Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg have announced they will leave The Royal Ballet at the end of the 2012/13 season to pursue other artistic challenges. Their last performance at the Royal Opera House as members of The Royal Ballet will be in Mayerling on 5 June.

They will then go to Tokyo with the company as planned and dance for the last time with the Royal Ballet on 10 and 12 July.

While surely the announcement has little to do with Natalia Osipova’s arrival next season, with the loss of principals Mara Galeazzi and Leanne Benjamin who are retiring in the next couple of months, it will leave a lot more pointe shoes empty than Osipova will be able to fill.… [continue reading]

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Some of the brightest stars of British ballet have joined forces for a major dance initiative being launched next month. Genesis is a unique project set to captivate ballet audiences everywhere and appeal to a digitally aware generation.

It is the brainchild of Crystal Ballet, a company set up in 2011 to explore new frontiers in dance: it will be the first time ever that a collection of dance pieces has been created and filmed specifically for download to personal portable devices.

The initiative is being launched in Tokyo on 1 July when downloads will become available internationally to the general public. The European launch will take place in London in September 2013.

Genesis has been created by choreographers Kim Brandstrup and Ernst Meisner to music by Bach, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff, and features Alina Cojocaru, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae from The Royal Ballet, together with stars of English National Ballet: Esteban Berlanga, Daria Klimentová, Vadim Muntagirov and Erina Takahashi. … [continue reading]

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The UK chancellor, George Osborne, has unveiled his 7% spending cut in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is part of the Spending Review. The Arts Council will share less of the burden however, with a 5% reduction during 2015/16.

Acting chief at the Royal Opera House, Sally O’Neill, said,

I am encouraged that the government has listened to our concerns and recognizes the value that arts and culture make to both the quality of people’s lives, and also to the economy. I now look forward to working with Arts Council England as they determine how best to allocate their resources for the future. We recognize that the 5% cut will have a significant impact and we will continue to do all we can to support our colleagues across the sector, including those working in the smaller and regional companies who play such a vital role in the creative industries and who may also be impacted by the 10% cut to local governments.… [continue reading]

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Royal Ballet principal dancers Marianela Núñez and Thiago Soares have helped launch a £1.2 million adult eating disorders unit.

They have worked with Professor Jon Arcelus, who is a consultant psychiatrist at the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, to raise awareness of eating disorders among other dancers and staff in their industry.

The Leicester Mercury quotes Núñez as saying,

While I have never suffered from an eating disorder, studies have shown there is a link between dancers and eating disorders. The Leicester eating disorder service, through Prof Arcelus, has been working closely with the Royal Ballet and Dance UK to prevent the development of them and kick-start a wider understanding of eating disorders.

The unit will treat patients with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa from across Leicestershire.… [continue reading]

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You may not to get to see Royal Ballet principal Mara Galeazzi dance at the Royal Opera House again (addio 13 June 2013 in Ken­neth MacMillan’s May­er­ling), or with the Royal Ballet (addio 29 June in MacMillan’s Manon), but there is a wonderful opportunity to see her dance in three weeks’ time.

On 23 July there will be a magnificent ballet gala at Verona’s Teatro Romano where she will be joined by a starry collection of Royal Ballet friends: Lauren Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nuñez, Gary Avis, Steven McRae , Thiago Soares and Edward Watson.

Here’s the mouth-watering programme:

Gala Mara Galeazzi & Principals from the Royal Ballet

ONEGIN — pas de deux, Act 3 — Tatiana and Gremin
Choreography by John Cranko
Music by Kurt-Heinz Stolze
with Mara Galeazzi & Gary Avis

CHROMA — pas de deux
Choreography by Wayne McGregor
Music by Joby Talbot, Jack White III
with Sarah Lamb & Steven McRae

SWAN LAKE — Black Swan pas de deux, Act 3
Choreography Marius Petipa
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
with Marianela Nuñez & Thiago Soares

NISI DOMINUS
Choreography by William Tuckett
Musica by Claudio Monteverdi
with Lauren Cuthbertson

ROMEO AND JULIET Balcony Scene
Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
with Mara Galeazzi & Edward Watson

Intervallo

MANON — pas de deux
Choreography by Kenneth McMillan
Music by Jules Massenet
with Mara Galeazzi & Edward Watson

AFTER THE RAIN
Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon
Music by Arvo Pärt Tabula Rasa (1977)
with Marianela Nuñez & Thiago Soares

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
with Sarah Lamb & Steven McRae

QUALIA — pas de deux
Choreography by Wayne McGregor
Musica Scanner
with Lauren Cuthbertson & Edward Watson

LOOK WEST
Choreography by Alastair Marriott
Music by Leonard Bernstein (Serenade for violin , harp, percussion and strings)
with Mara Galeazzi & Gary Avis

Tickets online: www.geticket.it… [continue reading]

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Johan Kobborg has given his last performance with the Royal Ballet, in Tokyo. The last performance was due to have been tomorrow evening for the opening of Swan Lake but he and Alina Cojocaru cancelled. Yesterday, the Royal Ballet announced:

Friday will see the first of five performances of Swan Lake, although unfortunately Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg announced today they will not be performing the leading roles on Friday evening.

So Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez will take over. However a statement from Cojocaru and Kobborg accompanied the announcement:

We are very sorry and sad not to be performing our scheduled performance of Swan Lake with the Company. Unfortunately, due to our recent injuries, although recovering well, we are still unable to meet the physical demands that Swan Lake specifically requires. … [continue reading]

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Tamara Rojo said in an interview in May:

It will be a friendly com­pet­i­tion [with Covent Garden]. It’s great when, in a city like Lon­don, there are two com­pan­ies who want to suc­ceed. It keeps us on our toes, and gives the audi­ences a choice.

Well the gloves are off, as Rojo has wooed one of the Royal Ballet’s greatest stars, Alina Cojocaru, to join her side. The press release reads:

We are delighted to announce that Alina Cojocaru, one of the world’s greatest ballerinas, is to join English National Ballet.

Speaking of her new role, Alina Cojocaru said: “I am very excited to be joining English National Ballet next season. I am attracted by the opportunities the repertoire offers, the combination of the classics and the chance to work with choreographers I really admire.… [continue reading]

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I’ll be a specially wicked Black Swan. I can’t believe that I’m to dance with a Siegried younger than me, the 21-year-old Claudio Coviello, who is making his début in the role: my Odile will seduce him, break his heart and destroy him.

says Natalia Osipova on the eve of her début in Rudolf Nureyev’s version of Swan Lake (Lago dei Cigni) that he created for La Scala in 1990.

What wouldn’t I give to be able to see Nureyev dance.  To think about me dancing with him gives me goose bumps.

She told the Corriere della Sera’s Valeria Crippa.

I like Nureyev’s version because it goes straight to the heart of the story without wasting time, concentrating of the three main characters: Odette/Odile, Seifried and Rothbart.… [continue reading]

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Mara Galeazzi, principal dancer with London’s Royal Ballet, though trained at the La Scala school in Milan, will say goodbye to her performing career on 23 July at a starry gala with colleagues from the Royal Ballet in Verona.

She talked to the Italian Vanity Fair’s Paola Saltari:

I will carry on with dance, but offstage. I have various projects in mind, especially for charity. In 2007 I formed a foundation called Dancing for the Children, through which I raise money to help gravely ill children in Africa. I will continue to train, though in a gentler way. Now I want to recuperate what I’ve had to renounce in the past, things in my private life, including holidays and my husband.

… [continue reading]

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Dance firsts are rare: Albrecht nude? Seen it. Swan Lake in the round? Been there. But ballet manga is something new, at least when it involves a real dancer.

What is manga? I hear the balletomanes cry who never venture far from the local opera house. Well, Wikipedia defines it thus:

Manga are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.

Manga, in Japanese, looks like this - 漫画 — and can loosely be translated as ‘whimsical drawings’.

Manga-artist Takafumi Adachi met Royal Ballet Principal Steven McRae last summer, and they were interested to develop something together.… [continue reading]

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Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nuñez, Gary Avis, Steven McRae, Thiago Soares and Edward Watson celebrate Mara Galeazzi

As Royal Ballet dancers arrived in Verona to share the stage with Mara Galeazzi for the last time, they talked about their Italian colleague who has danced with the Royal Ballet from more than 20 years.

Long-time partner Edward Watson, who joined the Royal Ballet two years after Mara, had just finished rehearsing a pas de deux with her:

Mara’s amazing, she’s the most positive person in the company and the most amazing person to work with because whatever mood I’m in she can kind of turn it around within seconds, usually by ignoring it… it’s always a total joy being with her.

We’ve known each other for probably 20 years and I’ve never known her strop, or be in a bad mood or anything like that, and I genuinely wouldn’t have done half the roles I’ve done, or had the success that I’ve had in them, without her… I totally mean that.… [continue reading]

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In June we told you about Crystal Ballet’s exciting project: a ballet created to be filmed for digital download. Now the first installment of Genesis has reached N°1 in the iTunes classical music video chart.

It’s not a surprise when looking at the cast and creative team for the project — choreographers Kim Brand­strup and Ernst Meis­ner; dancers Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae from The Royal Bal­let, together with stars of Eng­lish National Bal­let:  Alina Cojocaru, Esteban Ber­langa, Daria Kli­mentová, Vadim Mun­ta­girov and Erina Taka­hashi, and former Royal Ballet Principal Johan Kobborg.  - but even so, a remarkable achievement, and as with all ‘débuts’ there was a risk factor involved.

Crystal Ballet’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director Henry St Clair is happy:

The general release of Genesis is a real milestone in Crystal Ballet’s development and a historic moment for dance.… [continue reading]

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Q&A

Xander Parish — photo by Sila Avvakum

When did you start dancing?
I started dancing when I was 8 years old.

Why did you start dancing?
After seeing my younger sister (Demelza Parish currently with The Royal Ballet) dancing in a school show, I decided that being on stage looked much more fun than sitting in the audience and that wasn’t something I was going to miss out on!

Which dancer inspired you most as a child?
My sister would put on Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly films constantly so I grew up watching them. It wasn’t until I was at White Lodge that I’d study ballet videos and particular dancers to learn from them. I remember watching Angel Corella again and again in Don Q and Romeo & Juliet.… [continue reading]

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Nicholas and Julian MacKay outside the Bolshoi Theatre June 2013

Dancing, like acting and singing, often runs in the family. There are countless dancers whose parents danced: Zenaida Yanowsky (Royal Ballet), Yury Yanowsky (Boston Ballet) and Nadia Yanowsky (Het Nationale Ballet) are the children of Russian ballet dancer Anatol Yanowsky and Spanish ballet dancer Carmen Robles. Ballet’s in their blood.

What makes the Khan-MacKay family special is that the four siblings - Maria Sascha, Nadia, Julian and Nicholas — are not the children of dancers, nor do they come from London, Paris or New York, where trips to the ballet can be regular events, but are from Montana, the home of cowboys and cattle, the Rockies and the Yellowstone National Park.… [continue reading]

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Alessandra Ferri arrived to live in New York when she was 22, after Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to join the American Ballet Theatre. She was born in Milan, and studied at the La Scala Ballet Academy until she transferred to the Royal Ballet School when she was 15, becoming part of the company just two years later. Ferri is Milanese, and feels Milanese, but her home is New York, and she loves it.

In New York you need to create your own city within the city, making your own reality among the thousands of possibilities that exist here. I am very happy here, and after almost thirty years I still find it stimulating. The theatre world is fantastic.

She is less enthusiastic about what she sees in Italy.… [continue reading]

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Dame Monica Mason and portrait - copyright Jorge Herrera Photography

Copyright: Jorge Herrera Photography

A newly commissioned portrait of Dame Monica Mason, by artist Saied Dai has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.

In the larger than life-size portrait, Dame Monica — former ballerina and Director of the Royal Ballet - takes on a commanding pose as she sits holding a mask; a position reflective of a dancer’s poise combined with a director’s authority and scrutiny. Dai first met Dame Monica at the Royal Opera House during her final weeks as Director of the Royal Ballet before her retirement in 2012. The sittings for the portrait took place at the artist’s studio in Bath over a period of eight months.… [continue reading]

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Q&A

Steven McRae by Rick Guest

When did you start dancing?
Age 7 in Sydney, Australia.

Why did you start dancing?
My sister inspired me; she was a brilliant gymnast who also danced.

Which dancer inspired you most as a child?
I didn’t watch much dancing as a child, but a Drag Racing motor sport champion in the USA called John Force has been a constant inspiration. He started with nothing but a passion and desire to race, he is now a 16-time world champion!

Which dancer do you most admire?
I admire intelligent dancers! A dancer with a strong work ethic combined with talent is truly inspiring.

What’s your favourite role?
I love performing Romeo; MacMillan’s Romeo was my first principal role in a full length ballet!… [continue reading]

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Steven McRae Dancer in the Fast Lane by Andrej Uspenski

Andrej Uspenski has photographed Steven McRae over the past year, and the results can be seen in his new book, Dancer in the Fast Lane.

The book contains more than 70 colour images taken from the wings, in rehearsal and during performances at the Royal Opera House. Australian McRae, one of The Royal Ballet’s most exciting Principal dancers, has been with the company since 2003, so this publication is a timely tenth anniversary present.

Steven McRae’s passion for drag car racing has been frequently documented, and speed is a characteristic of his dancing, so the fast lane is certainly where to find him.

This is Uspenski’s third book; Dancers – Behind the Scenes at The Royal Ballet and Natalia Osipova — Becoming a Swan being the previous titles.… [continue reading]

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Royal Ballet Principal Carlos Acosta will bring Cubanía, a programme of Cuban dance inspired by his homeland, to the Royal Opera House in July. The mixed programme contains world premieres and award-winning contemporary dance which will be accompanied by a live onstage Cuban house band. Cubanía is devised by Acosta and he will perform during the evening.

Uniting dancers and choreographers from The Royal Ballet, Rambert, Cuban National Ballet and Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Acosta will dance in a new piece by Cuban choreographer Miguel Altunaga, and will also partner Royal Ballet principal Zenaida Yanowsky in Edwaard Liang’s poignant duet Sight Unseen.

The programme includes Tocororo Suite, a semi-autobiographical piece set in the streets of Havana choreographed by Acosta; Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, the Cuban national contemporary dance company; and two world premières by Cuban choreographers.… [continue reading]

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Valentino Zucchetti by Andre Uspensky

Italian dancer Valentino Zucchetti is one of a large number of Italian dancers who go abroad to find work and realise their dreams.

Italy has few ballet companies, and La Scala is the only one with an international profile, the others — Rome, Palermo, San Carlo — have few permanent dancers, drafting in extras to do repertoire pieces. Italian dancers are virtually forced to leave home and find fortune elsewhere:  Federico Bonelli at The Royal Ballet, Ambra Vallo at Birmingham Royal Ballet, Vito Mazzeo at San Francisco and now with the Dutch National Ballet, Eleonora Abbagnato and Alessio Carbone in Paris, Silvia Azzoni in Hamburg, Claudio Cangialosi in Dresden, and then there’s Mara Galeazzi, Alen Bottaini and many others who have now left the stage.… [continue reading]

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