While the season ticket campaign for the new Ballet Season 2022-2023 continues, the Company is preparing to seal the current program with a choreographic masterpiece by John Cranko: from 14 to 26 September “Onegin” will be back on stage, a perfect example of modern “drama in dance” inspired by the novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin¸ that Cranko rewrote with skill and sensitivity.
“Onegin” will once again see the étoile Roberto Bolle as protagonist together with Marianela Nuñez, principal of the Royal Ballet, in four of the nine performances in which the leading artists of the Company will alternate. A young aristocrat bored with life lets slip, for fun, what he will recognize too late as true, great love.
Also read
Manuel Legris: “All ballet companies have their own history and identity”
“Sylvia”, the ballet by Manuel Legris, is back on stage at the Scala in Milan
A perfect example of a modern “dance drama” inspired by the novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin, Oneghin
Onegin is a perfect example of a modern “dance drama” inspired by the novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin¸ that John Cranko rewrote with skill and sensitivity: a great unhappy love story told with two steps of extraordinary expressive power, characters sculpted with precision and a splendid gallery of ensemble dances, on a score based entirely on Tchaikovsky’s music without, however, a single note taken from his work Evgenij Onegin.
With the elaboration of Kurt-Heinz Stolze, Cranko’s trusted collaborator, the choice was to orchestrate some pieces for piano, some of which are taken from the cycle of the Seasons, and extrapolate some moments from symphonic poems such as “Francesca da Rimini” and “Romeo and Juliet ”as well as from the opera“ I capricci di Oksana ”or“ Vakula the blacksmith ”- better known with the title“ The booties ”. The assembly and orchestration of the various pieces were conceived in relation to the dramatic expressiveness of each piece, linked to the concept of making this ballet a complete theatrical performance. (Scenes by Pier Luigi Samaritani, Costumes by Pier Luigi Samaritani and Roberta Guidi di Bagno, Conductor Felix Korobov).
Orchestra, Chorus and Corps de Ballet perform in many concerts in as many places in the city
In September and October the Ballet leaves the Scala to meet the city and the citizens, and leave together towards a new dance season, with the first dancers, the soloists and the artists of the Corps de Ballet who will be the protagonists of the specially structured programs by the Director Manuel Legris to highlight its versatility in passages and extracts from classic and modern titles. From 27 September to 1 October, the Corps de Ballet will in fact be among the protagonists of “La Scala in the city”, which last year, in its first edition, met with great enthusiasm and very wide participation. The programs of the 2022 edition will be announced soon.
From 6 to 9 October, an appointment at TAM – Teatro Arcimboldi Milano to renew the collaboration that last year saw the Company return to dance on this important city stage: the first dancers in full force – Antonella Albano, Martina Arduino, Nicoletta Manni, Alice Mariani, Virna Toppi, Marco Agostino, Timofej Andrijashenko, Claudio Coviello, Nicola Del Freo – the soloists and artists of the Corps de Ballet return to the TAM with Variations of beauty: between classics, recent creations and newly acquired ballets in the repertoire, a journey in the beauty of dance and its stylistic variations, in the different souls of the Scala company, which pays homage to tradition and opens up to the most interesting contemporary expressions. Ballets by Marius Petipa, Manuel Legris, Patrick de Bana, Natalia Horecna, András Lukács
Also read
Pulcinella Suite, Les Cinq Doigts, Apollon Musagète, Suite Italienne, four minimalist and abstract production, on stage
A journey into the beauty of dance and its stylistic variations, which unfolds through the contemporaneity of the choreographic signatures, and starts from András Lukács with “Movements to Stravinsky”, created in 2017 for the Wiener Staatsballett on pieces from ballets and orchestral compositions (Pulcinella Suite, Les Cinq Doigts, Apollon Musagète, Suite Italienne). This elegant, minimalist and abstract production, visually inspired by the Renaissance, entered the repertoire of the Scaligero Ballet last year, maintaining the balance between ballet and contemporary dance and has made it possible to get to know the choreographic work of Lukács, successfully undertaken since 1999. ‘Hungarian Dance Academy, former soloist of the Hungarian National Ballet, Ballet Frankfurt, Lyon Opéra Ballet and Wiener Staatsballett, has been artistic director of the National Ballet of Györ since 2020.
From Stravinskij to Verdi, with “Verdi Suite”, the first creation by Manuel Legris for the Balletto della Scala of which he inaugurated the direction. Conceived specifically for the event “… A riveder le stelle”, as a divertissement in homage to Italian dance and music, and to the technique of the Scala artists. The choreography comes to life on the music that Giuseppe Verdi wrote for the dances in his works “I vespri siciliani”, “Jérusalem” and the French version of “Il Trovatore”. A musical fabric rich in liveliness and energy which was then expanded with further movements for the corps de ballet on extracts from the Queen’s Ball (La Peregrina) by “Don Carlos”.
Also read
The Scala Theatre of Milan has always represented the best of music and ballet from all around the world
The charm of baroque music permeates the intensity of “The labyrinth of solitude”, a solo of great expressive force created by Patrick de Bana for Ivan Vasiliev in 2011 on the Chaconne in G min. by Tomaso Antonio Vitali. Principal at the Béjart Ballet and at the Compañia Nacional de Danza with Nacho Duato, de Bana is one of the most interesting authors of the contemporary scene, with a unique personality, eclectic like his background, he has worked with great names in choreography and created all over the world and with great performers.
Sensitivity and modernity also animate “Birds walking on water”, a delicate but powerful creation that Manuel Legris entrusted last year to the original talent of Natalia Horecna. Already a dancer with Hamburg Ballett, Nederlands Dance Theater, Scapino Ballet, she has distinguished herself internationally as a free lance choreographer, collaborating with important artists and companies and with equally important awards; conceived this work on the music of Arvo Pärt (Darf ich …), Jean Sibelius (the second and third movements of the Concerto for violin and orchestra op. 47) and Vladimir Martynov (Come in!, first movement), for three main couples, five couples and a “leader” of the group.
From the present and the future, the variations of beauty bring back to history, to tradition, to the great repertoire, with one of the greatest points of reference in the creative path: to seal the evening, the “Divertissement da Paquita”, an exciting showcase of great dance, for soloists and the corps de ballet, in the Grand Pas and in the variations of the second act, among the highest achievements ever in the art of Marius Petipa.
