"Mesmerizing!"

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"Mesmerizing!" Not my adjective but that of Leon London, a member of the audience who watched Giovanni Princic and Melissa Chapski dance at the Natalia Kremen Foundation gala on Sunday night and kindly commented on my preview of that event.  Ernst Meisner's Embers is one of my favourite ballets and if you watch the film you will see why. Short ballets can be as great as full-length ones (viz Fokine's Dying Swan per Wikipedia) and I think this masterpiece by one of the best choreographers I know will become a classic too. The dancers in the film are the ones who danced on Sunday night.

Another work that impressed Leon was the British premiere of a duet from La Scala Ballet's Progetto Handel which was performed for the first time in Milan on 20 May 2017. As you can see from La Scala's website this is a full-length work created by Mauro Bigonzetti to some beautiful music by George Frederick Handel. The website contains a detailed description of the ballet if you click on the "Synopsis" tab.

Leon thought that the gala was "superbly produced" with grand imperial showpieces interspersed with contemporary and some brilliant performances by the students of Natalia Kremen Ballet School.  Having seen some pictures that have been posted to Facebook by Graham Watts, I think one of those grand imperial pieces must have been the pas de deux from The Nutcracker danced by Yorkshire's very own Brandon Lawrence and Delia Mathews of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Leon described the ballet as "a gem" but lamented that it was not fully attended with some 75% of the seats sold.  I feared that might happen which is why I did my best to promote the event on Sunday. Had I learned of it sooner I would have been there for a start and so might a lot of my readers. I only found out about it when I did because I follow Giovanni and Melissa on Facebook and Melissa posted a note about the show to her timeline.  If those in charge of the school ever contemplate a similar gala, I invite them to notify me well in advance so that I can drum up some support. Dance education is very dear to my heart.

Possibly because we are lucky enough to have as our capital one of the world's two ᾁ++ Weldstädte (see the table in Weltstadt in Wikipedia) those who live in that city tend to forget that there is culture outside. As I gently reminded dear, dear Cassa yesterday in Ballet Black's Tour 20 June 2017 conurbations like Greater Manchester, the West Midlands. West Yorkshire, Greater Glasgow, the Bristol-Cardiff corridor and Merseyside are as populous and as economically significant as most of the EU's capitals. Some of the institutions of those city regions, such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet and the Halle Orchestra, are world class. We travel to London for shows like this one that are worth seeing and causes like Ms Kremen's ballet school that are worth supporting.

Giovanni and Melissa to dance van Manen's Trois Gnossiennes

Melissa Chapski and Giovanni Princic

Photo Michel Schnater

Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet, All rights reserved
Reproduction licensed by kind permission of the company

I have just found out that the piece that Giovanni Princic and Melissa Chapski will dance at the Cadogan Hall tonight is Hans van Manen's Trois Gnosiennes (see Natalia Kremen Ballet Foundation Gala "I Have a Dream" 18 June 2017). They danced that work in Ballet Bubbles at the Meervaart Theatre in Amsterdam on 14 Feb 2016 which I reviewed on 8 March 2016 in Trois Gnossiennes.  This is what I wrote in 2016:

"No performance by the Junior Company would be complete without a work by van Manen. In previous years the great man has come on stage to take a bow and the applause has exploded. Trois Gnossiennes with music by Erik Satie is of particular interest to British balletomanes because of its similarity to Ashton's Monotones. The music is sublime and so is van Manen's choreography executed sensitively by Chapski and Princic."

Since I found out about tonight's show in the early hours of this morning I have been consulting railway timetables to London but Sunday is the worst day of the week for a quick dash to London. I am trying to clear my desk in order to fly out to Amsterdam for Cristiano Principato's New Moves next week (see Principato moves to a Bigger Stage 30 May 2017).

For those who can make tonight's show, Princic and Chapski are two of the most promising young dancers I have ever seen. Van Manen is one of the world's greatest choreographers.  You are in for a treat.

Natalia Kremen Ballet Foundation Gala "I Have a Dream"

Giovanni Princic in Ballet 101

Photo Michel Schnater
Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet
All rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

In you are in, or can get to. London this evening, you may wish to see two fine young dancers. Giovanni Princic and Melissa Chapski of the Dutch National Ballet. They are taking part in the Natalia Kremen Ballet Foundation Gala, I Have a Dream at the Cadogan Hall at 19:00 this evening. I am a big fan of Giovanni and Melissa. I know it is short notice but I have only just learned about this gala from Facebook.  Had I known of it sooner I would have contrived to be there or would have arranged for someone to attend and review the show for this blog at the very least.

I googled "Natalia", "Kremen", "Ballet" and "Foundation" and found this page on the NK Ballet School website.  The author, whom I assume to be Ms Kremen, writes:

"NK Foundation is a non-profit organisation that provides financial support to ballet students of exceptional talent but limited means. 

The principal goals of NK Foundation are:

•  to assist children and young peopled with a talent for classical ballet and dance in their technical, artistic and creative development in the UK and abroad;

• to preserve and develop cultural values and traditions of classical ballet, including through providing financial support to students with a potential for excelling in this art form.

Our scholarships and bursaries give students a chance to attend ballet classes as well as to perform in stage productions, participate in examinations, attend numerous ballet events organised by Natalia Kremen Ballet School (NKBS) and cover expenses for ballet uniforms and equipment."

The website lists the trustees one of whom is Ms Kremen who danced with the English National Ballet after several years with the Stanislavsky Ballet in Moscow while another describes herself as the co-founder of BalletCo Forum.

Giovanni and Melissa will appear with two more of my other favourite dancers, Brandon Lawrence from Bradford and Delia Mathews of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Other performers include Kristina Kretova, Marianna Ryzhkina and  Andrei Merkuriev from the Bolshoi and Igor Kolb and Andrei Batalov of the Mariinsky and there will also be artists from the Vienna State Ballet, the Berlin City Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, La Scala and  Kyiv Modern Ballet.

Ticket prices range from £15 to £70. If you think £70 is a bit steep for a Sunday night performance in a concert hall, please remember that the object of the exercise is to raise money to enable talented kids of limited means to learn ballet.

I wish Giovanni, Melissa, Brandon, Delia and all the other artists toi-toi and chookas for this evening. I also wish Ms Kremen and her staff and students well with their school and foundation. If anyone who attends tonight's show would like to review it for me, I shall be pleased to consider his or her review for publication.

From Italy with Love

Cristiano Principato and Friends, Gala for Alessia, Silvio Pellico Theatre, Trecare, 28 June 2016

Trecate is a small town in Piedmont about 25 miles to the west of Milan and 4 miles to the east of Novara. Its Wikipedia entry could hardly be briefer:

"Trecate is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) northeast of Turin and about 9 kilometres (6 mi) east of Novara.
It harbors a major refinery complex for fuels and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), serving northern and central Italy.
It is served by Trecate railway station."

Tramping round the town centre on Monday night looking for somewhere to eat I was reminded of the small Northern mill towns such as Rawtenstall in Lancashire or Birstall in the West Riding. There is a parish church, a town hall, a market square, a small park, a few bars and ice cream parlours and an old fashioned cinema which doubles as a theatre. That's just about it.

Cristiano Prinipato, one of the most promising young dancers and choreographers of the Dutch National Ballet, comes from Novara.  In order to raise funds for a local charity called Casa Alessia he persuaded 11 of his chums from the Dutch National Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Vienna State Ballet and Jas Art Ballet to perform with him in the cinema cum theatre. From the Dutch National Ballet he brought Emilie Tassinari, Giovanni Princic, Thomas van Damme, Yuanyuan Zhang and Priscylla Gallo. From La Scala he brought Giulia Lunardi, Edoardo Caporaletti and Gaia Andreano, from Vienna Elena Bottaro and from Jas Art Federico Ginetti and Filippo Valmorbida.

Each of those young artists gave his or her time for free and travelled quite considerable distances in the case of the artists from the Dutch National and the Vienna State Ballets. They had very little time to rehearse together since several of them flew in on the day of the performance. Cristiano had to make most of the arrangements even down to the lighting design from Amsterdam. He did all that on top of his full time job as dancer and choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet and he has only recently celebrated his 21st birthday.

When I featured Cristiano just after he joined the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet (see Meet Cristiano Principato of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company 3 Dec 2014) I wrote:

"Cristiano's immediate ambitions are to work hard this year, to learn what he can from his teachers, to enjoy every performance and generally to become a very good dancer. He hopes to make a career with the Dutch National Ballet. In the long term his dream is to direct a major company where he can create new ballets. He has loved choreography ever since he was a child.
His passions outside ballet are travelling, reading (especially contemporary fiction), cinema, pop music, good food and the company of good friends.
Here is a another young man who knows where he is going and I shall follow his career with interest."

On Tuesday night this remarkable young man showed his potential to fulfil all those ambitions.

The Gala for Alessia was not dissimilar to the programme that the Junior Company takes on tour around the Netherlands every week. It consisted of 17 pieces that spanned just about everything from Bournonville to Brandsen. Cristiano contributed two of his own works to the programme: the opening solo Tempo and Palladio which his company had premiered a few days earlier in New Moves.  Valmorbida contributed Acqua to the show. He and Ginetti also offered their Giorni d'Orfantotrofio to the show. Other new works iwere Ted Brandsen's Replay and Ernst Meisner's Elegy and Embers. The rest of the programme consisted of extracts from Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Flower Festival and The Sleeping Beauty.

I don't know how much ballet comes to Trecate or even Novara but it is unlikely to be very much. There is, of course, plenty of ballet at La Scala and other theatres in Milan but Milan is an hour's train journey away and La Scala is even more expensive than Covent Garden.  It is likely that for some members of the audience Tuesday's gala was their first experience of ballet.  If that was the case I cannot think of a better introduction than Cristiano's programme.

The evening began with Cristiano's Tempo which he danced himself. He is a tall, athletic and has a particularly expressive face. Clearly he loves music and expresses it in every fibre of his being. The music he chose for the piece was interesting. Its composer was Emilie Simon and the piece was rich in texture. I could be wrong but one of her instruments sounded like a didgeridoo which I have heard only once before in a classical arrangement. It was a great start to the show.

Giovanni Princip continued the momentum with Eric Gauthier's Ballet 101. He is another tall, athletic and altogether impressive dancer. I had seen him dance Ballet 101 before in Ballet Bubbles at the Meervaart in Amsterdam (see Giovanni Princic in Ballet 101 20 Feb 2016). I told him then that his performance was the best that I had ever seen. Tuesday's performance was even better. Much of the fun of the piece comes from the dialogue with such phrases as "Let's keep this classical" as the dancer raises his fists in 28th position and "Oh ho your 40th position looks a lot like your 25th" followed by creaking as he bends his knee. English is not spoken as much in Trecate as it is in Amsterdam so some of the jokes may have been lost but they still enjoyed the piece.

Cristiano followed with Emilie Tassinari in Ted Brandsen's Replay.  Emilie is another dancer to watch. She is super talented and very focused (see Meet Emilie Tassinari of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company 6 Dec 2014). On stage she is very strong, very fast but also very delicate with superb technique and a mastery of detail. I have been one of her fans ever since I first saw her in Amsterdam in February 2015. I was even more impressed when I saw her in Cinderella later that year and more still when I saw her at the Meervaart in February. She is an excellent partner for Cristiano and when they dance together they are magnificent

The next piece was an extract from Petipa's Don Quixote which was danced by Gaia Andreano. It is a delightful variation but not easy to dance. In performing this solo, she showed charm as well as virtuosity. It was the first time I had seen Andreano and I am sure I shall hear a lot more about her even if I cannot see her very often. I cannot remember the last time La Scala Ballet visited London or even whether it has ever come to this country.

 Next came the seduction scene from the black act of Swan Lake danced by Giulia Lunardi and Edoardo Caporaletti. This is a ballet I have seen many times and I know the choreography very well. Nevertheless I learned something new from these dancers. Caporaletti danced the pas de deux in a way that suggested second thoughts. Perhaps he was beginning to cotton on that Odile was not Odette. Sensing those thoughts Luardi drew him back in line with a sharp slap on the shoulder. I should be interested to know whether this was the dancers' own interpretation or whether it is in La Scala's production. Had I been able to stay longer in Italy I could have found out for myself as La Scala danced Swan Lake last night.

Giovanni and Emilie followed with a very different portrayal of Siegfried and Odette-Odile from the white act. In this pas de deux Emilie showed her mastery of detail and her delicacy and Giovanni demonstrated his sensitivity. It is a lovely piece and one of which I never tire. There cannot have been many dry eyes in the house after that performance.

Two fine solo performances by the principals of Jas Art Ballet followed Swan Lake. Filippo Malborbida was a great Franz in an extract from Coppelia and Federico Ginetti an equally impressive James in his variation from La Sylphide. I was so impressed by their performances that I googled their company. I could not find a website but I discovered a Facebook page which stated:

"Productions for Theatres and Private Fashion and Commercial Events - Music Video Clips and TV under direction of Sabrina Brazzo International Etoile Dancer,"

Now Sabrina Brazzo is a name that I did know. A distinguished ballerina contemporaneous with our own Darcey Bussell  she can choose the very best young dancers in Italy for her company. Clearly Ginetti and Valmorbida are among the best.

The first half finished with Palladio which I believe I previewed on 4 June 2016. In the video about the ballet Cristiano explains that it is about a young girl who breaks her heart but recovers and moves on. It explores her sadness but then her strength as she creates new relationships.  Cristiano cast all the Amsterdam dancers in this piece including himself. This is a very sophisticated work and quite a remarkable piece for one so young. Though completely original I could see the influence of Meisner - but not just Meisner for I was also reminded of Jerome Robbins. Balanchine and Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane. Most choreographers' early works are quickly forgotten but I don't think this will be one of them. I think it will be performed time and again, I might add that I think it will be popular in England as Cristiano's choreography is well suited for dancers trained in the English style.

After the interval there was a film about the brief life of Alessia Mairati, her vision and mission, her premature death in an air crash, the charity that her father, Giovanni Mairati, had founded in her honour, the work that it has done in different parts of the world and its resettlement project for former child soldiers in Burundi. Following the film Mr Mairati mounted the stage to thunderous applause and gave a short interview to the compere. Tickets for the show were free but envelopes were provided with the programme for anonymous donations. The pile of envelopes was pretty high by the time I left the theatre and if any my readers around the world wish to add to the kitty there is a giving page on the charity's website.

The rest of the show was themed on Africa and Alessia. The starting point was the pas de deux from The Pharaoh's Daughter which I found particularly interesting as that ballet is rarely performed in this country and I have never seen it before. It is a typical Petipa formula with entree, adagio, variations and coda which Cristiano danced impressively with Elena Bottaro. For me this was one of the high points of the evening. I should very much like to see the rest of the ballet and shall look out for it somewhere in Europe. It is in the Bolshoi's repertoire but it is not one of the works that they are bringing to London this month.

The commentator explained that Alessia loved flowers which was the cue for Bournonville's Flower Festival danced exquisitely by Thomas van Damme and Priscylla Gallo. I have seen Thomas more often than any of the dancers and he is another of my favourites. He is tall and graceful with a commanding presence but he is also a dance actor who can tell a story better than most. Priscylla I have seen only once before but her qualities shone through at once. Clearly another superstar in the making she reminded me of her compatriot Roberta Marquez. Together Thomas and Prisyilla were exquisite.

The commentator listed some of the challenges to Africa. The existential threat of drought caused by climate change was expressed in Valmorbida's solo Acqua which he danced himself. How can one express that concept in movement? Ketil Bjornstad's onomatopoeic music helped as did the fluidity of  Valmorbida's choreography and dancing.  A most impressive work.

War is another existential challenge to Africa and many of the conflicts that have arisen there in modern times have been been over minerals and in particular diamonds. That thought resonated with me as my late spouse came from Sierra Leone, a country that was devastated by a particularly savage civil war. It would also have resonated with members of the Dutch National Ballet since one of their company's most popular dancers was a victim of that same civil war. The connection with diamonds was expressed by Gaia Andreano in her Diamond solo from The Sleeping Beauty. It is a beautiful dance which Andreano performed well but in the context also full or irony.

The disruption of war was confronted in Meisner's Elegy which was perhaps the most moving ballet of the evening. Both English National Ballet and the New Zealand Ballet have staged commemorations of the centenary of the First World War and Ballet Black commissioned Christopher Marney to create War Letters which has recently been revived by Ballet Central,. Nothing is more poignant than Meisner's work. A duet by Cristiano in airman's blue and Emilie in a simple blue floral dress. The parting was as palpable as Romeo's and the fear and anxiety symbolized by Emilie's push to her lover. My regard for Meisner, which was already high, soared even higher. So too was my regard for his dancers who translated his steps into movement.

War leaves children fatherless and in many cases motherless too.   Much of Casa Alessia's work is for children and especially orphans. But orphanages can be loveless and often brutal places as Michaela DePrince reminds us in Hope in a Ballet Shoe. The shock and pain of sudden bereavement and absence of love was addressed by Ginetti and Valmorbida in Giorni d'Orfanotrofio or Orphanage Days which they created and danced to the music of Yann Tiersen.

But sometimes there can be happy endings such as where the sleeping princess in the forest is awoken by her beau or a child in an orphanage grasping a photo of a ballerina becomes a dancer with one of the finest companies of Europe and rises meteorically through its ranks. Thomas and Yuanyuan danced the awakening scene from The Sleeping Beauuty. I have seen Sibley in that role and more recently Aliya Tanykpayeva. Neither of them danced it more convincingly than Yuanyuan.

Last year Meisner was my joint choreographer of the year for creating Embers.  It moves me in a special way. I have now seen it four times and I love it a little more each time I see it.  Thomas and Nancy Burer introduced me to the work and they dance it beautifully. I experienced it in a different way when Cristiano and Priscylla danced the piece on Tuesday night. Never has it seemed more beautiful.

The emblem of the Casa Alessia is the sunflower. Members of the charity wear sunflower yellow t-shirts.  When the dancers appeared for their standing ovation each of the women artists received the most beautiful sunflower bouquet. But as I clapped and cheered from my seat a lady appeared with the same bouquet and presented it to me. A card that was attached to the cards read "Mrs Lambert Grazie di Cuore". It was signed on behalf of Mr Mairati, the dancers and the Friends of Alessia.   It was one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received. It was not possible to bring the flowers back to Holmfirth but I found a home for them with a family in Italy who will enjoy them as much as I do.  I have however brought back their essence in the card and photo and these I shall never forget.

Opportunities not just for Dancers

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When I visited Amsterdam in February I toured the studios and workshops of the Dutch National Ballet. The tour included the wardrobe department and I saw many of the costumes for Mata Hari shown in the film above (see Double Dutch Delights 17 Feb 2016). Later in the day I attended Ballet Bubbles at the Meervaart Theatre which opened with a speech by Ernst Meisner in which he said that the Junior Company provided opportunities not just to outstanding young dancers but to technicians and support staff.

My ears pricked up because one of the members of my ballet class at Huddersfield University is a young fine arts and design student with a passion for ballet who happens to be half Dutch. She has already been accepted for a summer placement with the Royal Opera House and hopes to make her career in the theatre. On my return to Yorkshire I told her about Ernst's speech and my tour of the Stopera and she asked me to find out more about the programme for her.

Yesterday the company's press officer Richard Heideman sent me the requested information.  The company recruits its costume designers from the Stichting  Meesteropleiding Coupeur (Master Tailoring Institute) in Amsterdam. The Institute runs a three year training course in partnership with the Dutch National Ballet, the National Opera and other companies much in the way that the Junior Company provides a bridge between ballet school and the senior company.

Anyone who is interested in the programme should contact the institute at:

Stichting Meesteropleiding Coupeur

Jan Maijenstraat 11-15
1056 SE AMSTERDAM
T 020 820 1153
E info@meesteropleidingcoupeur.nl

www.meesteropleidingcoupeur.nl

Yesterday I wrote about the crowd funding intuitive for the young American dancer Melsissa Chapski and the Italian Giovanni Princic (see Crowdfunding for the Ballet 25 May 2016). The donations page is in Dutch which Nadja van Deursen who is in charge of fund raising for the National Ballet thought might be a problem for us Brits who are notorious monoglots. Actually I don't think it is because Dutch is the nearest relation to English and I can understand most of what is written or said to me in the Netherlands including Ernst's speech though that may be because I studied German which even more closely related to Dutch at secondary school. Be that as it may she has suggested that those of us who are not Dutch can donate to Melissa and Giovanni's scholarship fund through this page and I have just done so.

Crowdfunding for the Ballet

Melissa Chapski and Giovanni Princic

Photo Michel Schnater

Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet, All rights reserved
Reproduction licensed by kind permission of the company

I argued in Ballet as a Brand? How to bring More Money into Dance for Companies and Dancers 13 March 2014 that more money could be raised for the arts by licensing, merchandising and sponsorship. The Dutch National Ballet have been particularly innovative in that regard.  One of its most imaginative initiatives has been its collaboration in the design and marketing of Bounden, an award winning dancing game for two players (see Bounden - Something that appeals to my Interests in Technology and Dance 17 Dec 2013, Bounden Part II - How it works 1 Feb 2014 and Bounden Launched 28 May 2014).

The company's latest fund raising method has been crowd funding. On 12 May it launched a campaign to raise scholarships for two outstanding young dancers, the Italian Giovanni Princic, and the American Melissa Chapski (see Crowdfunding Campaign for Juniors Melissa and Giovanni on the Dutch National Ballet's website). The above photo shows them in van Manen's Trois Gnossiennes which I covered on 9 March 2016.

Van Manen is one of the big names mentioned on the website who train the Junior Company's dancers. Others include its principals, Igone de Jongh and Marijn Rademaker. The aim is to give those dancers a "last little push to reach their final goal: getting to the top of the ballet world". Readers can do that using their debit or credit cards through the donations page of the company's website.

As I said in 70 Years of the London Ballet Circle 10 May 2016 Ernst Meisner's name cropped up more than once in my conversations with dancers, dance administrators and teachers in this company. That is largely because he spent 10 years with the Royal Ballet and we regard him with great affection as one of our own but also because of his work with the Junior Company providing a bridge between ballet school and the company. I asked whether any company here had thought of setting up a junior company and was told that it would be something that they would all like to do but that it would cost too much money. If that is the case, maybe the Dutch have shown us a way to raise that money.

Returning to Giovanni and Melissa I do hope a generous contribution to their scholarship comes from this country.  The rewards of giving will be not only the dancers' gratitude but also "great personal rewards" which I surmise to be great performances  some of which could be in London.

The Beautiful Dancers at the Gala for Alessia

More on the Gala for Alessia.  

The brilliant young dancer and choreographer, Cristiano Principato, whose photo appears in the top left hand corner, has persuaded 11 of his chums to come to Trecate in North West Italy to dance in a gala to raise funds for the Casa Alessia to carry out reconstruction work in Burundi (see Principato's Project 7 April 2016).

Casa Alessia is a charity established in memory of a remarkable young student called Alessia Mairati who had intended to work for those less fortunate than herself. Alas, she died in an air crash before she could do any of that work but her father set up the charity to do some of the work that she would have carried out. It is a very sad but also very beautiful story (see Some More Information on Alessia 30 April 2016).

Every year a fund raising concert takes place in Novara in which Cristiano had always hoped to participate. He could not do so while he was at ballet school but he can now. He has brought all those excellent young dancers from the Dutch National Ballet, La Scala ballet, the Vienna State Ballet and Jas Arts Ballet to the Silvio Pellico Theatre in Trecate for a splendid show.

The programme will begin with Tempo which Cristiano has choreographed for himself and will include extracts from Swan Lake, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty and The Pharaoh's Daughter which we don't see very often in England. There will be another work from Cristiano called Paladio which he has created for the Dutch National Ballet and will end with Ernst Meisner's beautiful short work Embers which is one of the best I have ever seen.

Where us Trecate? I hear you say. It is about 15 miles south of Milan's Malpensa airport which is well served with flights from all major British airports as well as Budapest (if Mel or Ryosuke are interested), Oslo and Stuttgart. Trecate is just outside Novara on the railway line and near the motorway between Turin and Milan. Although it is very close to the airport it is rather awkward to reach by public transport which is why Holiday Taxis, easyJet's partners in Milan, had the cheek to quote me an exorbitant £120 for the 30 mile round trip. Don't pay it folks! The chaps in Burundi need your money rather more. Put at least some of that dosh in the collection when Cristiano passes round the hat at the end of the show. There is a bus from Malpensa airport to Novara which stops at Novara railway station from where there are frequent trains to Trecate (see How to get to the Gala for Alessia 4 May 2016).

By bringing the ballet to Trecate Cristiano will give his dad an opportunity to see him dance. Mr Principato senior has been unable to travel long distances for medical reasons. He has only read about his son's triumphs in Amsterdam, London and other places up to now. On 28 June he will see not only his son but some other fine dancers who like Cristiano will be big box office in a few years time.

The Silvio Pellico Theatre is at 24 Piazza Cattaneo in Trecate and the Macri restaurant is at number 20 where I shall be in the chair from 19:00.

Principato's Project

Cristiano Principato

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

Cristiano Principato is an Élève (which translates roughly as "pupil", "apprentice" or "trainee") of the Dutch National Ballet. I wrote a feature on him in December 2014 shortly after he had joined the Junior Company That man can dance. He was trained at La Scala Ballet School, spent a year with the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company and joined the main company last year. He has already performed at Covent Garden (see
Junior Company in London - even more polished but as fresh and exuberant as ever 7 June 2015) and at the Coliseum (see Wheeldon's Cinderella 13 July 2013) and I am sure we shall be hearing a lot more about him as time goes on.

Cristiano's latest project is a gala at the Silvio Pelico Theatre in Trecate on 28 June 2016 in aid of Casa Alessia's initiative in Bujumbura to give former child soldiers an opportunity to recover their childhood, to gain an education and learn a useful trade. Casa Alessia is an Italian charity which tackles need in Italy and overseas. According to the charity's website:

"Since 2008 a village of some 48 dwellings has been built at Masango in Burundi under the guidance of a Father Bepi.
The project was intended to enable former child solders regain their childhood. Father Bepi has taught them a trade while the charity has provided a roof over their heads to ensure a promising future.
Co-operative enterprises have been established around the village which brings relief to the poorest people."

Readers will know that this is just the sort of initiative that is close to my heart. My late spouse came from Sierra Leone which also suffered a vicious civil war in which children were kidnapped, drugged and forced to fight and commit the vilest atrocities. Michaela DePrince, who is also in the Dutch National Ballet, has described some of those appalling events graphically in Hope in a Ballet Shoe. My other connection with Africa is my late spouse's goddaughter who escaped the civil war to live with us. She is now the nearest I have to a daughter and her little boy the nearest I have to a grandson. I visited that country in 2007 and saw some of the devastation for myself (see Sierra Leone 18 April 2007 NIPC Law).

Because of my connection with Africa I have supported initiatives like Anno Africa's work in one of the toughest neighbourhoods of Nairobi (see What can be achieved by a good teacher 3 March 2013) and the Gala for Ghana 4 Feb 2014 which brought together some of the biggest names in dance including Elena Glurdjidze, Ed Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson who has just dazzled London with her Giselle (see Cuthbertson's Giselle 3 April 2016).

Cristiano's gala in Trecate promises to be just as riveting. He has enlisted some of his colleagues from the Dutch National Ballet such as Emilie Tassinari, Giovanni Princic, Yuanyuan Zhang, Thomas van Damme and Priscylla Gallo as well as dancers from elsewhere. Those dancers are some of the best of their generation and I have no doubt that at least some of them will be at least as great as Watson, Cuthbertson and Glurdjidze in 10 to 15 years time. There is a great video about the gala with some footage of Casa Alessia's work in Burundi circulating on Facebook.

Now if anybody wants to see these fine young dancers Trecate is about 6 miles from Novara which happens to be Cristiano's home town. For those who are interested in history a famous battle took place against the French 1513. There is a magnificent basilica with a dome that is almost 400 feet high, a neo-classical cathedral and the Broletto or forum. The town is not too far from the Alps. The nearest international airport is probably Turin which is about 60 miles away and served by BA and several budget airlines with direct flights to the UK

I should like to wish Cristiano and everybody involved in this show chukkas for the performance and everyone in Casa Alessiia every success with their valuable work.

Trois Gnossiennes

Melissa Chapski and Giovanni Princic

Photo Michel Schnater

Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet, All rights reserved
Reproduction licensed by kind permission of the company

Hans van Manen has delighted audiences around the world and inspired dancers and choreographers for as long as I can remember. I have seen the great man  at the Stadschouwburg in Amsterdam on 24 Nov 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013) and 6 Feb 2015 (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). He got a standing ovation each time and no wonder for he is a national treasure whom the Dutch revere.

Van Manen appeared at those performances because the Junior Company include one of his works in their tour each year. This time it was was Trois Gnossiennes which he created for the Dutch National Ballet on 20 Oct 1982. The music that he used for this ballet is by Erik Satie, the same composer who inspired Sir Frederick Ashton to create Monotones. That is another ballet I love very much.

The dancers in the photos are Giovanni Princic from Italy and Melissa Chapski of the USA. I admire them both enormously.

Melissa Chapski and Giovanni Princic

Photo Michel Schnater

Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet, All rights reserved
Reproduction licensed by kind permission of the company

They work very well together.  Earlier in the performance Princic had danced a masterly Ballet 101 and Chapski had charmed us in the Pas de Six.  My review of the whole show is Ballet Bubbles 16 Feb 2016.

Audiences in this country will gain an opportunity to see more of van Manen's work when the Netherlands Dance Theatre tours the UK next month. I hope to catch NDT2 in Bradford and at The Lowry. 

Giovanni Princic in Ballet 101

Giovanni Princic in Ballet 101

Photo Michel Schnater
Copyright 2016 Dutch National Ballet
All rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Eric Gauthier's Ballet 101 is fun. I've seen Xander Parish and Daniel Montero do it and here is a YouTube video of Armando Braswell of the Basel Ballet. I am longing to have a go myself if a woman can do it though I would have problems with position 25, 40 and "the beautiful Swan Lake 80". Anyway Mel has promised to show me how.

Last Sunday I saw the talented young Italian dancer Giovanni Princic perform this piece and he did a particularly good job (see Ballet Bubbles 16 July 2016). I was introduced to this excellent young man after the show and he was as charming off stage as he was impressive on it.  I congratulate him on his success to date and wish him well for the future.