from Vladimir Malakhov’s version. terestingly, more coherently than in the more are all extremely important and of high-
There is less psychological interpretation of abstract versions. quality, enhancing the substance and poetic
characters and no Golden Idol. Yet, steps ma- Lilo Weber meaning of this creation which is a sort of
terial differs clearly from other versions. Legs choral song on the challenges, especially on
are lower, as are the jumps, pirouettes are Compañía Blanca Li the environmental front, that mankind has
turned with a lower free leg, and most strik- to face up to in our times. Nothing could be
ingly, acting and miming take up around 50 per- more apt than an African setting to express
cent of the narrating. Alexei Ratmansky nor- the metaphors of such a theme.
mally tries to follow Petipa’s choreography An environmental and It suffices to skim through the list of in-
without compromising with the technique of
today’s dancers. Thus, we see a brilliant dancer
choral song terpreters to understand the dance element
in this work; to mention a few examples:
like Alejandro Virelles walking, running, point- Solstice – chor. Blanca Li, mus. Tao Gutiérrez Yacnoc Abreu Alfonso, from Cuba; Iris
ing at his heart and at his head, but not re- Madrid, Teatros del Canal Florentuny who used to be, for a number of
ally doing much dancing – at least not in the years, a dancer with the Martha Graham
first two acts. The dancing is mainly done by It’s not amiss to cast our thoughts back Dance Company of New York; Joseph
groups, supporting characters like Vladislav to the French festival at Suresnes and its Gebraël from the Lebanon, with his sinuous
Marinov’s Fakir and by the women soloists: discovery of urban dance. And of all that style of movement; Genci Hasa from Alba-
Yolanda Correa as Gamsatti and Polina upon which contemporary dance embarked nia, ballet-trained at the Tirana Opera; Yui
Semionova as Nikiya. in the 1980s (initially timidly, though with Sugano from the Käfig Company; the explo-
The whole cast is in excellent shape. But a sure vocation) and that subsequently sive Víctor Virnot from Hungary, now with
the Russian star ballerina stands out once more blossomed thanks to the support of a few the Street Dance Club company; and, last but
with her fine long lines, her marvellous musi- visionary politicians, to the work of creators not least, musician Bachin Sanogo from Ivory
cality and her subtle expressiveness. She of the time and to unwavering coverage by Coast, a kamelé virtuoso with a wraparound
matches the opulence of this production (with the French press and critics (names such as voice.
over 130 dancers, a tiger and an elephant) with Jean-Marc Adolphe, Marcelle Michel (who These are the new components who con-
her lyricism that outshines all the glitter and used to contribute to BALLET2000 – stitute the ground “material” of Solstice, along
glamour. Editor’s note), Lise Brunel or Raphaël de with Blanca Li’s veterans who include Samir
Even after having seen several Petipa re- Gubernatis spring to mind), as well as dance M’Kirech, a sort of physical superman who
constructions by Alexei Ratmansky all that writers of various generations and used to belong to DV8 Physical Theatre.
miming might at first feel strange. But who- extractions. They used to meet every year Roger Salas
32
33
Ballet du Capitole The southern French city Toulouse has there, 18 bayadères instead of the original
much to recommend it culturally, not least 32, for instance, and, while costumes were
the growing reputation and quality of its rich and detailed, there was no scenery,
ballet company led by ex-Opéra de Paris apart from the famous ramp.
In the Steps of Nureyev étoile and choreographer Kader Belarbi. In Belarbi could call on some important
a country now almost entirely given over friends for this programme, and one could
Raymonda Act III – chor. Rudolf Nureyev to contemporary dance, he and his ensemble easily see the careful coaching by Elizabeth
after Marius Petipa, mus. Alexander stand proud for the French ballet tradition, Platel and Charles Jude in the impressive
Glazunov; Romeo and Juliet (Balcony pas presenting programmes of real quality and performances by the Toulouse dancers,
de deux) – chor. Rudolf Nureyev, mus. Sergei interest, none more so than the opening nowhere more so than in Natalia de
Prokofiev; The Sleeping Beauty (Act III pas performances of the 2018/19 season ‘In the Froberville’s imperious Raymonda, whose
de deux) – chor. Rudolf Nureyev after Steps of Nureyev’. famous solo was finely judged, an unhur-
Marius Petipa, mus. Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky; For Belarbi, Nureyev was a French cho- ried and haughty performance indeed, yet
Cendrillon Act II pas de deux – chor. Rudolf reographer whose legacy is strongest in that shot through with a melting upper torso
Nureyev, mus. Sergei Prokofiev; Swan Lake country. This programme would be ambi- and neck to offset her crispness of attack.
(Act III pas de deux) – chor. Rudolf Nureyev tious by any measure and for any company, The company launched themselves
after Marius Petipa, mus. Pyotr I. so it was a leap of faith in his dancers by positively into the demanding choreography
Tchaikovsky; La Bayadère (Kingdom of the Belarbi to ask them to deliver Raymonda throughout this work – in the male pas de
Shades) – chor. Rudolf Nureyev after Marius Act III, four pas de deux and the ‘Kingdom quatre all was not perfect, but it was de-
Petipa, mus. Ludwig Minkus (arr. John of the Shades’ from La Bayadère. The livered with genuine aplomb.
Lanchbery) company comprises only 35 dancers, so a La Bayadère saw some genuinely strong
Toulouse (France), Théâtre du Capitole little pruning had to take place here and corps work, with a real stylistic cohesion
in the slow entry of the Shades winning
out over some wobbles here and there.
Nureyev makes the bayadères too
intimidating for this critic’s liking as visions
of the eternal, but there were few caveats
in Julie Charlet’s secure, serene Nikiya or
Ramiro Gómez Samón’s dashing Solor, both
able to breathe within the choreography and
pull off some truly impressive technical
feats.
The superb Orchestre National du
Capitole contributed much to the enjoyment
and quality of the evening, such was the
verve and depth of sound they brought to
both the Glazunov and the Minkus.
Additionally, they made a real mark in both
the Tchaikovsky and the Prokofiev of the
four pas de deux which made up the central
section. In these, Nureyev’s limitations as
a choreographer (in both original and
adapted movement) were apparent, lying
crucially in his inability to resist over-
decorating and over-complicating. It was
a mark of Alexandra Surodeeva’s artistry
that she made much of Juliet’s character
in the maelstrom of the Balcony pas de
deux, which sees Romeo, in particular,
ceaselessly careering around the stage, while
poor old Petipa takes quite a battering in
the Act III pas de deux from The Sleeping
Beauty and Swan Lake; Nureyev’s
additions and changes unbalance the Old
Master’s brilliance to make both feel clunky
and inelegant.
However, the programme overall was a
genuine achievement for the Toulouse
dancers and something of which they, the
people of Toulouse and French ballet could
be proud.
Gerald Dowler
Natalia de Froberville, Davit

Galstyan – Ballet du Capitole:
“Raymonda”, c. Rudolf Nureyev
(ph. D. Herrero)
34
35
Zurich Ballet Zurich Ballet:

“Winterreise”,
c. Christian Spuck
(ph. G. Batardon)
Spuck and the sound of
footsteps in the snow
Winterreise – chor. Christian Spuck, mus. instruments like ac-
Franz Schubert cordion, percussion or
Zurich (Switzerland), Opernhaus horn. By choreographing this
version, a meditation on Winterreise of
Wintertime in Switzerland is by no means our times, Christian Spuck sought to retrieve
all sun, glittering snow and busy slopes. Most some of the authenticity lost in almost two
of us live in the lowlands, where for weeks hundred years of reception. And rightly so. The former muse of
and months a dense blanket of high-lying fog His Winterreise is of marvellous beauty and Heinz Spoerli joined the com-
keeps us apart from the sun and veils the land- at the same time of unsettling lucidity. pany in 1994 and her charisma, subtlety
scape in colours changing between grey and Loss, solitude, grief – in the first song “Gute of expression and intense musicality are still
dark grey. This is the landscape we associate Nacht” (Good Night) we can see Jan Casier unrivalled.
with “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) – it must walking in giant strides, opening his mouth, The songs are normally sung by the Swiss
have been an image Franz Schubert had in covering his face trying not see. There are all tenor Mauro Peter with Philharmonia Zürich,
mind, when he composed the song cycle for these people around him, yet not for the lonely directed by Emilio Pomarico. But at the pre-
voice and piano on 24 poems by Wilhelm wanderer who has lost his loved one. The danc- miere he had to be replaced by the second
Müller in 1827. Thus, Christian Spuck and ers meet in twos and threes. There are indeed cast, Thomas Erlank who gave a subtle and
his designers Rufus Didwiszus and Emma very many duets, which seems a bit strange fine performance, standing at the side of the
Ryott keep the new superb ballet Winterreise – after all these songs tell of a person in com- stage most of the time as the dancers walk
in shades of grey. In Zurich it came in the plete isolation. Yet, Christian Spuck’s cho- by in stooped postures. The last song “Der
middle of a glorious golden autumn, that was, reography meanders between illustration of Leiermann” (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man) is the
like the whole summer, too warm and much music and lyrics, counterpoint and disjunction. most intense and saddest moment of the
too dry for the season, and so it reminded us Whatever landscape is evoked, cracks will im- evening. Katja Wünsche and Matthew Knight
of the gloom and grim to come. mediately open up. In “Der Lindenbaum” dance a duet of loss and longing, Yen Han and
Christian Spuck’s Winterreise starts off with (The Linden Tree), a song that most German Filipe Portugal a last dance of letting go.
the sound of footsteps in the snow. The di- speakers would have learnt at school, the “Strange old man, shall I come with you?”
rector of the Ballett Zürich decided to use Hans dancers walk on stilts and carry bundles of Thomas Erlank follows Yen Han off the stage
Zender’s composed interpretation of the cy- twigs on their back. The raven, symbol of – the destination of the wanderer’s journey
cle from 1993, which is not just an orches- loss, ill omen and death, accompanies the is unknown.
trated version but breaks up the cycle with wanderers, carried by a blindfolded Yen Han. Lilo Weber
Dominik Slavkovsky, Elena Vostrotina, Cohen Aitchison-Dugas – Zurich Ballet: “Winterreise”, c. Christian Spuck
(ph. G. Batardon)
36
Andrea Sarri, Héloïse Jocqueviel – Paris Opera Ballet: “Decadance”, c. Ohad Naharin (ph. J. Benhamou)
Ballet of the Paris Opéra cent works, and this is what he has done for not from outward convention. There wasn’t
the Paris Opéra Ballet too; thus, for example, much time and they are, after all, ballet dancers.
we find sequences from Sadeh21 (2011) and Fortunately the pillars of Decadance were still
Seder (2007). This isn’t the first time that there, such as the famous “Echad Mi Yodea”,
Parisian Ohad Naharin Naharin has worked with the Paris Opéra danc- from Anaphase, the cumulative Jewish Passover
ers; in 2000 he restaged Perpetuum for them and song, set to music by The Tractor’s Revenge
Decadance – chor. Ohad Naharin, mus. Various in 2016 he was invited to the Opéra with his rock band and sung by Naharin himself whose
Paris, Opéra Garnier company and restaged Three at Palais Garnier. shattering energy is a sure guarantee of success,
This time round, however, Naharin created on each and every time.
October was a Parisian month for 66-year- and with the young generation. Sonia Schoonejans
old Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. While There were 30 dancers on stage, soloists and
his two companies – the Batsheva Dance Com- corps de ballet, wild, free and frisky, as if they Grupo Corpo
pany of Tel Aviv and his own “Young Ensem- were racing horses whose bridles had been loos-
ble” of dancers connected to the main company ened thus enabling them to move unrestrainedly.
– were presenting four of his works at the Théâtre The atmosphere was jolly and the public went
de Chaillot, his famous collage Decadance was along with it happily although it was hard to A sinuous birthday ritual
entering the repertoire at Opéra Garnier having discern a choreographic pattern behind all this
been readapted for the Paris Opéra dancers. playful freedom. Naharin’s works, in which Dañca Sinfonica – Giro – chor. Rodrigo
When Decadance was created in 2000 its in- clarity and precision prevail, are heavily depend- Pederneiras, mus. Marco Antônio Guimarães,
tent, was to celebrate his decade of creation with ant on interpretation and the Batsheva dancers, Metá Metá
Batsheva (at whose helm Naharin has been since accustomed to their director’s “Gaga” method, Vicenza (Italy), Teatro Comunale; Cannes
1990) by sewing together 10 excerpts from possess those qualities of intensity and formal (France), Palais des Festivals; and on tour
previous creations – hence the title. The mon- perfection that are of essence in Naharin’s
tage of the various sequences was devised so choreography. When the Grupo Corpo from Belo Horizonte
as to create a brand new work. Complicity with On the other hand, it wasn’t easy for the (Brazil) debuted in Europe in 1995, spectators’
the public, the poetic quality of a duet, broth- young Paris Opéra dancers – despite their en- eyes became filled (especially as they watched
erhood (at times competitive) between men, thusiasm and curiosity, and despite the Gaga Nazareth) with the refinement of an ensemble
irresistible feminine sweetness and, obviously, lessons they attended assiduously during rehears- that was capable of conveying the strength of
Jewish roots without the burden of religion: all als – to feel the intensity of Naharin’s gestures an ethnic/modern/academic idiom, graced with the
of these featured in Decadance and were inwardly and give them an ideal form without elegance of the sets (at the time by Fernando
expressed with energy and elegance. the aid of mirrors – which he doesn’t want in Velloso) depicting large coloured roses and the
Subsequently, Naharin continued to develop the rehearsal studios as he wants the veracity chic of black tail-coats, costumes from which more
Decadance with excerpts from other more re- of the gestures to emerge from an inner need, roses would spring, and which, together, succeeded
37
in doing away with the image of Brazil that we

get chiefly from the kitsch of the Rio carnival.
The Grupo Corpo celebrated its 40th birth-
day with Dañca Sinfonica – created in 2015 by
its “undisputed” choreographer Rodrigo
Pederneiras – and has consolidated its identity
as a ‘firm’, family-run by six different Pederneiras
(who hold a motley assortment of
responsibilities, from artistic director, to light
designer, to photography). The visual impact
of many of Grupo Corpo’s creations has
changed. On the other hand, the “flat” struc-
ture (not of the three-dimensional mestizo idiom,
but of the choreographic layout) has remained
more or less unchanged. It proceeds not in per-
spective but on parallel planes sloping from stage
to backdrop, and vice-versa, with a clever, wavy
overlap of movement in unison and duets.
Rodrigo Pederneiras’s relationship with mu-
sic is that of a choreographer who builds upon
notes. In Dañca Sinfonica, with its sumptuous
red wings but empty stage, fragments of cho-
reography from the past are danced to the vari-
egated, specially-composed symphony (with
occasional Stravinsky-like traits) by Marco
Antônio Guimarães. Creeping or soft duets mix
with the group’s horizontal entrances or exits dancers in white skirts to singing (mostly by Tanz Luzerner Theater: “Let’s Bowie”,
and with moments in which the male dancers, female voices) and the sometimes quite jazzy c. Georg Reischl (ph. G. Batardon)
in black unitards and looking like oblique cranes music by the São Paulo-based Metá Metá band.
on off-axis stilts, lift the girls in red leotards. The three sides of the stage are lined with chairs
There is a magnificent duet with a girl in pink and the seated dancers are covered by black
before the “danced symphony” ends in a cre- cloaks making them almost invisible in the at-
mospheric chiaroscuro lighting. Movement con-
Tanz Luzerner Theater
scendo, with a collage of photographs as a back-
drop showing the company over the years. sists mostly in spinning, swinging, waving of
Giro (turn or spin) has particular depth and arms, twisting: the dancers move forward and
focuses on the rituals that blend Brazil’s three then retreat towards the anonymity of upstage, Party in Lucerne
major ethnic groups: the Indians who were the at the back. We recognise a few characters – a
first inhabitants of the country (with the (presumably) woman of the street who approaches Let’s Bowie! – chor. Georg Reischl, mus. David
Espiritismo of their Catimbós), the Afro-Bra- jauntily, a sorrowful mother – in a crescendo that Bowie; Twenty Eight Thousand Waves – chor.
zilians (with their Umbandas and Candomblés) culminates in a virtual trance bringing everyone to Cayetano Soto, mus. David Lang, Bryce
and the descendants of the Portuguese and Span- their knees. The intertwined rituals are mysterious Dessner; Sortijas – cor. Cayetano Soto, mus.
ish colonizers (with their Catholicism combined but repetitive… but only to our foreign senses. Lhasa de Sela
with Espiritismo and Kardecism, another spiritual On the other hand, no complaints about the prowess Lucerne (Switzerland), Luzerner Theater
belief imported in the 19th century by French and brilliancy of the dancers, at a certain point all
educator Allan Kardec). with red necks, or about the sinuous and electri- Australian choreographer Georg Reischl (43)
It’s impossible to distinguish between them: fying sincerity of their performance. had made a David Bowie piece for Swiss com-
there are solos or group dances by bare-chested Marinella Guatterini pany Tanz Luzerner Theater.
After making their way across the stage
they open their mouths in ugly despair. Then
Grupo Corpo: “Gira”, c. Rodrigo Pederneiras (ph. J. L. Pederneiras) they turn on their heels, in crooked twists,
walking back as if their bodies were about
to break into pieces at any moment. This is
a catwalk turned sour. David Bowie sings.
“There’s a brand new dance but I don’t know
its name” … And the six dancers from Tanz
Luzerner Theater dance a dance we have not
seen like this here before. They move their
limbs in multiple isolations, powerfully and
vehemently, as if wanting to throw their arms
and legs away in order to spoil this fashion
show. While one of them, Tom van de Ven,
moves along the sides in tiny little steps. He
is dressed in plastic and looks as if he too
were made of plastic, like some sort of
contemporary Frankenstein freak. Yet, they
all look a bit patched-up in their patchwork
costumes by Chinese designer Min Li, as well
as in their disparate movements and expres-
sions – with fear in their faces and joy in
their bodies.
38
and highly musical duet Sortijas. In the per- Batsheva Dance Company
formance I saw Sandra Salietti Aguilera and
Zach Enquist dance the duet with immacu-
late precision and timing. There are in fact
three casts, yet I am sure there will not be Humanity raises the
any difference in the quality.
The company, directed by Kathleen
white flag
McNurney, has been in amazing shape from Last Work – chor. Ohad Naharin, mus. Grisha
almost day one when it was formed in 2009 Lichtenberger
by the former ballet mistress with Heinz Ferrara (Italy), Teatro Comunale
Spoerli’s Zürcher Ballett and Richard
Wherlock’s Ballett Basel. Since then it has The Batsheva Dance Company of Tel Aviv,
moved from strength to strength – even though directed by Ohad Naharin, has brought back
working conditions have deteriorated with the to the Teatro Comunale “Claudio Abbado”
number of dancers reduced to only nine this of Ferrara (Italy) the splendour of the good
season. Yet, the American director has proved old days when dance shows were always sold-
she possesses not only proactive management out. One could remark that considering this
skills – she has formed a partnership with company is considered one of the world’s best,
Codarts Rotterdam to train some of their stu- this was to be expected.
dents by taking them into the company – but My colleague Sonia Schoonejans has already
has also, first and foremost, shown an important reviewed Ohad Naharin’s Last Work per-
knack for choosing the right dancers and, at formed at MontpellierDanse; it isn’t his last
the same time, a steady hand for style and work, in spite of its title, but has already quite
precision. She has shown impeccable taste in a bit of history to its name, having been sub-
choreography and a good eye in choosing crea- ject to date (and probably since 2015) to a
tive artists for her group. number of reworkings. The idiom is still the
Let’s Bowie! danced to eight songs by the Each season she has commissioned several indefinable “Gaga” method (N.B. not code!)
late English rock star is the seventh dance piece works by young choreographers, a full-length invented by Naharin, capable of rendering the
Georg Reischl has made for Kathleen one and several shorter ones for mixed bill eve- dancers’ bodies (18 of them here) very flex-
McNurney’s Lucerne-based company. Two nings, and by doing so she has managed to ible and responsive to one another, and ex-
years ago the Austrian choreographer and keep the dancers at her side for a much longer tremely recognisable according to their respec-
former dancer in William Forsythe’s Ballett period than small companies in small towns tive expressive characteristics.
Frankfurt was named Associate Artist of the are normally able to do. And what dancers Last Work remains clearly divided in three
Lucerne Theatre and thus she contributes regu- these are! Tanz Luzerner Theater is a com- parts that flow seamlessly into one another,
larly to the repertoire of this small ensem- pany of fabulous young people, so exuber- with the silhouette of a dancer in a long blue
ble. And so does Spanish choreographer ant and versatile that I sometimes feel like I costume running for the entire duration of the
Cayetano Soto (40). In 2015 he thrilled audi- am being transported by a magic wand from show (approximately 70 minutes) on a tread-
ences with Malasombra to music by La Lupe; Lake Lucerne and its mountains to the flat mill at the back of the stage. Perhaps Naharin
now he returns with his smashing Twenty Eight lands of The Netherlands and NDT II. has made some changes to the choreography,
Thousand Waves and the wonderfully poetic Lilo Weber still however sustained by Grisha
Batsheva Dance Company: “Last Work”, c. Ohad Naharin (ph. L. Philippe)
39
Lichtenberger’s music which is at times deli- Ballet Nice Méditerranée:

cate, at others furious and angry, conveying “Troy Game”, c. Robert North
an extremely clear message as it goes along. (ph. D. Jaussein)
In the first part of the piece the dancers
create a suggestive and dreamy mood in an
empty space, delimited only by low wings now fast receding in the collective
arranged in a fan-like pattern. Wearing shorts dance consciousness.
and t-shirts in a range of dark colours, they Scholz’s Oktett (1987) is a fluent
enter diagonally towards the proscenium where work, handsomely set and costumed
they express their respective personalities and entirely within the late choreog-
walking – slowly, neurotically, austerely, on rapher’s resolutely abstract ‘sym-
pointe. Each single presentation is destined phonic’ approach. To Mendelssohn,
to become a multiple one, with the female danc- the dancers enter and leave the stage
ers on their knees, their hands outstretched in waves of motion, emotion and
as if offering/pleading for something, while the meaning rarely colouring their move-
male dancers jump around in a crescendo. ments except for a somewhat gloopy
There are some extraordinarily original du- second movement pas de deux.
ets that bring the men and women closer to- Scholz’s invention rarely rises above
gether with an intense and buried pain that Ballet Nice Méditerranée
the efficiently competent and his musicality is
ends in a carnage. Lying on the ground, a gentle often too obvious for any interplay between
Yiddish song envelops them and they quickly sound and sight of the dancers to occur; musi-
rise to their feet: this is the beginning of the Preserving vintage ballets cal repeats receive the same choreography un-
second part which is shrouded in a cloudy, changed from the first time.
yellowish light, with the dancers wearing white Oktett – chor. Uwe Scholz, mus. Felix Van Dantzig’s Vier letzte Lieder (“Four Last
costumes or black, hooded habits. A zigzagging Mendelssohn; Four Last Songs – chor. Rudi van Songs”, 1977) to music by Richard Strauss is
and serpentine female dance is countered by Dantzig, mus. Richard Strauss; Troy Game – one of his best works, and it is easy to appre-
a sort of rite with two hooded dancers and a chor. Robert North, mus. Bob Downes and ciate its success given its expressive choreogra-
body lying on the ground. The geometrics, Batucada phy, its well-considered structure and darken-
usually so natural and necessary in Naharin’s Nice (France), Opéra de Nice ing mood, as the agent of Death becomes more
choreography, now fall apart. A ballerina in and more present, four human couples passing
a tutu appears, a dying swan in the foreground, Eric Vu-An, the tenacious director of the Nice from breezy optimism to a growing sense of
captured by the dancers in black habits. Other Opera’s ballet company, continues to set his the inevitability of the end of life. This is a work
rituals take place with the rowdy ‘actors’ own artistic course in the choppy contempo- which suits the Nice dancers well, allowing them
wearing white, gauzy masks that give them rary waters of French dance, and the opening to bring expressiveness to their performances
anonymity. Naharin seems to be railing against of the 2018-19 season was no different in terms and to display secure partnering throughout –
inquisition, rough-and-ready religiousness, of his particular vision: a triple bill of works Alba Cazorla Luengo and Alessio Passaquindici
esotericisms of all kinds. While the silhouette which have been largely ignored as the inexora- stood out particularly in the third song – all to
of the woman continues running by like time, ble advance of modern-day choreographers the sublime music of Richard Strauss (in Gundula
towards a past which is already the future, continues apace. But Vu-An prefers largely to Janowitz’s extraordinary recording). It represents
three dancers approach her. One of them, who spread his own net widely for ballets whose the latest in Vu-An’s acquisitions of Dutch
we see from the back, displays his qualities are recognised and will suit his small ballets for the company repertoire which, surely,
Kalashnikov; another builds a sort of hut with ensemble of twenty-six dancers. Hence, an could now come together in a single evening.
wire and then wraps long reels of masking tape evening comprising works by German Uwe To close, the tongue-in-cheek subversiveness
round it. A third hands the persistent runner Scholz (1958-2004), Dutch Rudi van Dantzig of North’s Troy Game (1974), a send-up of male
a white flag and from then on she continues (1933-2012) and American Robert North (now competitiveness and the macho posturing in sport.
to run with one hand holding it up on high. aged 73), all fêted and admired in their time and It is a fun conclusion to any programme, the
An electrifying party breaks out to hard rock
music, with movements beyond the impos-
sible and confetti and coloured sequins being Ballet Nice Méditerranée: “The Last Four Lieder”, c. Rudy van Dantzig (ph. D. Jaussein)
fired out probably from the rifle. Everything
in this third and last part is, however, fake.
The dancer with the masking tape proceeds
to use it to bind all those who are still on the
floor, like they were during the carnage in the
first part, but this time he leaves them un-
able to move. The imprisoning of humanity,
this is Ohad’s pessimist worldview here: not
his kind of finale, but a universal one.
Last Work is perhaps not Naharin’s most
successful work on account of this didactic
finale that overshadows the hypnotic and so-
phisticated wisdom and beauty of the first
part where all is already written in pain and
death, without masks, black habits,
Kalashnikovs or white flags. On the other
hand, the work’s crescendo is undoubtedly a
showdown and, perhaps, the beginning of a
new quest, with the support of dancers who
are nothing short of sensational.
Marinella Guatterini
40
Cristina Casa, Alessandro Riga – Compañía Nacional de Danza: “The Nutcracker”, c. José Carlos Martínez (ph. C. Quezada)
men enjoying being the centre of attention In 1986 the troupe that used to be called
and eager to give their all in the comically Compañía Nacional de Danza, Ballet del Teatro Lírico Nacional La Zarzuela
ridiculous choreography, and so it proved in Madrid (and is now the Compañía Nacional de Danza
Nice whose male dancers donned the lurid of Madrid) produced a Nutcracker with cho-
pants, socks and sleeves, puffed out their reography by American choreographer Ray
chests and had a ball. To the Brazilian Barra which remained in its repertoire only a
percussiveness of the soundtrack, North has
Martínez says goodbye to short while. Barra had set the ballet in Berlin
them subvert the idea of masculinity with Madrid with Nutcracker during la Belle Époque, with designs in a
preposterous moves and hints that beneath “Modernist” or Art Nouveau style, the same
many a preening, strutting man is something Cascanueces – chor. José Carlos Martínez, period setting now chosen by 49-year-old José
else waiting to be released. mus. Pyotr I. Ciaikovsky Carlos Martínez for his new Nutcracker. He
Gerald Dowler Madrid, Teatro Real himself has danced this ballet numerous times,
41
first and foremost the Nureyev version at the rector of the Compañía Nacional de Danza be disappointed, but Detrich is his own man,
Paris Opéra where he was a danseur étoile, with this production which he has made with and has clear ideas where Stuttgart Ballet should
but also a version by Fernando Bujones staged scattered and out-of-context quotations from be going, as evidenced by a clever and intriguing
in Madrid in 1996; Martínez was then danc- the traditional Nutcracker, plus a quantity of first season which opened with a fearsome
ing beside Agnès Letestu (also from the Opéra, choreographically-uninteresting inventions. triple bill that was designed to stretch the
and at the time his wife) with a short-lived Light and costume designs (the latter by Iñaki dancers – it certainly delivered on that.
company called Ballet Clásico Mediterráneo Cobos) function reasonably, but the sets (by The opening work was, quite rightly by
which also comprised various dancers from Monica Boromello) are absurd and empty, of John Cranko, the creator of the original
the Compañía Nacional – artists who Nacho almost amateur mediocrity. ‘Stuttgart Miracle’, but this was a rarity: his
Duato (in those days director of the Compañía Roger Salas 1966 Concerto for Flute and Harp set to the
Nacional and adverse to ballet) was ‘keeping Mozart of that name. Made for twelve men
on the bench’ with practically a veto on dance. Stuttgart Ballet and only two women, it was and is a conscious
Such is Spanish ballet’s history of Nut- pendant to an accompanying women-heavy
cracker in our times (a history that has been work. It is rare to see male dancers performing
concealed not on account of modesty but, together for so long and in a work demanding
rather, of prejudice and scorn for historical Shades of White such stylistic cohesion, and today’s dancers
truth). have to work hard at this quirky male ballet
The lack of homogeneity among the danc- Concerto for Flute and Harp – chor. John blanc. Embedded in the male ensemble are
ers who constitute today’s Compañía Nacional Cranko, mus. Wolfgang A. Mozart; ‘Kingdom two soloists, parts taken with distinction by
de Danza, and of authoritativeness among their of the Shades’ from La Bayadère – chor. Natalia the elegant English Principal David Moore
maîtres and répétiteurs, is such that all the Makarova after Marius Petipa, mus. Ludwig and one of the company’s jewels, Stuttgarter
‘patching-up’ and stylistic differences between Minkus (arr. John Lanchbery); Symphony in Friedemann Vogel who is dancing now at the
them are blatant. C – chor. George Balanchine, mus. Georges very peak of his considerable abilities. A star
We are aware that most ballet companies Bizet dancer indeed.
of today (apart from the Russian and Asian Stuttgart (Germany), Opernhaus Natalia Makarova’s ‘Kingdom of the
ones) have an inevitable cosmopolitan voca- Shades’ from her production of Petipa’s La
tion and this means that a lot of hard work is As one chapter closes, another opens. Af- Bayadère was a new acquisition by Detrich,
needed to achieve the ideal of an ensemble ter 22 years of Reid Anderson as director of and the female dancers certainly found the
whose components can tune up together to Stuttgart Ballet, Tamas Detrich has begun his delivery of Mariinsky stylistic purity a real
reach a collective ‘symphonic’ (as it were) tenure as his successor with a programme of challenge – there is nowhere to hide in the
uniformity of movement and accents. How- great ambition and a distinct personal artis- famous adagio entry of the Shades. In a new
ever, the Spanish company is still a long way tic vision. Detrich knows the company through Himalayan setting, this work looked ravish-
from this, even though there is some lustre and through, having been a dancer, ballet master ing, and the Staatsorchester made the strong-
and a sort of convinced elation on stage – and, finally, Assistant Director; he knows the est of cases for Minkus’ score. The three
which is already quite a bit better than what ensemble’s strengths and weaknesses and is solo shades and Elisa Badenes as Nikiya
we saw in their recent Don Quixote. steeped also in its traditions and history. Those worked visibly hard to deliver the demanding
José Carlos Martínez ends his tenure as di- who wish for a radical change of direction will choreography, and, while the overall effect
Stuttgart Ballet: “Konzert für Flöte und Harfe”, c. John Cranko (ph. Stuttgart Ballet)
42
Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov – The Royal Ballet: “La Bayadère”, c. Natalia Makarova (ph. B. Cooper)
lacked the serenity that can characterise the and challenge for any company, and, where The Royal Ballet
very best performances, they emerged the Petipa seemed to restrict the dancers,
relatively unscathed and, indeed, with some Balanchine appeared to release them, garner-
distinction; Badenes suppressed her naturally ing bright, zesty dancing characterised by en-
soubrette stage persona to achieve something thusiastic attack by all the dancers. The demi- Stellar Bayadères
of greater nobility. While newly-elevated soloists were the most successful in bringing
young Principal Adhonay Soares da Silva un- this quality to the choreography while there La Bayadère – chor. Natalia Makarova after
deniably has the mastery to bring off Solor’s was less precision from the eight lead danc- Marius Petipa, mus. Ludwig Minkus (arr. John
considerable technical demands, he looked too ers and, in some cases, rather unfocussed mu- Lanchbery)
young and eager for the penitent, opium-filled sicality; Vogel again, delivered an object les- London, Covent Garden
warrior. son with the extraordinary quality of his
Symphony in C made up the trio of ballets dancing. This is a tale of two Bayadères – two
for this opening programme, a real showcase Gerald Dowler Nikiyas and two Gamzattis. In scheduling of
43
no little flamboyance, The Royal Ballet cast Marianela Nuñez, Natalia

Marianela Núñez and Natalia Osipova as the Osipova – The Royal Ballet:
temple dancer and the princess on opening night “La Bayadère”, c. Natalia
and, for the second, swapped them round. Makarova (ph. B. Cooper)
Theirs were two performances of true world-
class, the dancers entirely different in
temperament and the nature of their movement.
Natalia Makarova’s production of La tional, with a nuanced character
Bayadère is a known quantity, but such was and gasp-inducing dancing, jumps
the high quality of the staging in London, that impossibly high, decelerating spins
what might have been a run-of-the-mill revival and seemingly effortless mastery
became an event. Covent Garden’s corps de of every technical challenge. He
ballet is in peak form, suffusing the famous possessed real chemistry with
‘Kingdom of the Shades’ with the elusive po- Osipova who, strange to report,
etic quality which can make witnessing it some- impressed even more with her
thing far more than a simple evening at the thea- Nikiya than her Gamzatti. As the
tre, while soloists were in uniformly superb latter, she acted up a storm, and
form. was a decidedly determined prin-
But central to it all is the trio of Nikiya, cess, but her dancing contained a
Gamzatti and Solor. For Núñez’s Nikiya, Vadim little too much of virtuosity for
Muntagirov, the company’s finest danseur its own sake to make it a satis-
noble, all long lines and creamy technique, fying artistic experience – a piece
whose Solor did not disappoint with his im- of old Bolshoi in a Mariinsky
peccably elegant dancing and partnering and his setting. As Nikiya, she was more
many-facetted characterisation. That his per- successful, bringing greater lyricism to her did as the temple dancer, her long line and crys-
formance was of the best was not a surprise, movements, only occasionally showing off her tal-clear technique fully at the service of Petipa’s
but it does not detract from his achievement. formidable technique simply because she could. artistry, transcendent as a shade, giving the purest
Anticipation was high for Cesar Corrales along- As Gamzatti, Marianela Núñez was in impe- of dancing. She and Muntagirov made for an
side Osipova – this young dancer, recently de- rious form, carving great arcs of dance and clearly Apollonian pairing while Osipova and
fected from English National Ballet, is a natu- enjoying playing a ‘baddie’ for once; her Act Corrales were the more Dionysian – with the
ral virtuoso and possesses a strong stage I wedding pas de deux with Solor was an ex- ‘spare’ dancing the princess, these were riches
presence, but Solor at Covent Garden, alongside pansive, classical show-piece. However, she is indeed and two evenings of superlative danc-
a world star was an unquestionable step up. a born Nikiya, and on first night, she brought ing in London.
His performance was nothing short of sensa- a yearning, singing quality to everything she Gerald Dowler
44
45
Cuba: ballet as T here have now been a total of 26 editions

of the Festival Internacional de Ballet de
La Habana: another goal reached in 2018 by this
cultural heritage bi-annual event which kicked off in 1960
immediately after the revolution on the biggest
Ballet in Cuba has now officially been declared island in the Caribbean.
Opening of the inaugural gala performance,
by the Government to be “Cultural Heritage and speaking for the Cuban Government, Miguel
of the Nation” (which it already was Díaz-Canel, current President of the Council
hitherto in practice), a resolution endorsed of State, declared ballet to be “Cultural Heritage
of the Nation”, thereby announcing its
during the 26th International Ballet continuity into the future.
Festival of Havana held between Furthermore, seventy years on from the found-
October and November 2018. Star ing of the National Ballet of Cuba, the festival has
been named for Alicia Alonso as has been the case
of the Festival was the great (2016) for the Gran Teatro de la Habana where
Cuban company, founded and Alonso debuted 75 years ago (in her celebrated
directed by Alicia Alonso, but Giselle) as a magnificent ballerina and later a fine
choreographer recognised all the world over.
there were also a good many All of these anniversaries are important for
guest artists from the world of consolidating the strong dance image that Cuba
dance. projects internationally, a permanent project which
it is going to continue carrying forward.
Although Alicia Alonso, the “Ballerina
Assoluta” who has been artistically active for over
nine decades and who fostered the growth of Cuban
ballet, a phenomenon that is quite unique on the
international ballet scene, was physically absent
this time round, there were many other
conspicuous presences thanks to the festival’s
rich programme.
Notably, the “émigrés”, the Cuban dancers who
had left Cuba and who on this festive occasion
were finally re-welcomed back into the artistic
family where they all trained; they studied at the
Escuela Nacional de Ballet, directed by Ramona
De Saá, a school that continues to turn out new
generations of dancers, more and more technically-
dazzling according to its vibrant hallmark style
of prodigious jumps and turns.
Enter, amidst emotion, the two Sarabias: Daniel
who was partnering a revelation, sixteen-year-old
Elisabeth Beyer (Ellison Ballet, New York),
exquisite and radiant in a memorable Grand Pas
classique which she danced with grace, confidence
and the serenest of smiles; and the famous Rolando,
welcomed back in tears as Albrecht coming home
to his Giselle (Sadaise Arencibia) after more than
ten years.
Carlos Quenedit danced Romeo and Juliet with
Venezuelan Karina González (Houston Ballet),
while his brother Rafael is today the Cuban Ballet
Nacional’s youngest male dancer of note thanks
to his impeccable prowess and breezy good looks.
Making their Cuban comeback from America
were Marisel (Marizé) Fumero and Arionel Vargas
(Milwaukee Ballet) in a bizarre potted ballet
version of Puccini’s La Bohème; the choreogra-
phy, filled with portés, is by Michael Pink.
Dayesi Torriente and Arian Molina (Pennsyl-
vania Ballet) paid homage to Piazzolla’s tangos
in Volver, with choreography by Telmo Moreira.
Also among those making their comebacks were
Lissi Baez, now with the Ballet de Monterrey
(Mexico), who shone brightly in Vainonen’s The
Flames of Paris with Jorge Barani (Cincinnati
Ballet).
From Houston came the glorious Lorna Feijóo
who in past years in the USA has danced Swan
Lake with her sister Lorena and appeared on The
46
Viengsay Valdés, Dani Hernández – Ballet Nacional de Cuba: “Giselle” (R. Pujol)
Muppet Show; she was welcomed as a superstar with multiple guests and duets. The guests are a
for an eagerly-awaited master class, together with means of bringing to the island works by today’s
husband/partner Nelson Madrigal. top choreographers such as Lar Lubovich, Alexei
Camilo Ramos and an enthusiastically-greeted Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, David
Yanela Piñera arrived from Australia’s Queens- Dawson, Ohad Naharin.
land Ballet and offered Bayadère and a Black In the chocolate-box Teatro Martí the festival
Swan, as well as an extract from Liam Scarlett’s also unfailingly hosted a flamenco section with
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rafael Amargo, María Juncal, the Gades
Adiarys Almeida, formerly with Boston Bal- Foundaton; a bonus resulting from the global
let and now free-lancing (she recently guested at contacts that the festival has over the years built
the Rome Opera House in Sleeping Beauty) up with countries ranging from the whole of Latin
offered the sort of Black Swan that one only gets America to Austria with its Europa Ballet, to
to see in Cuba, partnered by Taras Domitro who South Korea, to the National Ballet of Mongolia.
was formerly with San Francisco Ballet: an Isabella Boylston and former child prodigy
astounding approach thanks to her extremely diva- Aram Bell (who, now fully grown-up and with
like air and attack, no punches pulled as she American Ballet Theatre, has lived up to expec-
warmed up the public right from her entrance, tations) were among the most impressive
all the way to her blaring feats of technique and interpreters of various repertory pas de deux.
interpretation and to her final, glowing and never- Also in from the USA was Joaquín de Luz of
ending curtain calls. New York City Ballet, elegantly partnering Maria
As usual there were many concert-programmes Kochetkova (Norwegian National Ballet) who was
a truly inspired and feather-light Giselle.
Le Corsaire is a staple and allowed Claudia García
Grettel Morejón – Ballet Nacional de Cuba: and Raúl Abreu, names of note on the Havana-
“Carmen”, c. Alberto Alonso based troupe’s present list of dancers, to shine
(ph. A. Sanguinetti) with the virtuosic qualities it takes to emerge.
Other Cuban ‘new entries’ included Chanell
Cabrera and Yankiel Vázquez, both remarkable and
impressive in The Flames of Paris. As Aurora in
Sleeping Beauty Sadaise Arencibia confirmed herself
to be on the high echelons of the Cuban company,
dancing beside Raúl Abreu, another first-rate young
dancer, while the very dainty Grettel Morejón stood
out as Kitri in Don Quixote and as Carmen.
As for the strictly Cuban repertory, we saw
again Muerte de Narciso (with sets and costumes
by Roger Salas) interpreted this time by Dani
Hernández, and La Flauta Mágica, both of which
by Alonso, as well as the second act of a Cinderella
devised by Pedro Consuegra who kept for himself
the role of the Stepmother and is (as he himself
untiringly declares) in love with Petipa.
In the Night by Jerome Robbins was the high-
light of the opening gala forty years on from its
entry into the Cuban repertoire: it was danced
by Morejón and Rafael Quenedit, Sadaise
Arencibia and Raúl Abreu, Ginett Moncho and
47
Adrian Sánchez – the latter couple representing

a hyper-virtuoso current which is typical of the
island’s new generation of dancers.
The group of Stars of American Ballet Thea-
tre were among the most acclaimed guests: they
were headed by Daniel Ulbricht, outstanding in
Balanchine’s Tarantella alongside Indiana
Woodward and in the sparkling Canta Canta
Canta, to music by Benny Goodman. The
Terpsichore duet from Balanchine’s Apollo was
mesmerising thanks to the interpretation of
Gonzalo García with a sophisticated Sterling
Hyltin. Diamonds with Teresa Reichlen and Ask
La Cour was also highly appreciated, while
Irresistible by and with Denys Drozdyuk (dancing
beside Antonia Skobina), to music by Michael
Jackson, and Tres hombres, to music by Piazzolla,
again with Denys, Ulbricht and Joseph Gatti, were
smashing hits with their tremendous verve, dancing
joy, inventiveness and oomph. A touch of pop
that was just what was needed.
Italian dancer Petra Conti, formerly with La Rolando Sarabia – Ballet Nacional de Cuba: “Giselle” (ph. N. Reyes)
Scala and Boston Ballet (to which she transferred
with her husband Eris Nezha) and now with Los Próspera by English choreographer Cathy Rainer Krenstetter (Miami City Ballet), and the
Angeles Ballet, shone in Romeo and Juliet by Tom Marston is inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tem- sinuous Ciudad de luz by Pepe Hevia, for Morejón
Panzik alongside Colombian dancer Fernando pest but gives it a female protagonist as a tribute and Ariam Léon.
Montaño who studied with Gloria Castro’s to Alicia Alonso, the great mother of such a rich The programme concluded with a touching work
Incolballet and is now a soloist with The Royal dance patrimony, and is not entirely convincing. by Tania Vergara, ParAlicia, a solo for Alicia
Ballet of London. An excerpt from Mauro On the other hand, Vestida de nit is a fresh piece; Alonso’s most eligible heiress, Viengsay Valdés,
Bigonzetti’s Vertigo and a fragment from Echoes it was created for dancers Claudia García and Ariam in whom one can see ever more blatantly the
from a Restless Soul by Jacopo Godani were of- Arencibia by Spanish choreographer María Rovira imprinting of her teacher.
fered by the Czech National Ballet. who has also produced choreography for film Yuli, Generations intersect on La Isla Grande: Jorge
Paloma Herrera brought with her from the Teatro a bioptic di Carlos Acosta coming up shortly. Vega, who was appointed principal at the BNC
Colón of Buenos Aires two Argentine couples, Carmina Burana by Claude Brumacon for the back in 1992, performed live while a film fea-
Macarena Giménez and Maximiliano Iglesias (still Grand Théâtre de Genève dancers, was received tured all of the Cuban School’s “sons and daugh-
unripe) and Camila Bocca and Juan Pablo Ledo very warmly: with dramaturgy by Agnès Izrine ters”, including those long-forgotten such as
(much more mature) for Nureyev’s Nutcracker. and surrealist-style leotard costumes in sequins Margarita De Sáa, as well as the absentees: from
As to the modern front, we saw a number of and gold, the work is realistic and magical at the brothers Yoel and José Manuel Carreño to
works, both Cuban and non, starting with Anyali same time. Siren by Pontus Lidberg, which Carlos Acosta who two years ago opened up
to music by Italian composer Ezio Bosso, with completed the contemporary dance menu, sparked a school, with its own locales, where scholar-
Bárbara Fabelo, Darío Hernández and Daniel quite a debate among the public. ship holders, both Cuban and non, can study
Ritolles, a well-constructed trio by Ely Regina The final gala featured many dramatic ballets contemporary, modern and Afro-Cuban dance,
Hernández, a promising Cuban choreographer who such as Petit’s L’Arlesienne, danced by Julie as well as academic technique, in the context
is also active in Carlos Acosta’s group. Her new Charlet (Ballet de Toulouse) and Javier Torres of an all-round syllabus.
La forma del royo doesn’t have an equally clear (Northern Ballet), the male duet from Proust, also The 26th festival also featured several side-
design and was less convincing. by Petit, with Marian Walter, from Berlin and events, including book presentations.
A small but precious book by
Jesús Rivera-Rosado, Dos siglos
de Marius Petipa: algunos
episodios de su estancia en
España (1844-1847), paid trib-
ute to the chief author of the bal-
let repertory, while monograph
Alicia Alonso o la eternidad de
Giselle by Mayda Bustamante
was presented by her husband
Pedro Simón.
Ballet du Grand Théâtre

de Genève:
“Carmina Burana”,
c. Claude Brumachon
(ph. G. Batardon)
48
49
MultiMEDIA
she shuts down the machine that produces war
and unhappiness in the world.
The young Clara reminds us a bit of Alice in
Wonderland, or Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz,
running around at breakneck speed, cleverly and
bravely fighting and challenging her enemies in a
world of Little Red Riding Hood-like forests where
red toadstools have white spots, of Kremlin-like
domed palaces, of enchanted castles, sleighs and
hot-air balloons, of turrets and great staircases,
of big tops and clowns that resemble rolling
Russian dolls, of snow-clad landscapes and
flowery slopes, of horrific ravines and waterfalls,
of enormous dome-capped halls with gigantic
machinery: a great deal of everything in a
multicoloured, fast-moving roundup of images
taken from every fairytale that ever was and
magnified by digital effects.
But all of this, and there really is a lot (if not
too much), including the ultra rich and colourful
costumes by Jenny Beavan, would not suffice
without the “big names”, those top film stars and
ballet dancers, that increase box-office sales.
Clara, the young, wide-eyed, smart and roman-
tic scientist who we often see trembling with fear
(a key ingredient in any self-respecting fairytale),
is played by MacKenzie Foy; her heartbroken
father is Matthew MacFayden; Mother Ginger,
initially terrifying then heroic, is popular actress
Helen Mirren.
“The New Julia Roberts”, Keira Knightley, is
Sugar Plum, who initially seems so sweet and
kind but later turns out to be wicked and hungry
for power; wise old Drosselmayer is played by
Morgan Freeman, the superstar of so many action
movies, here with a black patch over his eye.
On the dance side, choreography is by The
Royal Ballet of London’s young Artist in Resi-
dence, story-ballet choreographer Liam Scarlett;
in addition to lavish ball sequences with about
thirty lords and ladies, “Ballerina Princess” Misty
Copeland, ABT’s African-American principal who
fires the dreams of little girls all over our multiethnic
planet, sparkles in tutu and tiara.
Partnering her as the Sweets Cavalier of the
Sergei Polunin and Misty Copeland in Walt Disney film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” Land of Sweets, is blond Sergei Polunin, the bad
(ph. L. Sparham) boy of ballet in our times, billed as Russian – as
needs be, to give the film valued-added – although
he is in fact Ukrainian, one of the numerous
Films The plot, re-written by Ashleigh Powell, begins talented sons and daughters of “Little Russia”.
like that of the Marius Petipa ballet: as on every They dance together in the middle of the film,
Christmas Eve, the Stahlbaum Family get together with bespoke steps and spins for the multiple
in the Drosselmayer home for presents and a ball. cameras placed all around them, as well as
Disney’s Nutcracker, more But Clara and her father are sad gracefully and vigorously embellish-
of everything because of the passing of her mother,
Marie, who was a beautiful, clever
ing the scrolling credits.
Lil Buck, star of Jookin (an acro-
Once again Walt Disney has decided to cash and kind scientist. batic and stylish type of street dance),
in on Christmas with its new US/international The gift which the girl receives, is the protean monster Mouse King,
blockbuster, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and which had been chosen for her also providing the choreography and
directed by Swedish film director Lasse Hallström, by her mother, is a locked egg-shaped motion capture performance for the
famous for his ABBA music videos and for My musical-box, which she must unlock character.
Life as a Dog, and by Joe Johnston who in order to grow up and save Nutcracker is played by African-
specialises in children’s films and has won an Oscar mankind. As she searches for the American Jayden Fowora-Knight, a
for Special Effects. key it is snatched away by a mouse loyal officer who falls in love with
A hands-down hit which reinvents the story, and so Clara finds herself in a parallel Clara but must, for duty’s sake, refrain
starting with the ballet which is a must during world where, with the help of from succumbing to such plebeian
the holiday season. Nutcracker-Captain Philip Hoffman, sentiments.
50
Things change: dance gets nasty

At such a time as the present with “haters” trolling the web, there is a novelty: even
dance has turned nasty.
If on the world wide web a click suffices to troll someone, it is more complicated on
stage to manage confrontational acts when there is a physical presence, as opposed
to a virtual one, and when the time involved is that of a theatre show and not just
the split-second required to press “enter”.
If Pina Bausch, who was mistress of metaphors, would make a dancer cry by mak-
ing her plunge her face in chopped onions (alluding in a tragicomic way to the pain
of living, to the extreme unhappiness that dwells inside us), now it is the public
who make the performers weep, egged on by the choreographer or director and re-
warded with a bit of money in exchange for their declared proclivity to be rotters.
After the cruelty of the Wuppertal Tanztheater of old, it is now the new genera-
tion’s “theatre with dance” that plays with cruelty: an incisive and “mean dance”
The Carnival in the Italian town of Ivrea
that goes beyond the “non-dance” or “zero-dance” phases.
In this interactive dance spectators must be willing to carry out direct actions. Up
until now such actions were positive or of solidarity, but lately they have become mean. A
living gauge of our explicitly (and sometimes proudly) aggressive times, that the Internet
Marco Chenevier and Alessia Pinto in “Questo encourages thanks to its purported impunity, fake news and violent hashtags. And contem-
lavoro sull’arancia” (ph. C. Di Paolo) porary dance has had a reflex response to this – promptly, instinctively, consciously.
Questo lavoro sull’arancia (“This Work on the Orange”) by Italian Marco Chenevier, fea-
tured at various festivals (Spam, Exister, Interplay, Birmingham), is a perfect example.
Which orange are we talking about? One of those that are hurled from the floats at the
Carnival at Ivrea in Italy (a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages and to a legendary
fight against tyrants) with such violence that it became necessary to wear armour in order to
protect oneself? Or are we talking about A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrik’s cult movie
whose sadism shocked viewers? We are animals and we are cruel, as soon as we get a chance
to be – circumventing culture, the only rampart against our original nature. All these refer-
ences to fruit-bombs are quite legit, seeing that in this work a person with a milk allergy
is made to drink it (and the more he does, the more money is offered to the public not to
stop him – and they could if they wanted to), that the public is invited to throw ice
buckets over spectators who volunteer to take their clothes off in return for money, or to
squirt oranges at the eyes of a tied up and helpless dancer. A woman, naturally.
But also the public themselves must suffer and are forced to brandish an orange in their
uplifted arm for as long as they can bear such an uncomfortable position. Between one
piece of nastiness and another Marco and his “masochistic” partner Alessia Pinto per-
form dances which the spectators can stop by throwing paper aeroplanes or candies
onto the stage. The dance sequences are bouncy skits in-between ‘dares’ to inflict pain.
We are all mean, dancers and spectators alike. The stage, and not just the world wide
web, is our battlefield. Once upon a time there were the Pyrrhic war dances; today
dance is influenced by the social media, it is the offspring of our magnificent, perfidious
digital society.
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the orchestra which DVD naughty, intolerant of rules and doesn’t make
plays music from the Tchaikovsky Nutcracker the slightest effort to fit in. But a former glory
Suite, updated and with new tracks added by James Bolshoi – film by Valery Todorovsky – of the company, now an arrogant and neurotic
Newton Howard; Lang Lang, comparable to a Factoris Films, 2018 teacher (who, however, is capable of being
planetary pop star, is at the piano. And, in case A Russian film entitled Bolshoi (with refer- humane when needed), takes a liking to her and
this hadn’t cut it, Andrea Bocelli and Son have ence to the ballet company of the ‘great’ Mos- glimpses in the girl that special spark that sets
also been called in to sing their duet Fall on me. cow theatre) was released in 2017 and is now her apart from the others (what a pity that
Bursting with top-notch names, this umpteenth available on a Factoris Films DVD (in the Rus- the adult actress/ballerina interpreting the role
Nutcracker has been described as “empty but sian original, as well as English and French). is every bit identical to all the others). In the
eye-popping”; a novelty, yet full Trumpeted as successor to the end, amidst rivalries and intrigue (including
of things we are already familiar famous (or infamous) Black Swan, this under the bedsheets), the girl makes her debut
with and which are, film by Valery Todorovsky recounts at the Bolshoi in the role of Odette/Odile along-
consequently, comforting. It will the adventures of a young girl from side a womanising and internationally-famous
serve its purpose by appealing the provinces who dreams of escap- danseur-étoile (interpreted, rather well, by
to a diversified public: each ing from her distressed social Nicolas Le Riche).
spectator will have his/her own circumstances into the world of ballet. Therefore, nothing new: the story is hackneyed,
reasons for going to see it – be The girl is discovered by chance by the characters are stereotypes (at times even
they lovers of ballet, of film-stars, a former dancer of the Bolshoi Theatre farcical), the acting is often caricatural and some
of fairytales, or just parents and of Moscow, now more interested in of the scenes are totally ridiculous for anyone who
grandparents who have to keep booze than anything else, undergoes is familiar with the dance milieu; obviously, they
the kids entertained during the an improbable audition and is accepted respond to the demands of filmmaking. Some will
school-holidays. into the prestigious theatre’s ballet like this film – but probably not if they like ballet.
Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino school. She is unbelievably cheeky, C.M.
51
Books sponsible for spreading his ideas in the States Shawn gathered together all available material
where, in fact, Delsarte’s name is much better on Delsarte in order to do justice to the latter’s
known than in Europe. His only principles that had ended up being watered down
Every Little Movement, A Book biography has been written by an and distorted by his success in addressing a
about Delsarte – by Ted Shawn, American: none other than Ted motley audience, from actors to politicians.
Dance Horizons, 2016 Shawn, often called “Father of Shawn’s book is an important practical
This book was originally pub- American Dance” who, with Ruth handbook, providing the key theoretical notions
lished in the USA in 1954 (with St.Denis, founded the Denishawn of François Delsarte.
a re-edition dated 1966) and is company and school in 1915 The book begins with a discussion of Delsarte
also available as an e-book on where Martha Graham, Doris as a scientist who discovered how the human
ebooks.com. Translated into Humphrey and Charles Weidman body moves under the stimuli of emotions. It
French in 2005, it is now finally studied, in 1933 formed an all- proceeds by looking at the laws he developed
available in Italian too, prompt- male group of dancers, and in as a result of his research and continues by
ing us to take another look at this 1941 established Jacob’s Pillow discussing the application of the science of
seminal work on the French 19th- as a summer dance center/festi- Delsarte to the art of dance. Shawn goes on to
century musician and teacher val. describe how Delsarte influenced the develop-
François Delsarte (1811-1871) The author of numerous books ment of American modern dance pointing out
whose work heavily inspired modern dance. (such as Ruth St. Denis: Pioneer and Prophet that without his theoretical principles he
François Delsarte wasn’t a dancer, he began (1920), Gods Who Dance (1929), (Shawn) and other dance innovators would not
his career as a singer but had to quit when his Fundamentals of a Dance Education (1935), have been able to make headway – and, con-
voice broke and spent the rest of his life studying Dance We Must (1950), plus autobiography sequently, American modern dance would not
the relationship between movement and emo- One Thousand and One Night Stands (1960)), exist.
tions, between feelings and their physical ex- Shawn had been interested in the work of E.G.V.
pression. Delsarte never wrote books explain- Delsarte and his movement principles for a long
ing his method but his favourite protégé, time, considering them to be the bedrock of WEB
American comedian Steele Mackaye, was re- American modern dance. For over thirty years
In 2016 the Friends of Genia (Evgenij)

Polyakov (1943-1996) Association was set up
to preserve the heritage of the Russian dancer,
teacher, maître de ballet and choreographer who

worked extensively in Italy (including as di-
rector of the ballet company of the Teatro
Comunale in Florence) and France (as Rudolf
Nureyev’s assistant at the Paris Opéra). The
founders of this association are a group of faith-
ful pupils and dancers of the man and artist
they fondly call “the Maestro/Master” who
propose to gather together all available mate-
rial on him via the www.ae-polyakov.eu website
in Italian, French and English (soon also in Rus-
sian) where it is possible to upload videos,
photos, posters, articles etc. The website pro-
vides information on Polyakov’s life and ca-
reer, a list of his ballets, a bibliography, and
a large quantity of photographs, press material,
a calendar of events and videos of the various
annual meetings that the Association organ-
ises to keep his memory alive. In addition,
the Association grants scholarships to
promising dancers.
“Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers”

in London in 1935
52
subscribe to BALLET2000 on www.danzashop.com

53
(32,00 euros, 7 issues) plus a bonus issue, free of charge
54
programmes • programmi • calendar • programmes TV programmi • calendar • programmes • programmi
Classica
www.mondoclassica.it
28, 30. XII: The Best of the Bolshoi Ballet
2. I: La Commedia – c. Emio Greco – Ballet
de Marseille
6. I: Jewels – c. George Balanchine – Ballet
de l’Opéra de Paris
7. I: Roberto Bolle: l’arte della danza
(docum.)
Mezzo
www.mezzo.tv
28. XII: Ballet de Kiev: La Bayadère – c.
Marius Petipa
29. XII, 11. I: La Belle au bois dormant – c.
Marius Petipa –Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky
de Saint-Pétersbourg
31. XII, 5, 18. I: Le Casse-Noisette – c.
Kader Belarbi; Le Corsaire – c. Kader Belarbi
– Ballet de Toulouse
1, 7, 12, 25. I: Chaplin – c. Mario Schröder;
Pinocchio – c. Ivan Cavallari – Ballet du
Rhin
4. I: Grande Soirée du Ballet de l’Opéra
de Paris Béjart Ballet Lausanne: “La IXe Symphonie”, c. Maurice Béjart (ph. K. Hasegawa)
8, 14, 19, 21. I, 1. II: La Neuvième Symphonie
– c. Maurice Béjart – Béjart Ballet Lausanne,
Tokyo Ballet; Le Tour du monde en 80 22, 28. I: Noé; La Belle et la Bête; L’Après- Mezzo live HD
minutes – c. Maurice Béjart – Béjart Ballet midi d’un Faune – c. T. Malandain – Ballet
Lausanne Biarritz www.mezzo.tv
15, 26. I: Yaroslavna – c. Vladimir Varnava 29. I: Now – c. Carolyn Carlson – Carolyn 27, 28. XII, 1. I: Noé; La Belle et la Bête;
– Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky de Saint- Carlson Dance Company; Pneuma – c. L’Après-midi d’un Faune – c. T.
Péterbourg; La Fontaine de Bakhtchisarai Carolyn Carlson – Ballet de l’Opéra de Malandain – Ballet Biarritz
– c. Rostislav Zakharov Bordeaux
30, 31. XII, 3, 8. I: Cendrillon – c. Alexei
Ratmansky – Ballet du Théâtre
Ballet du Rhin: “Chaplin”, c. Mario Schröder (ph. A. Poupeney) Mariinsky de Saint-Pétersbourg; La Belle
et la Bête – c. Thierry Malandain – Ballet
Biarritz
2. I: Yaroslavna – c. Vladimir Varnava
– Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky de Saint-
Péterbourg; La Belle et la Bête – c. Thierry
Malandain – Ballet Biarritz
4. I: Yaroslavna – c. Vladimir Varnava
– Ballet du Théâtre Mariinsky de Saint-
Péterbourg; Noé – c. Thierry Malandain
– Ballet Biarritz
6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29.
I: Coppélia – c. Charles Judes – Ballet
de l’Opéra de Bordeaux; Casse-Noisette
– c. Ben Stevenson – Estonian National
Ballet
11. I: Russia – c. Marco Morau – La Veronal
13, 16, 17, 18, 22, 27, 28, 30, 31. I, 1.
2. II: Mata Hari – c. Ted Brandsen –
Het Nationale Ballet; Hommage à Hans
van Manen – Het Nationale Ballet
55
af
afffiche • car
iche tellone • calendar • af
cartellone afffiche • car
iche tellone
cartellone
– Prague National Ballet Theatre
31. I, 1, 2. II: Serenade – c. G.
Balanchine; Separte Knots – c.
E. Gat; Le Sacre du printemps
– c. G. Tetley – Prague National
Theatre Ballet
The Karlín Music Theatre
12. II: Romeo and Juliet – c. P.
Zuska – Prague National
Theatre Ballet
Estate Theatre
16, 17, 25. I, 27. II: Valmont – c.
L. Vaculík – Prague National
Theatre Ballet
19, 26. I, 9. II: The Little Mermaid
– c. J. Kodet – Prague National
Theatre Ballet
DENMARK
Vahe Martirosyan – Staatsballett Berlin: “La Bayadère”,
c. Alexei Ratmansky (ph. Staatsballett Berlin) Copenhagen
Det Kongelige Teater – The
Opera House
AUSTRIA BELGIUM 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. I: Krash Tiina Myllymaki, Sergei Popov –
& Chopin Dances – c. T. Rushton Finnish National Ballet:
– Royal Danish Ballet “The Little Mermaid”,
Wien Bruxelles c. Kenneth Greve (ph. S. Viika)
Staatsoper Théâtre de la Monnaie GERMANY
25, 27, 29. XII, 1, 2, 4. I: Der 5.-9. I: Cie Rosas: Les Six
Nussknacker – c. R. Nureyev Concertos Brandebourgeois – Way Ever Lasting – c. N.
– Wiener Staatsballett c. A. T. De Keersmaeker Berlin Horecna; Fantasies – c. c. R.
17, 19, 24, 26. I: Sylvia – c. M. 23-26. I: Cie Rosas: Quartett – Staatsoper Unter den Linden Sucheana – Ballett der
Legris (L. Mérante) – Wiener c. A. T. De Keersmaeker 2, 9. I: La Bayadère – c. M. Petipa Deutschen Oper am Rhein
Staatsballett (A. Ratmansky) – Staatsballett 12, 20. I: Le Lac des cygnes –
11, 13, 20, 22, 23, 25. II, 2, 6, 8. CZECH REP. Berlin c. M. Schläpfer – Ballett der
III: Le Lac des cygnes – c. R. 1, 14. II: Romeo und Juliet – c. Deutschen Oper am Rhein
Nureyev – Wiener Staatsballett J. Cranko – Staatsballett Berlin
Volksoper Prague Deutsche Oper Hamburg
27, 30. I, 2, 6, 16, 19. II: Coppélia National Theatre 25, 27. XII: Casse-Noisette – c. Grosses Haus
– c. P. Lacotte – Weiner 4, 5. I: The Nutcracker-A Y. Burlaka, V. Medvedev – 28, 31. XII, 3, 6, 7, 13. I: The
Staatsballett Christmas Carol – c. Y. Vàmos Staatsballett Berlin Nutcracker – c. J. Neumeier –
Komische Oper Hamburg Ballet
15. II: Distant Matter – c. A. Van 10, 11, 19, 20, 24, 26. I, 2. II: Don
Alina Nanu – Prague Opera Ballet: “The Nutcracker”, c. Yuri Vàmos Dijk; Half Life – c. S. Eyal – Quichotte – c. R. Nureyev –
(ph. M. Divisek) Staatsballett Berlin Hamburg Ballet
16, 17. I: Brahms-Schoenberg
Dresden Quartet; Liebeslieder Walzer –
Semperoper c. G. Balanchine – Hamburg Ballet
25, 27. I. 10, 16, 24. II: Carmen 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 19. II: Orphée et
– c. J. Inger – Ballett Dresden Eurydice – c. J. Neumeier –
Hamburg Ballet
Duisburg 8, 13. II: Nijinsky – c. J. Neumeier
Theater der Stadt – Hamburg Ballet
8. I: Le Lac des cygnes – c. M. 17, 21. II: All Our Yesterday –
Schläpfer – Ballett der c. J. Neumeier – Hamburg Ballet
Deutschen Oper am Rhein
9, 23. II: Sinfonie nr 1 – c. R. München
Sucheana; One Flat Thing, Nationaltheater
Reproduced – c. W. Forsythe; 28. XII, 2, 4. I: The Nutcracker
Ulenspiegeltänze – c. M. – c. J. Neumeier – Bayerisches
Schläpfer – Ballett der Staatsballett
Deutschen Oper am Rhein 10, 11, 13, 26. I: Die
Kameliendame – c. J. Neumeier
Düsseldorf – Bayerisches Staatsballett
Opernhaus 19, 20. I: Raymonda – c. M.
5. I: creation – c. R. Binet; The Petipa (R. Barra) – Bayerisches
56
calendar • af
afffiche • car
cartellone afffiche
iche
Staatsballett
1, 4, 17. II: Kairos; Sunyata;
Borderlands – c. W. McGregor
– Bayerisches Staatsballett
22, 24, 26. II: Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland – c. C. Wheeldon
– Bayerisches Staatsballett
Stuttgart
Opernhaus
28, 30, 31. XII, 3. I: Symphony
in C. – c. G. Balanchine; Konzert
für Flöte und Harfe – c. J. Cranko;
La Bayadère (Acte des ombres)
– c. M. Petipa – Stuttgart Ballet
16, 20, 24. I: La Dame aux
camélias – c. J. Neumeier –
Stuttgart Ballet
2, 7, 12, 17, 25. II: Die sieben
Todsünden – c. K. Weill –
Stuttgart Ballet
22, 26. II: One of a Kind – c. J.
Kylián – Stuttgart Ballet
SPAIN
Alice Firenze, Mihail Avraam, Ioanna Sosnovschi – Wiener Staatsballet: “Sylvia”, c. Manuel Legris
(ph. A. Taylor)
Madrid
Teatro Real
21, 23, 24, 26. I: Ballet de l’Opéra 27, 28, 30, 31. XII, 1, 2. I: 29, 30, 31. I, 1. II: Los Angeles
de Paris: Afternoon of a Faun;
FRANCE
Cendrillon – c. R. Noureev – Dance Project: création – c. B.
A Suite of Dances – c. J. Robbins; Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris Millepied
Sonatine; Rubis – c. G. Paris 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26. II, 8, 9, 10. II: Daphnis et Chloé –
Balanchine; Trois Gnosiennes Opéra Garnier 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, c. J.-C. Maillot; Le Spectre de
– c. H. van Manen 2, 3. I: La Dame aux camélias 19. III: Le Lac des cygnes – c. la Rose – c. M. Goecke; Prélude
– c. J. Neumeier – Ballet de R. Nureyev – Ballet de l’Opéra à l’après-midi d’un faune – c.
FINLAND l’Opéra de Paris de Paris J. Verbruggen; Petrouchka – c.
5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, Centre Pompidou J. Inger – Les Ballets de Mon-
19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28. II, 1, 6-9. II: Fabrice Lambert: te-Carlo
Helsinki 2. III: Faun – c. S. L. Cherkaoui; Aujourd’hui, Sauvage Théâtre de la Ville – Les
Opera création – c. M. Goecke; Noces Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Abbesses
19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30. I, 1, 6, – c. P. Lidberg – Ballet de l’Opéra 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I: Ballet de l’Opéra 20-30. XII: Hofesh Shechter
9, 12. II: The Little Mermaid – c. de Paris de Kiev: Casse-Noisette – c. V. Company: Show
K. Greve – Finnish National Ballet Opéra Bastille Kovtun 8-11. I: Vincent Dupont: Refuge
Hamburg Ballet: “The Nutcracker”, c. John Neumeier (ph. W. Hoesl)
57
af
afffiche • car
iche tellone
cartellone
14-16. I: Kat Valastur: OlLinity 2. II: Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon:
18-20. I: Igor & Moreno: Andante Under a Day – c. J. Inger; Petite
24-26. I: Adi Boutrous: Submission Mort; No More Play – c. J. Kylián
19-23. II: Eun-Me Ahn Co.: “North
Korea Dance” Lyon
27. II-12. III: Cie Maguy Marin: Maison de la Danse
MayBe 18-22. XII: Malandain Ballet
Théâtre de Chaillot (Salle Jean Biarritz: Noé – c. T. Malandain
Vilar) 8-12. I: Fabrice Ramalingom:
10-13. I: Ensemble Modern: Story My (Petit) Pogo
Water – c. E. Gat 15-19. I: Hofesh Shechter
17-25. I: Ballet de Lorraine: Plaisirs Company: Grand Finale
inconnus 24-26. I: Ballet de l’Opéra de
7-22. II: Ballet Preljocaj: Gravité Lyon: Newark; Foray Forêt; Set
Théâtre de Chaillot (Salle and Reset/Reset – c. T. Brown
Gémier) 29. I-2. II: Cie Deborah Colker:
9-12. I: Arcosm: Bounce! – c. T. Cão Sem Plumas
Guerry, C. Rocailleux 8-13. II: Compañía Nacional
16-24. I: La Baraka: Wonderful de Danza: Don Quichotte – c.
One – c. A. Lagraa J. C. Martínez
12-14. II: Cie Emmanuelle Vo-
Dinh: Cocagne Massy
19-22. II: Cie Jann Gallois: Opéra
Compact 11, 12, 13. I: Yacobson Ballet:
Le Lac des cygnes – c. M. Petipa,
Aix-en-Provence L. Ivanov
Le Pavillon Noir 9, 10. II: Ballet du Rhin: Chaplin
15, 16. I: Cie Wayne McGregor: – c. M. Schröder
Autobiography – c. W. McGregor
24-26. I: Cie Wang/Ramirez: We Marseille
are Monchichi KLAP
31. I-1. II: Malaindain Ballet Biarritz: 19. I: Kollectif Ko.com: Quand
Noé – c. T. Malandain on se retrouve entre nous
7-8. II: David Wampach, Tamar chacun reprend sa place
Shelef: Enoo
Montpellier
Biarritz MontpellierDanse
Gare du Midi
28, 29, 30. XII: Rêveries
romantiques; Sirène – c. T.
Malandain – Malandain Ballet Bordeaux Opera Ballet:
Biarritz “La Fille mal gardée”,
c. Frederick Ashton
Bordeaux (ph. J. Benhamou)
Opéra National de Bordeaux Léonore Baulac, Mathieu Ganio – Paris Opéra Ballet:
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. XII: La Fille “The Lady of the Camellias”, c. John Neumeier (ph. F. Levieux)
mal gardée – c. F. Ashton – Ballet
de l’Opéra de Bordeaux
14, 15. II: DCA: Petites Pièces
courtes – c. P. Decouflé
Cie Maguy Marin: “May B.”, c. M. Marin
Colmar
Théâtre Municipal
24, 25. I: Le Lac des cygnes – c.
R. El Meddeb – Ballet du Rhin
Dijon
Auditorium
24. I: Cie Catherine Diverrès: Blow
the Bloody Doors off
31. I: CCN de Montpellier: Jours
Étranges – c. D. Bagouet
Lille
Opéra
16, 18, 20, 22, 24. I: Pygmalion –
c. R. Orlin
58
calendar • af
afffiche • car
cartellone afffiche
iche
Ballet du Rhin
Suresnes
Suresnes Cités Danse
Théâtre Jean Vilar
11. I-3. II: Suresnes Cités Danse
Toulouse
Casino Théâtre Barrière
26, 28, 29, 30, 31. XII: Don
Chisciotte – c. K. Belarbi – Ballet
du Capitole
Versailles
Château de Versailles/Opéra
Royal
28, 29, 30. XII: Ballet Preljocaj:
Roméo et Juliette – c. A. Preljocaj
GREAT BRITAIN
Birmingham
Hippodrome
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28. II:
Beauty and the Best – c. D. Bintley
– Birmingham Royal Ballet
Tanztheater Wuppertal:
“Since She”, c. Dimitri Edinburgh
Papaioannou (ph. J. Mommert)
Festival Theatre
27, 28, 29, 30. XII: Cinderella – c.
Théâtre La Vignette C. Hampson – Birmingham Royal
16, 17. I: David Wampach: Endo Ballet
30, 31. I: Hamdri Dridi: I Listen Sarah Lamb – The Royal Ballet: “The Nutcracker”, c. Peter Wright
(You) See; Paola Stella Minni, Glasgow (ph. K. Kuras )
Konstantinos Rizos: Pa.Ko.Doble Theatre Royal
Le Corum/Opéra Berlioz 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. I: Cinderella
23, 24. I: Ballet du Capitole: “Dans – c. C. Hampson – Birmingham 22-25. II: Wuppertal Tanztheater: 16-20. I: English National Ballet:
les pas de Noureev” Royal Ballet New Piece II – c. A. L. Oyen Manon – c. Kenneth MacMillan
19, 20. II: Ballet Preljocaj: La Coliseum 29, 30. XII, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I: English
Fresque London 3-13. I: English National Ballet: National Ballet: The Nutcracker
Royal Opera House Swan Lake – c. D. Deane – c. W. Eagling
Mulhouse 28, 31. XII, 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15. I:
La Filature The Nutcracker – c. P. Wright –
1-3. II: Ballet du Rhin: Le Lac des The Royal Ballet Ballet de Lorraine: “Plaisirs Inconnus” (ph. A. Paul)
cygnes – c. R. El Mebbed 2, 4. I: The Concert – c. J. Robbins;
Les Patineurs – c. F. Ashton; Winter
Nancy Dreams – c. K. MacMillan – The
Opéra de Nancy Royal Ballet
26. II: “Plaisirs inconnus” – Ballet 18, 19. I: Asphodel Meadow – c.
de Lorraine L. Scarlett; The Two Pigeons – c.
F. Ashton – The Royal Ballet
Nice 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27. II, 1, 2,
Opéra 22, 25, 30. III: Don Quichotte – c.
22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. XII: Le M. Petipa, A. Gorsky (C. Acosta)
Ballet de Faust – c. E. Vu-An; Les – The Royal Ballet
Deux Pigeons – c. E. Vu-An – Ballet Royal Albert Hall
Nice Méditerranée 28, 29, 30, 31. XII: The Nutcracker
Conservatoire à Rayonnement – c. P. Wright – Birmingham Royal
Régional de Nice Ballet
15. II: Ballet Nice Méditerranée: Sadler’s Wells Theatre
“Pas de deux & Co.” 4. XII-24. I: New Adventures: Swan
Lake – c. M. Bourne
Strasbourg 14-17. II: Wuppertal Tanztheater:
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. I: Le Lac New Piece I – Since She – c. D.
des cygnes – c. R. El Meddeb – Papaioannou
59
af
afffiche • car
iche tellone
cartellone
ITALY 24, 25, 26, 29, 30. I, 1. II:
Winterreise – c. A. Preljocaj –
Balletto del Teatro alla Scala
Bologna Teatro degli Arcimboldi
Teatro Comunale 30. I: Roberto Bolle and Friends
29, 30, 31. XII: Balletto di Mila- Teatro Carcano
no: Lo Schiaccianoci – c. F. 29. XII-1. I: Balletto del Sud: La
Veratti Bella addormentata – c. F.
27. II: Svetlana Zakharova: “Amo- Franzutti
re” 27. I: Balletto di Roma: Otello
Teatro Duse – c. F. Monteverde
30. XII: Moscow Classical
Russian Ballet: Lo Schiaccia- Modena
noci Teatro Comunale Luciano
30. I: Balletto di Roma: Otello Pavarotti
– c. Montevede 18. I: Aterballetto: Sarabande
13. II: Ballet Flamenco Español: – c. J. Kylián; Domus Aurea –
Carmen – c. T. Osuna c. D. Tortelli
26. II: Balletto Yacobson: Don
Cesena Chisciotte
Teatro Bonci
11. I: Balletto di San Pietroburgo: Napoli
La Bella addormentata Teatro di San Carlo
2. II: Aterballetto: Tempesta – 29, 30. XII, 2, 3, 4, 5. I: Lo Schiac-
c. G. Spota cianoci – c. G. Picone – Ballet-
to del Teatro San Carlo di Na-
Ferrara poli
Teatro Comunale
19. I: Mario Martone: Tango gla- Padova
ciale: reloaded (1982-2018) Teatro Verdi
31. I: Parsons Dance: 19. I: Lutz Förster: Dance Stories
Microbust; Caught; Wolfgang; 1. II: Balletto di Roma: Otello –
Whirlaway – c. D. Parsons; Ma c. F. Monteverde
Maison – c. T. McIntyre Nicola Del Freo – La Scala Ballet: “The Nutcracker”,
28. II: Balletto Yacobson: La Bella c. George Balanchine (ph. Brescia-Amisano) Parma
addormentata ParmaDanza
Teatro Regio
Genova Milano 1. II: DC Entertainment: Lo
Teatro Carlo Felice Teatro alla Scala Schiaccianoci – c. A. Amodio
No Gravity Dance Company:
11-13. I: Balletto di Astana: Il 16, 19, 20, 29, 30. XII, 3, 4, 10, 7. II: Parsons Dance Company:
“Divina Commedia”,
lago dei cigni – c. A. Asylmuratova 12, 15. I: Lo Schiaccianoci – c. Microbust; Caught; Wolfgang;
c. Emiliano Pellissari
(Petipa, Ivanov) G. Balanchine – Balletto del Whirlaway – c. D. Parsons; Ma
31. I-3. II: Balletto sul Ghiaccio Teatro alla Scala Maison – c. T. McIntyre
di San Pietroburgo: La Bella
addormentata
“The Sleeping Beauty on Ice” with The Saint-Petersburg
Legnago State Ballet on Ice
Teatro Salieri
2. II: Balletto di Roma: Otello –
c. F. Monteverde
Livorno
Teatro Goldoni
13. II: No Gravity Dance
Company: Divina Commedia
Lucca
Teatro del Giglio
30. I: Aterballetto: Rain Dogs;
Bliss; Birdland – c. J. Inger
26. II: DCEntertainment: Medi-
terranea – c. M. Bigonzetti
Mestre
Teatro Toniolo
26. XII: Balletto di San
Pietroburgo: Lo Schiaccianoci
60
61
af
afffiche • car
iche tellone
cartellone
HOLLAND
Amsterdam
National Opera & Ball
27, 29, 30, 31. XII, 1. I:
Cinderella – c. C. Wheeldon
– Het Nationale Ballet
9, 16, 22, 23, 24, 27. II:
Requiem – c. D. Dawson –
Het Nationale Ballet
NORWAY
Oslo
Opera
24, 26, 27, 30. I, 1, 7. II: Le
Lac des cygnes – c. M. Petipa,
L. Ivanov (A. M. Holmes) –
Norwegian National Ballet
21, 22, 27. II, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8. III:
The Firebird – c. L. Scarlett;
The Rite of Spring – c. I. C.
Johannessen – Norwegian
Edo Wijnen – Het Nationale Ballet: “Requiem”, c. David Dawson (ph. H. Gerritsen) National Ballet
Pesaro Whirlaway – c. D. Parsons; Ma Passioni – c. M. Merola POLAND

Teatro Rossini Maison – c. T. McIntyre 29. II: No Gravity Dance
28. XII: Moscow Classical Company: Divina Commedia
Russian Ballet: Lo Schiaccia- Venezia Warsaw
noci Teatro La Fenice Vicenza Moniuszko Auditorium
12, 13, 14, 15, 16. I: Les Ballets Teatro Comunale 27, 28, 29. XII: The Nutcracker
Pisa de Monte-Carlo: Romeo e 26, 27. I: Ballet du Grand- and The Mouse King – c. T.
Teatro Verdi Giulietta – c. J.-C. Maillot Théâtre de Genève: Carmina van Schayk, W. Eagling –
24. I: Junior Balletto di Tosca- Burana – c. C. Brumachon Polish National Ballet
na: Bella addormentata – c. D. Verona 15, 16, 17. I: Momix: Alice... 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. I, 1, 2, 3. II:
Tortelli Teatro Ristori Alice... Alice – c. M. Pendleton La Dame aux camélias – c.
22. II: Eko Dance International 1. II: MM Contemporay Dance 28. II: Paul Taylor Dance J. Neumeier – Polish National
Project: Messia Haendel – c. Company: Schubert Frames – Company: Airs; Black Tuesday; Ballet
P. Mohovich c. E. Morelli; Vivaldi_umane Esplanade – c. P. Taylor
RUSSIA
Reggio Emilia Yolanda Correa, Joel Carreño – Norwegian National Ballet:
Teatro Romolo Valli “The Firebird”, c. Liam Scarlett (ph. E. Berg)
13. I: Ballet du Grand Théâtre St. Petersburg
de Genève: Callas – c. R. Mariinsky Teatr
Hoffmann 28, 31. XII, 13. I: Casse-
13. II: William Forsythe: A Quite Noisette –c. V. Vainonen –
Evening of Dance Mariinsky Ballet
30. XII: La Bayadère – c. M.
Roma Petipa (V. Chabukiani) –
Teatro dell’Opera Mariinsky Ballet
26. XII-6. I: Il lago dei cigni – c. 10. I: Cinderella – c. A.
B. Pech – Balletto dell’Opera Ratmansky – Mariinsky Ballet
di Roma 27. I: The Young Lady and
2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. II: Carmen the Hooligan – c. K. Boyarsky;
– c. J. Kylián – Balletto dell’Ope- Leningrad Symphony – c. I.
ra di Roma Belsky – Mariinsky Ballet
3. II: Chopiniana; Pétrouchka;
Torino L’Oiseau de feu – c. M. Fokine
Teatro Regio – Mariinsky Ballet
29-31. XII: Roberto Bolle and 14, 15, 16. II: The Legend of
Friends Love – c. Y. Grigorovich –
Teatro Colosseo Mariinsky Ballet
9-10. II: Parsons Dance: 25. II: Chopiniana; Le Spectre
Microbust; Caught; Wolfgang; de la Rose; Le Carnaval – c.
62
calendar • af
afffiche • car
cartellone afffiche
iche
Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg: “The Nutcracker”, c. Vasili Vainonen (ph. N. Razina)
M. Fokine – Mariinsky Ballet 3. II: Giselle – c. J. Coralli, J. Mikhailovsky Ballet V. Vainonen, M. Messerer –
Mariinsky Theatr II Perrot, M. Petipa – Mikhailovsky 11, 12, 13. II: Casse-Noisette Mikhailovsky Ballet
8, 9. I: Spartacus – c. L. Ballet – c. N. Duato – Mikhailovsky 26, 27. II: La Bayadère – c.
Yakobson – Mariinsky Ballet 6, 7. II: Le Lac des cygnes – Ballet M. Petipa – Mikhailovsky Ballet
10. I: Cinderella – c. A. c. M. Petipa, L. Ivanov (A. 14, 15, 16. II: Le Corsaire –
Ratmansky – Mariinsky Ballet Gorsky, A. Messerer) – c. M. Petipa, P. Gusev, K. Moscow
12. I: Carmen Suite – c. A. Mikhailovsky Ballet Sergeyev (M. Messerer) – Bolshoi Teatr (new stage)
Alonso; Le Jeune Homme et 9, 10. II: Don Quichotte – c. Mikhailovsky Ballet 12, 13. I: Coppélia – c. M.
la Mort – c. R. Petit – Mariinsky M. Petipa, A. Gorsky – 23. II: Flammes de Paris – c. Petipa (S. Vikharev) – Bolshoi
Ballet
8, 9. II: Spartacus –c. L.
Yakobson – Mariinsky Ballet Mikhailovsky Ballet, St Petersburg: “La Sylphide”, c. August Bournonville
10. II: The Four Seasons – c.
I. Zhivoi – Mariinksy Ballet
Mikhailovsky Theatre
3, 5, 6, 7. I: Cinderella – c. R.
Zakharov – Mikhailovsky Ballet
16, 17, 18. I, 19, 20, 21. II:
Spartacus – c. G. Kovtun –
Mikhailovsky Ballet
20. I: La Sylphide – c. A.
Bournonville – Mikhailovsky
Ballet
23, 24, 25. I: Romeo and
Juliet – c. N. Duato –
Mikhailovsky Ballet
27. I: La Fille mal gardée –
c. F. Ashton – Mikhailovsky
Ballet
30, 31. I, 1. II: La Belle au
bois dormant – c. N. Duato
– Mikhailovsky Ballet
63
af
afffiche • car
iche tellone
cartellone
Denis Savin, Ekaterina Krysanova, Georgy Gusev, Anton Savichev – Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow: “Petrushka”, c. Edward Clug
(ph. E. Fetisova)
Ballet Maximova Opernhaus

22, 24. I: The Taming of the SWITZERLAND
7, 8, 9, 10. II: Spartacus – c. 29. XII, 1. I: Nussknacker und
Shrew – c. J.-C. Maillot – Y. Grigorovich – Bolshoi Mauseköning – c. C. Spuck –
Bolshoi Ballet Ballet Genève Ballett Zürich
26, 27. I: The Cage – c. J. 12, 13, 14. II: Don Quichotte Grand Théâtre 13, 18, 22, 25, 27, 31. I, 2, 8. II:
Robbins; Études – c. H. Lander; – c. M. Petipa (A. 28. II-3. III: Ballet Flamenco Sara Bella Figura; Sweat Dreams;
Carmen Suite – c. A. Alonso Fadeyechev) – Bolshoi Ballet Baras: Sombras Stepping Stones; Sechs Tänze
– Bolshoi Ballet 16, 17. II: Jewels – c. G. – c. J. Kylián– Ballett Zürich
30, 31. I: Onegin – c. J. Cranko Balanchine – Bolshoi Ballet Zürich
– Bolshoi Ballet SWEDEN
2, 3. II: The Bright Stream –
c. A. Ratmansky – Bolshoi
Ballet Stockholm
19, 20. II: Romeo and Juliet Opera
– c. A. Ratmansky – Bolshoi 29. XII, 3, 5, 7, 12, 15, 18. I:
Ballet Casse-Noisette – c. P. Isberg
23, 24. II: Artifact Suite – c. – Royal Swedish Ballet
W. Forsythe; Petrushka – c. 15, 16, 20, 23. II: creation –
E. Clug – Bolshoi Ballet c. J. Bélingard; Suite en blanc
Bolshoi Teatr (old stage) – c. S. Lifar – Royal Swedish
28, 29, 30, 31. XII, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ballet
6, 7. I: Casse-Noisette – c. Y.
Grigorovich – Bolshoi Ballet
16, 17, 18, 19, 20. I: La
Bayadère – c. M. Petipa (Y.
Grigorovich) – Bolshoi Ballet Sara Baras:
1. II: Gala in Honor of Ekaterina “Sombras”
64
65
ENGLISH Edition
subscribe
First name
Bimonthly + 1 (a “Special New Year
................................................................................................................ Issue” in January)
7 issues per year

Surname
.................................................................................................................
a subscription can start at any time
Address
................................................................................................................
hard copy (paper)
P.Code / Town 32,00 Euros - throughout Europe
................................................................................................
(by air mail outside Europe: 49,00 euros)
Subscription to 7 issues (paper)
32,00 Euros - By Bank transfer, Iban:
(outside Europe, air mail: 49.00 Euros) FR27 2004 1010 0811 2057 3D02 930
BIC/Swift: PSSTFRPPMAR
Cheque enclosed to EDITIONS BALLET 2000 - Online, by credit/debit card or PayPal

(only on a French Bank) on the website www.ballet2000.com >
Bank transfer : La Banque Postale, centre Marseille (France ENGLISH section > “Subscriptions”
account Editions Ballet 2000 Sarl
Iban: FR27 2004 1010 0811 2057 3D02 930
(BIC: PSSTFRPPMAR)
digital version
if you pay by cheque, please, send it with this coupon to: see the web site:
EDITIONS BALLET 2000 - B.P. 1283 - 06005 Nice cedex 1
w w w. b a l l e t 2 0 0 0 . c o m
contact: service@ballet2000.com
magazine on paper or digital (see web site)
66
11
12

Preljocaj, Research and Creation: Dance

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Preljocaj, Research and Creation: Dance

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.

Éditions Ballet 2000 Sarl – France 46 Cuba, ballet as heritage

Anna Laudere, Edvin Revazov –

Louis Stiens, new kid on the

France and Switzerland team up

Preljocaj and Kor’sia in Sicily

Ballet de Lorraine: “In the Upper Room”,

Twyla Tharp in Nancy

Ballet du Grand-Théâtre de Genève:

Belgium looks to Sweden

Merce, 100 years, 100 solos

Merce Cunningham in “Antic Meet”

choreographer Johan Kobborg’s version of Don

Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli

Ferri and McGregor, the

Justin Peck (ph. M. J. Franklin)

Justin Peck commutes between

Goodbye to Richard Alston’s Company

Elly Braund, Nicholas Shikkis – Richard Alston

American minimalist folk composer Sufjan

San Francisco Ballet: “Hummingbird”, c. Liam Scarlett (ph. E. Tomasson)

Californian shades of Scarlett Millepied’s French creation

Marco Goecke, a German of Europe

Arthur Mitchell in 1963 at the

English National Ballet rings in

Jurgita Dronina and

Angelin Preljocaj, Research

Preljocaj: my winter’s journey towards La Scala

– Yes, of course, there’s a sort of contrast between

– Will the new Winterreise at La Scala also tell a story?

this one-man-show explored the willpower, needs and

The Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence,

victims of that love disease called AIDS. What fasci-

• critics • critics ON S TA G E ! critics • critics •

Paris Opéra Ballet: “Glass Pieces”, c. Jerome Robbins (ph. S. Mathé)

Ballet du Rhin must underline that one of the reasons The

Ballet du Rhin: “The Green Table”, c. Kurt Jooss (ph. A. Poupeney)

An old new Bayadère

If you like pomp and circumstance, look

Staatsballett Berlin: “La Bayadère”, c. Alexei Ratmansky (ph. Y. Revazov)

Cie Blanca Li:

at dance festivals to actively

Natalia de Froberville, Davit

Zurich Ballet Zurich Ballet:

in doing away with the image of Brazil that we

Batsheva Dance Company: “Last Work”, c. Ohad Naharin (ph. L. Philippe)

Lichtenberger’s music which is at times deli- Ballet Nice Méditerranée:

no little flamboyance, The Royal Ballet cast Marianela Nuñez, Natalia

Cuba: ballet as T here have now been a total of 26 editions

Adrian Sánchez – the latter couple representing

Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino

Ballet du Grand Théâtre

Things change: dance gets nasty

In 2016 the Friends of Genia (Evgenij)

teacher, maître de ballet and choreographer who

“Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers”

subscribe to BALLET2000 on www.danzashop.com

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

Hamburg Ballet: “The Nutcracker”, c. John Neumeier (ph. W. Hoesl)

Pesaro Whirlaway – c. D. Parsons; Ma Passioni – c. M. Merola POLAND

Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg: “The Nutcracker”, c. Vasili Vainonen (ph. N. Razina)

Ballet Maximova  Opernhaus

7 issues per year

Ballet Maximova Opernhaus

Cheque enclosed to EDITIONS BALLET 2000 - Online, by credit/debit card or PayPal