antoP

Hi Alexandra, it's always good to be here. This board keeps on being the best! Thank you for explaining me about the number of posts. It seems there have been a lot of changes in these years. I hope I can write more often. antoP.

Hi to everybody, first of all Merry Christmas. I hope I am using the right place to write this topic. I used to read and send posts a lot since three years ago but now my spare time is much less and I can only read some topics occasionally. Yesterday I posted after a lot of time and I discovered that my total posts are... 19. I think I have more than 100 posts in 6 years. Can you please explain to me what happened to my posts? Is it a matter of upgrading the software? Many thanks. antoP

Hi, if you need help for the Italian text, here I am. Bravo allievo in the interview means "clever student", in the sense of a student who execute everything his/her teacher tells him/her and it is something different from the complete artists a dancer must be. Merry Christmas! antoP

Thank you for your information. I realized that I misspelled the surname of Guillem and I don't know how to edit my post. Sorry for this. antoP.

Hi Estelle, happy to be here again. The soloists in Rubies were Gilda Gelati and Alessandro Grillo/ Marta Romagna. In The Cage they were Sabrina Brazzo (The novice) Marta Romagna (The Queen) and Mick Zeni and Francesco Ventriglia as the Intruders. I've read about the relationship of this ballet with Giselle. I hope to know more.antoP

Saturday night I went to La Scala to see the last performance of the season: an evening dedicated to ballets on the music of Stravinsky'. It was a triple bill: Balanchine's Rubies, Robbins's The Cage and Béjart's The Rite of Spring (the chosen ones were Massimo Murru and Sylvie Guillem). The company is in a rather good shape even if in my opinion it's not yet ready to dance such a beautiful and complicated choreography as Rubies and above all hasn't the right style for The Rite. This made me think that it's not enough to be a professional dancer to dance everything. Even Guillem, a beautiful dancer with a beautiful body, wasn't in the right place, at least in my opinion. The Rite, a ballet I know almost by heart, needs a deep understanding of the movement and what I saw was a mere execution of the steps, sometimes not very accurate. I didn't like it very much, maybe because I had in mind the Rite I saw more than 20 years ago in the Arena of Verona danced by the dancers of the Ballet du XX Siècle, with Jorge Donn as the chosen one...Anyway the Rite is one of the few choreographies of Béjart which still has its fascination and doesn't show the passing of time. What surprised and amazed me was Robbins's The cage. I didn't know it at all and I discovered a fantastic, very impressive choreography. Considered the fact that it is dated 1951, it's still very relevant. I liked it very much. I would much appreciate more info about this ballet. antoP

We Italians are so famous for our passionate temperament... ! Can passion be considered part of a particular style? Unfortunately techinque was/is often lacking in Italian companies (except for the people aubri cited, above all Luciana Savignano, for me a great dancer, some doubts on Carla Fracci's technique) and maybe this is why it's difficult to pick up an Italian style. Anyway, I don't find such passion in the corps de ballet now but they have much improved in their technique (at least this is what I saw in Nureyev's Nutcracker last December). I must confess that I prefer unison to enthusiasm, but this only my humble opinion. antoP

Yes, Cecchetti was very active in Russia and England but he spent his last days in Italy, teaching at La Scala and he died just after a class in that school... antoP.

Hi grace. Yes, I think you are right about Cecchetti but it sounds funny that we had such a great teacher and we don't know much about his method, doesn't it? I asked my friend about the Italian style and the only answer I got is that it is recognizable from the speedness of the footwork, that's it. I don't think Fracci represents the Italian style but this is a personal opinion. Ferri studied in England since she was, I think, 15 y/o. The fact is that all our major dancers work and study abroad... AntoP.

I must confess that I would be in big trouble if I had to answer your questions, Alexandra. I really don't know where the Italian style has gone, we Italian are great in forgetting our traditions (maybe because we have planty of traditions to preserve!) Here it seems that many schools use Vaganova method even though teachers really have never studied it. Moreover, it seems we are one of the non English speaking country where the RAD method is most used! I don't know teachers who teach Cecchetti. There's not only La Scala in Italy, there are also the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (where Fracci is the director but I can't speak of her because I don't think she can run a company...) and the Balletto del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli among the major companies. antoP.

I don't know much about the methods of study at La Scala, even though one of my dearest friends is a dancer of the company. I surely will ask him to enlighten me about it. Currently, the company is under the direction of Frederic Olivieri (Paris Opera) and I know that they are more "French style" oriented. I read in the presentation of the school that they use " the Italian training method combined with elements from the best of the Russian, French and British schools, as also from the more recent American school." I found this description rather vague, the Italian method doesn't means anything to me. Is it Cecchetti? I really don't know, here in Italy this method is not much taught. The director of the school, Anna Maria Prina, is Vaganova (she has studied in St. Petersburg). I have some photos of her pupils in which they hold their hands in a funny way (thumb in contact with the middle finger). There's no link between the school and the company, that is to say that to obtain the diploma of the school doesn't mean you'll be part of the company (which is selected through auditions). I know for sure that some of the dancers are RAD trained and few dancers of the company have been students of the school. Anyway, I wouldn't talk about "La Scala style"..... antoP.

Last Saturday I went to the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, the temporary seat of La Scala, to see Nureyev’s “The Nutcracker”. The principals were Maximiliano Guerra and Anita Magyari. First of all, I must say that I don’t like Nureyev’s version very much. Too much steps, too much costumes, too much of everything...Anyway, costumes were wonderful even if a bit “heavy” (for example, men in the “Waltz of the Flowers” wore a jacket with such a highnecked collar that they seemed to be without neck at all). The scenery was gorgeous. The corps of ballet was in good shape and I liked it. The Waltz of the Snowflakes and the Waltz of the Flowers were well danced even if I prefer Ivanov’s choreography. The soloists... well, it was such a pain to see them! Guerra had not the presence and the technique anymore, his feet were tremendous, his hairstyle inadequate (he had long hair gathered up in a ponytail which made him look a corsair rather than a prince). Magyari was insecure, with no use of the upper body and with no control of the arms. I was wondering why the most important company of ballet in Italy employs such dancers who are at the end of their career. I was told that Bolle was fantastic but unfortunately I was unable to see him... antoP.

I enjoyed the interview a lot even if I had to look at my dictionary every two words! I find Crisp tremendously "British" and always too much ... critic but I don't have the deep knowledge he has to discuss his thesis. I agree with him about the fact that There's nothing which annoys me more than six o'clock arabesques! I don't agree about his ideas on Kylian and Mats Ek (above all the latter, whose Giselle is for me a true masterpiece). antoP.

Everyone is shocked in Italy too. It's terrible, we still can't believe it. antoP.

Have a good time in Italy (I'm sure you'll have it ) antoP.

Hi, I'm here . Pookey, you can try this site: http://www.ilportaledelladanza.com/compagn...gnie/itaco.html Here you can find a list of the most important companies in Italy. Unfortunately, it is in Italian, but I think you can get some useful information. As far as the various performances during this period you can buy two magazines: Balletto Oggi and Danza & Danza. Bigonzetti's Aterballetto (Reggio Emilia) and Bozzolini's Balletto di Toscana (Firenze) are a unique company now (I think called Balletto di Toscana, but I don't remember). These are their websites: http://www.programmifuturi.it/ballettoditoscana/ http://www.crd-aterballetto.it/ In Roma, the most important company is the one of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma http://www.operabase.com/level1/wirmo.html http://web.tiscali.it/operawb/attivita/scuola/ (the ballet school) I couldn't find anything about Bologna. Hope this helps. antoP.

Yesterday, I was re-watching a video about Nureyev's life in which there was an interview with Natalia Dudinskaya. She mentioned Chaboukiani's ballet "Laurencia", in which she danced for the first time with the young Nureyev. I was curious about this ballet, is it still in some company's repertory? antoP.

Jules Perrot worked as principal ballet master (1851-1858) at St. Petersburg. I haven't found a lot about his work there and the reasons why he was dismissed. Also, how did he influence Petipa? antoP.

When I posted my topic I didn't imagine it could be of interest to anyone! I'm very happy I can discuss with other people and read different situation from different countries, this board is simply fantastic . I love it. Marc Haegeman, yes there was a real orchestra and I forgot to mention it (this demonstrates that I'm not a very competent and keen ballet critic. Alexandra, I feel a little ashamed )). But maybe I didn't write anything about it because the music was at the same level as the corps de ballet: it seemed like they were playing in a village fair. Not very good. In my opinion the problem is bigger than to have or to have not guest stars: maybe there's not enough professional schools which can train real dancers.This is only my opinion. Anyway,I'm a little bit comforted: the ballet scenery is not so bad only in Italy, it seem to be a general problem. Alexandra, one of the problem of Coppelia was exactly that there were too many dancers with different training styles and the result was awkward. antoP.

Estelle, the name of the choreographer is Anna Maria Garofoli. She claimed her choreography was after Petipa. I think that the main problems of the performance were due both to the corps de ballet and the choreography (very elementar without anything really exciting). Coppelia is a quite old-fashioned ballet, difficult to represent today: a lot of mime in the old eighteen century fashion which sounds a little bit funny if it's not supported by great dance. So the performance was rather boring without any thrill. What you say about little companies is absolutely right, if they keep on relying on guest stars they don't have the chance to grow. I don't think we don't have great dancer, we surely don't have money. That's the big trouble. Ballet is seen as a minor art. I live in Verona, the town of the Opera. Every summer there are people from all the world that come to listen to Aida and so a lot of money is invested in Opera but not in other arts. If you don't have money it's very difficult to produce good performance and if you don't produce good performance it's hard to get money for them. Nonetheless, for Coppelia surely a lot of money has been spent. It wasn't worth while. antoP.

Maybe noone will be interested in my comments about a performance I saw yesterday night but I must write down how I feel anyway. The performance was Coppelia, the corps de ballet was the Arena one, the coreographer an unknown former ballerina, now the artistic director of the company (no repertoire). Guest stars: Vladimir Malakhov and Nadja Saidakova. I don't want to go into deep details (it will be useless: no interpretation, no good foot work, no balance etc etc), I'd like to give an overall idea of the performance. Imagine you go and see the annual performance of the little dance school of the little village you live in. And the teacher decided to pay a lot of money to have two great stars dancing among her/his students. That was the idea. Malakhov and Saidakova were fantastic. The corps de ballet terrible. I don't know if Malakhov is famous in US as he is in Europe. Here he is considered Nureyev's heir: perfect body with well built muscles, jumps of every kind without showing efforts or strain, strong russian techinque. Maybe he lacks a bit of interpretation but he is fantastic. And so was his partner. Unlikely, Franz dances very little, in Coppelia the mime is prevalent on the dancing and so we saw a lot of running on the stage, a lot of unbalanced arabeques penchee and so on.Very sad indeed. Not mentioning the fact that it was very funny to see Coppelia set in Venice!Anyway, at the end of the performance there was a standing ovation for everyone!!! I went home very depressed hoping something will change in the future. antoP.