Exquisitely crafted tiles that form a moving mosaic, as if the celestial vault of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia came to life and its stars began to dance: there is all the wonder and brightness of Les étoiles in the words with which Daniele Cipriani, who is its artistic director, welcomes the return of his iconic international dance gala to Ravenna Festival.
Wednesday 19 June, at 9.30pm at Pala De André, Les étoiles invites us to travel through the ages of ballet, with splendid traveling companions such as Eleonora Abbagnato and Joaquin de Luz, who today lead respectively the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and the Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid, but also Maia Makhateli, Julian MacKay, Leroy Mokgatle, Mira Nadon, Giorgi Potskhishvili, Davide Riccardo, Giada Rossi, Daniil Simkin, Simone Repele and Sasha Riva – a swarm of stars from the major companies in the world, proving that Les étoiles is a rare and tempting opportunity to admire many champions on the same stage. From pas de deux and solos taken from the cornerstones of the nineteenth and twentieth century repertoire to pieces of sophisticated modernity, the gala also includes some pleasant excursions into contemporary and folkloric dance, including new choreographies created specifically for Les étoiles. The evening is possible thanks to the support of Quick Spa.
The audience will find some “favourites” of Les étoiles such as Daniil Simkin (formerly Staatsballett Berlin and American Ballet Theatre) and the Georgian couple Maia Makhateli and Giorgi Potskhishvili (in the ranks of the Het Nationale Ballet of Amsterdam), who between casual jumps and games of fans challenge the laws of gravity and balance in the pas de deux from Don Quixote, embodying the gala’s well-known slogan: virtuosity in flight and en pointe. Also on stage after his debut at Les étoiles in the Roman edition is the non-binary performer Leroy Mokgatle (Staatsballett Berlin), who questions the rigid gender roles in classical ballet.
Pala spectators will also be the first to discover stars who already shine abroad and make their debut on the Italian scene in the city of mosaics: this is the case of two American performers, namely Julian MacKay (Bayerisches Staatsballett), the only American dancer to have completed the entire course of study at the Bolshoi, and Mira Nadon (New York City Ballet).
Instead, the choreographers/dancers Simone Repele and Sasha Riva are returning to Ravenna with two new creations: Sipario, in which they will dance alongside Eleonora Abbagnato, and I’m on Your Side to the notes of the famous Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel . The point of honor of Les étoiles is to introduce Italian talents whose careers take place abroad to the local public; on this occasion Davide Riccardo, the only Italian working for the New York City Ballet, and Giada Rossi and Alessandro Riga of the Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid. Yanier Gomez and Felipe Domingos also belong to the latter, who together in Riga interpret Remanso, in which the choreographer Nacho Duato corresponds to the popular dances of Enrique Granados (performed live by pianist Marcos Madrigal) with a dynamic use of space and forms, alternating athleticism and fragility, softness and disengagement.
Speaking of Spain, Lo fuimos… by Joaquin De Luz is also a new creation, which he himself plays alongside Giada Rossi – at the end of a party, a couple is left alone: in the past they were lovers and what they tell is the story of the relationship experienced, now transformed into a different love. Among the pas de deux one cannot miss the one from Le Corsaire by Petipa, a romantic-exotic grand ballet inspired by the homonymous poem by Lord Byron, in the year in which the 200th anniversary of his death occurs; on stage Mokgatle and Simkin, who are well suited to the soft jumps and whirlwind turns required. Of great emotional intensity are the pas de deux from Spartacus by Yuri Grigorovich on the epic score by Aram Khachaturian (Rossi and Riga) and Le Parc by Angelin Preljocaj (Abbagnato and MacKay), which culminates in a “flying” kiss. Neoclassical purity, however, in Balanchine’s Apollo in which Davide Riccardo wears the white peplum of the god of the arts, while Mira Nadon is Terpsichore, muse of dance; they also play Valse Triste by Alexei Ratmansky, which requires great chemistry between the couple on the poignant notes of Sibelius. The three solos on the program are male: the extravagant Pacopepepluto by Alejandro Cerruto with the magnetic and playful Simkin, the Italian premiere of Farruca, written and performed by De Luz at the meeting between guitar and flamenco, and Cuban Nutcracker by Alisher Azanov, in which MacKay will decline the language of Tchaikovsky to the rhythm of salsa.
Info and presales: 0544 249244 – www.ravennafestival.org
Tickets: from 20 to 60 Euros (reduced from 18 to 55)
Young people at the Festival: under 18 5 Euros; National Youth Card (18-35 years) III and IV sectors: 50% discount
They dance
Eleonora Abbagnato
(formerly étoile of the Paris Opera, today Director of the Ballet and Dance School of the Rome Opera Theatre)
Joaquin De Luz
(Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid)
Felipe Domingos
(Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid)
Yanier Gomez
(Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid)
Maia Makhateli
(Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam)
Julian MacKay
(Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich)
Leroy Mokgatle
(Staatsballett Berlin)
Mira Nadon
(New York City Ballet)
Giorgi Potskhishvili
(Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam)
Davide Riccardo
(New York City Ballet)
Alessandro Riga
(Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid)
Giada Rossi
(Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid)
Daniel Simkin
(formerly Staatsballet Berlin and American Ballet Theatre)
Simone Repele and Sasha Riva
(Riva & Repele)
Marcos Madrigal piano
lighting design Alessandro Caso
stage director Annamaria Bruzzese
