The
WONDERFUL World of Dance
Roberta Siciliano SAN CARLO BALLET
ACT V
P H OTO B Y M A R CO G L AV I A N O
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Roberta Siciliano Photo by Marco Glaviano 6
Contents 8 What’s Online 10 Roberta Siciliano, San Carlo Ballet 18 Diana Vishneva, Principal Dancer 24 Precious Adams, English National Ballet 34 Israel Galvån, Dancer and Choreographer 38 Jacquelin Harris, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 46 Silvia Gribaudi, Choreographer and Performer 50 Leticia and Alejandro Silva, Acosta Danza 58 Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier, Peeping Tom 64 Olga Shalaevskaya, Principal Dancer and Entrepreneur 72 Young Dancer Profile 74 Dance Books 88 Dance Fashion 92 Dance Wear 116 Dance Beauty 126 Dance Travel 144 Podcasts
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Roberta SiciliaNO SAN CARLO BALLET by Savannah Saunders
Roberta Siciliano may look like your quintessential millennial ballet dancer: young, beautiful, photogenic and with a side career as a model, but she’s also extremely modest, respectful and deeply considered. She may have flawless features, but it’s her character, as well as her artistic talents, that shine. Discovering Roberta Siciliano feels a little like destiny and was definitely by chance, as I met her on Instagram while I was planning a summer dance trip to Italy. On my list was the city of Naples to visit Teatro di San Carlo (San Carlo Theatre), the oldest theatre in Italy and the oldest functioning opera house in Europe, and home of the historic ballet company that was once directed by world renowned prima ballerina Carla Fracci. The history of this decadent theatre is fascinating, as it’s intrinsically linked to the development of the artform, through the establishment of the San Carlo Ballet School in 1812, the oldest dance school in the country. The opening of this formal school led to ballet becoming considered a ‘noble’ endeavour and an artform in its own right; and not just an interval entertainment to the Italian operas of the day. Physically the theatre has suffered greatly. After opening in 1737, its interiors have been completely destroyed twice; once during a ballet dress rehearsal in 1816 and again during World War II after being bombed. But the building remains standing in pride of place within the dilapidated city centre, surrounded by the ever imposing modernity. With such a deep balletic history, it’s a surprise that the ballet company is not more famous to worldwide audiences; especially as many of the historically important choreographers (Carlo Le Picq, Gaetano Gioia, Antonio Guerra, Carlo
Blasis, Annunziata Ramazzini, Salvatore Taglioni) and dancers (Maria Taglioni, Amelia Brugnoli, Fanny Cerrito, Fanny Elssler, Carlotta Grisi, Elisa Vaquemoulin) trained and performed at the theatre, that also hosted renowned ballet greats, including Margot Fonteyn, Carla Fracci, Ekaterina Maximova, Rudolf Nureyev and Vladimir Vassiliev. And while you may not know her name, Roberta Siciliano is the dancer in some of the most popular photos on Instagram and was the face of the San Carlo Ballet’s global advertising campaign. But more importantly, she’s one of the future ballet stars of the company, under the artistic direction of Giuseppe Picone. Before joining the San Carlo Ballet, Roberta trained at the San Carlo Ballet School, where her skill and dedication enabled her to graduate a year early and a year later saw her win a soloist audition at the Arena di Verona, another prestigious stage in the world of Italian art and culture. Heading into the professional ballet world, Roberta has drawn inspiration from the acclaimed ballet dancers that have gone before her, “who have performed on great stages, and with passion and talent, rather than tenacity, have reached great levels. Carla Fracci, Alessandra Ferri, Sylvie Guillem - they, more than anyone else, have been a model which I have referred to several times.” Studying at the historic ballet school impressed on Roberta a “sense of duty and discipline”, as she learned “the value of dance” as an expressive artform. Throughout her training she was given opportunities to dance roles that helped her grow in confidence as an artist and a person and helped prepare her for the transition from ballet school to her dream company, San Carlo Ballet.
Life in the bustling city of Naples provides a hectic and historic backdrop to the young dancer’s life. Every morning she wakes up to the sound of the street vendors that echo her 6.30am alarm, before she heads out through the alleys of Naples filled with music and aromas from fresh bakeries. Passing the iconic glass-roofed shopping arcade - Galleria Umberto I - it continues to be an “experience that still feels ancient” as she heads to the theatre to start her ballet day. “I always leave home with the knowledge that it won’t be a usual routine day, it won’t be boring or suffocating, despite the repetition of the same actions. Equipped with earphones, a pouch for pointe shoes and exercise bands for stretching, I enter the studio. I attend classes and I practice the roles that I will bring to the stage.” Roberta has been given early opportunities to dance soloist roles and main parts, which continues to fuel her desire to dance as many different ballets and dance creations that she can, to gain as much experience as possible in order to grow and mature as an artist. “I like to embrace and know every aspect of dance. I like all styles - it’s stimulating to see the evolution that has taken place. Classical dance itself is ethereal. I like it because it allows your own fantasy - to imagine oneself and to feel part of a fairytale.” “For contemporary dance, we are in a completely human dimension, and for this reason we are absolutely beautiful in our own particular imperfection. I like gestural works, non-verbal signs represented by the latter - looks, expressions, more authentic attitudes of the face and the body, natural, real - that say much more than many words and contribute to the clarity and effectiveness of the message.” 13
Diana Vishneva World famous ballet star Diana Vishneva needs no introduction. The Russian ballet icon has carved out an almost cult following of diehard fans - including 90k Instagram followers - who over the last two and half decades have followed her career from the Mariinsky Ballet to the American Ballet Theater until she left the company to return back to her home country and forge a freelance dance career on the global stage. This ambitious decision marks the end of a chapter, but also the continuation of her exploration of diverse danceforms and the establishment of a creative life that includes her new dance school in St Petersburg and her contemporary dance CONTEXT Festival. One of the projects that has sparked Diana’s interest is the high-tech Sleeping Beauty Dreams, which reveals the Princess’ dreams during her 100 year slumber. In her own words, Diana shares her fascination with dance and new technology, which led to the two year creation of Sleeping Beauty Dreams, that sees Diana connected to sensors and interacting with her avatars. This is not your typical twist on a fairytale; it’s a whole new multimedia chapter!
What inspired Sleeping Beauty Dreams? This project came into existence from my wish to dance beyond the usual ballet frontiers. The modern technologies influence art greatly. The contemporary dance offers a lot of opportunities for merging in particular. And I got the idea to tie together the dance and the digital technology in some way nobody tried yet. I discussed it with New York producer Rem Hass and my good acquaintance, Parisian architect and publisher Anna Yudina. We had several joint projects before. Together we created Sleeping Beauty Dreams. It took almost two years to develop the concept and bring together an amazing international team representing different arts. The team includes: choreographer Edward Clug, the Slovenian National Theatre’s artistic director, Tobias Gremmler, artist and designer based in Hong Kong (who works with Bjork on a regular basis), who created the large digital avatars for our project, Thijs de Vlieger (from the Netherlands based band Noisia) composed the music for the show and Bart Hess designed the costumes (he is known for his work with Lady Gaga). As a result, Sleeping Beauty Dreams is our vision of future art, when modern technology and visual designs brighten the impressions of the artists and spectators. It is about taking a different approach: acting not only through music and motion, but also through their reflections in the virtual world.
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What has been the most challenging aspect preparing for the performance? The most difficult and the easiest part was the process of aligning the choreography and my avatars’ movement patterns. The main feature of the show is the representation of the movement in different dimensions, projecting it behind my back on the large screen. Partly avatars’ movements are pre-recorded - mostly they repeat mine - and we dance simultaneously. That is why their performance is unique each time. You never know how they behave today. Learning how to move with each one of them was more challenging than I could imagine. I studied how to lead them with my movements and how to get acquainted with their responses. I learned how to dance with them, so they follow my will and the choreography created by Edward Clug. It was a new experience for me. Usually, the choreography makes the whole ballet performance. Here, many things depend also on the sensor devices I wear. These sensor devices transmit the signal and make avatars act. If one of the sensors falls out, the avatar turns out to be without a limb or moves incorrectly.
Photo by Danil Golovkin 19
Precious Adams First Artist English National Ballet Photographed by Dean Barucija 24
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I s r a e l G a lvá n By Justine Bayod Espoz
In 1914, composer Manuel de Falla wrote El Amor Brujo, his infamous ballet and one of the most recognised scores in the history of classical Spanish music. Set to a libretto by Gregorio Martinez Serra, it tells the story of Candela, a beautiful young gypsy woman haunted by the spirit of a dead lover who will not allow her to find new love. The ballet was famously made into a film choreographed and starring dance legend Antonio Gades and directed by acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura in 1987. That same year, another monolith of flamenco dance, Mario Maya, also created his own version as a commission from the Venice Festival. As a member of the corps de ballet of the Compañía Andaluza de Danza under the direction of Maya, now celebrated dancer Israel Galván would perform Maya’s version of the ballet many times. It would take Galván nearly two and a half decades before he too would lend his own vision to Falla’s masterpiece, but this time, it would be a single dancer on stage, not an entire company, and of course, it would be in his signature contemporary style that has long flown in the face of flamenco convention. Galván’s El Amor Brujo made its world premiere at the Jerez Festival in March 2019 and managed to defy every expectation. As the doors to the theatre open, the 34
audience finds Galván seated centre stage clad in a blonde wig, black skirt, white blouse, sunglasses and red gloves. It’s not instantly obvious it’s him, as it’s a woman that we see still and terse before us, but as the lights go down and she begins to move, it’s completely evident that it’s Galván under the feminine trappings. His incisive, sharp movements and his exaggerated facial expressions are unmistakable. In what is nothing short of a very risky decision, Galván performs seated for about 75% of the production, but those that have followed his career have learned to expect nothing if not the unexpected and unorthodox. Galván is a polarising figure in current flamenco. Far too avant-garde for some and just the right amount of profane for others, there’s no denying that he is a fascinating figure in a dance scene that is still evolving and often testing its limits. Aesthetic elements of contemporary dance infuse all of Galván’s productions and even his personal style of dance, but he has long rejected the notion that he is fusing contemporary with flamenco. The dancer/choreographer’s motivations are far more idiosyncratic. He readily admits that dance has never been his true vocation and questions whether he would be a dancer if his mother and father, Eugenia de los Reyes and José Galván, had not been dancers themselves.
Photo by Daniel M Pantiga
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Photo by Andrew Eccles 38
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Jacquelin Harris Artist
vvvvvvVV Photo by Giovanni Chiarot
choreographer
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Silvia Gribaudi Silvia Gribaudi is an Italian choreographer and performer whose artistic language is strongly intertwined with humour and crosses performing art, dance and theatre. Her research focuses on body identity and the relationship with the audience, developing strong performances where social and cultural topics are investigated with peculiar irony. In 2009 she created A Corpo Libero, a piece for which she won both the audience and the jury prize at the Giovane Danza d’Autore contest; the piece was also presented at the Venice Biennale, Dublin Dance Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, and many other international events. In 2017 she premièred in Vancouver with Empty.Swimming.Pool, an ItalianCanadian co-production with Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg. The work was awarded the support of the Chrystal Dance Prize 2016. Francesca Marotto talked with Silvia about how life changes have had a positive impact on her career as a choreographer, and how this opened her to up new perspectives and ongoing research on transforming the social standard of beauty.
What drove you to start choreographing and where do you get your inspiration? I started choreographing when I was very young. The desire to narrate the emotions I was experiencing through the means of moving my body and the space has always been a strong need. Later on, studying and training, I understood how I could narrate them coherently with my nature. How would you describe your artistic language and what should the audience expect from your works? The artistic language I have been investigating is based on connecting the body of the performer with its intimate expression. I discovered irony and comicality when I was about 30, with its rhythmic, desecrating power; and I’ve naturally combined it with dance. The audience also loves irony as a way to face more serious topics. Through irony I rediscovered dance and the pleasure to play with the body. I am talking about ‘discovering again’ because when I was young, from 20 to 28 years old, I worked as a dancer for contemporary dance
companies in Italy and abroad, but also in operas, such as Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi at Teatro la Fenice of Venice. Those were truly wonderful years, but I wasn’t driven any more and I had started to feel very tired. That was the turning point, so I started a new experience in theatre and cabaret. I am not fond of the swift comic timing in cabaret, but there I found out about clowning, and I fell in love with it. I came back to dancing with new tools that helped me to relieve the body and the choreography, and I tried to keep the patterns and structures of a juggler and to translate them in a choreography with socio-political topics that were relevant to me. What is the biggest challenge you faced in your career as choreographer? I’ve just finished working on a performance commissioned by the Matera Foundation European Capital of Culture and by a network of young Italian associations called #reteteatro41. Five performers on stage from different backgrounds and nationalities; one month of work, topic: shame.
and performer
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Photo by Yuris Nรณrido
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Leticia and Alejandro Silva Acosta Danza
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Ballerina Project The Insta-famous photos of the world’s best dancers are now available in a stunning pink hardback coffee table photography book : Ballerina Project by Dane Shitagi (£29.00).
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Isabella Boylston 890 Broadway, New York City © 2019 by Dane Shitagi
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HOT
DANCE WEAR Strap leotard $54 Zi Dancewear zidancewear.com 93
Dance Beauty by Nicola McCollugh Beauty Editor
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The Glitterati There’s something so magical about how glitter catches the light that few of us can resist. Thank heavens it’s officially acceptable to be a grown up who still loves glitter! Whether stage or after-party bound, step this way if you fancy adding a little sparkle to your world.
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dance travel
FLORENCE ITALY 124
Gozo Malta
Vail Colorado 125