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Press Release: Alina Cojocaru presents La Strada at Sadler's Wells 25 - 28 January

Jan McNulty
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Jan McNulty

Jan McNulty

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Alina Cojocaru presents

La Strada

Sadler’s Wells

Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 January 2024

Performances at 7.30pm (matinees at 2.30pm)

www.sadlerswells.com

Tickets on sale 4 November

 

Internationally renowned ballet superstar Alina Cojocaru OBE takes to the stage in the world premiere of a brand-new two-act ballet inspired by Federico Fellini’s cinematic masterpiece La Strada. Choreographed by Natália Horečná, La Strada comes to Sadler’s Wells for five performances only from 25 - 28 January 2024. Tickets go on sale 4 November.

 

La Strada tells the story of Gelsomina, sold by her mother to strongman Zampanò and forced to follow him into a life of hardship and suffering living on the road with a travelling circus. What follows is a deeply moving and touching story that explores the essence of humanity and what it means to love and be loved in return. 

 

Set to Nino Rota’s haunting scores, including the ballet suite from La Strada, and the soundtracks from Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Il Casanova, Natália Horečná fuses classical ballet with contemporary dance to bring this powerful story to life, with set and costume designs by Otto Bubeníček. 

 

Performing alongside Alina Cojocaru in the lead role of Gelsomina is former star of The Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and acclaimed freelance artist Johan Kobborg as Il Matto, and former Principal of La Scala Ballet, Mick Zeni as Zampanò. They will be joined by a further eight dancers to be announced shortly. 

 

Alina Cojocaru OBE is a former Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. She is currently Guest Principal dancer with Hamburg Ballet and a prominent freelance dancer performing a variety of lead roles with some of the world’s leading ballet companies. In 2023 Alina was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 special honours, for services to ballet.

 

In 2019 Alina founded Acworkroom Ltd, an independent ballet and dance production company. With a focus dedicated to live performances, the company strives to develop and commission ambitious new original ballet and contemporary dance works for audiences in the UK and internationally as well as offering opportunities for freelance artists. The company’s inaugural performances were Alina at Sadler’s Wells in March 2020. La Strada is the first full length ballet to be commissioned by Alina.

 

Natália Horečná is a former dancer with Hamburg Ballet, Nederland’s Dance Theatre and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Since 2012 she has worked as a freelance choreographer creating over 40 works for companies including Vienna State Ballet, La Scala Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet.

 

Otto Bubeníček joined Hamburg Ballet in 1993, and quickly advanced to Principal Dancer. Having retired from the stage in 2015 he has gone on to compose music, create short films, graphics, and stage and costume designs for opera houses including War Memorial Opera House San Francisco, David H. Koch Theater New York, Zürich Opera House, Royal Swedish Opera and more.

 

Of La Strada Alina Cojocaru OBE said: “I am incredibly excited to bring La Strada to the stage and honoured and grateful to be joined by such world class artists for this unique project. I have dreamt of creating a ballet based on La Strada ever since I first saw the film, which at its heart is a touching, universal story of love and loss. The power our artform has to portray emotions is truly transformational. I hope our audiences are swept away and feel inspired when La Strada premieres on stage at Sadler’s Wells in January.”

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

Listings Information

 

Alina Cojocaru presents

La Strada

Sadler’s Wells, London

Thursday 25 – Sunday 28 January 2024

www.sadlerswells.com

Tickets on sale 4 November

 

Biographies

 

Alina Cojocaru OBE

Alina Cojocaru OBE is a former Principal of The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. After studying at the Royal Ballet School on a Prix de Lausanne scholarship she joined the Kiev Ballet in Ukraine as a principal dancer. Following one season with Kiev, she entered the corps of the Royal Ballet in 1999, was promoted to Soloist at the end of her first season and in April 2001 was promoted to Principal at the age of 19. With Royal Ballet Principal Johan Kobborg, she forged an iconic dance partnership, celebrated in their performances with The Royal Ballet and as guest artists around the world.

 

Alina left The Royal Ballet at the end of the 2012/13 season to join English National Ballet, where she performed lead roles in ballets including Akram Khan’s acclaimed reimagining of “Giselle”.  Among her numerous awards are Best Female Dancer at the 2002 Critic’s Circle Awards and the 2004 and 2012 Benois de la Danse awards. Alina is a permanent Guest Artist with John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet and continues to dance as a Guest Artist with the world’s foremost ballet companies.

 

In 2019 she founded her production company Acworkroom Ltd and in 2022 The Alina Cojocaru Foundation.

 

Natália Horečná

Natalia Horecna is a former dancer with the Hamburg Ballet, the Nederland’s Dance Theatre and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam.

 

Natalia has since 2012 worked as a freelance choreographer, creating exciting works for some of the world’s foremost ballet and dance companies and has created commissioned pieces for some of ballet’s most illustrious artists and personalities.

 

Companies for which Natalia has created work include - Vienna State Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Monte Carlo Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Nederland’s Dance Theatre, National Ballet of China and many more.

 

Natalia’s creative back catalogue consists of more than 40 ballets worldwide.

 

Otto Bubeníček

Otto Bubeníček studied at the Conservatory for Dance and Music in Prague. In 1993 he was invited to join the Hamburg Ballet by John Neumeier where he quickly advanced to Principal Dancer. Throughout his ballet career he has been a sought-after guest artist, performing with many renowned companies worldwide and featured in many gala performances. In 2015, he retired as a ballet dancer. Otto composes music, creates short films and graphics, and has created stage and costume designs for opera houses such as: War Memorial Opera House San Francisco, David H. Koch Theater New York, Vienna State Opera, Zürich Opera House, Royal Swedish Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera and others. In 2020 he completed a master’s degree in scenography at the HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg.

 

Mick Zeni

Mick Zeni is a former Principal Dancer of La Scala Ballet in Milan. He has performed in the repertoire of some of the world’s most prominent classical and contemporary choreographers. These works include George Balanchine’s Apollo, Roland Petit’s Jeune Homme et la Mort, Coppelia and L’Arlesiénne, Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet and many other works by John Cranko, Frederick Ashton, William Forsythe, Maurice Bejart, Jiri Kylián, John Neumeier and Alexei Ratmansky.

 

His numerous guest appearances include performances at the Teatro San Carlo, Arena di Verona, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the NCPA in Beijing and the Paris Opera. 

 

He is the recipient of the Italian Danza&Danza “Dancer of the Year” Award.

 

Johan Kobborg

Johan Kobborg has enjoyed a distinguished career as a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet and as a Guest Artist with most major companies around the world. 

 

He has simultaneously distinguished himself as a choreographer, creating major works for companies such as The Royal Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballett Zürich, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Ballet, Lithuanian National Ballet, Leonid Yakobson Ballet of St Petersburg, NBA Ballet Tokyo, Atlanta Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet and more. 

 

Johan Kobborg has won numerous awards as both dancer and choreographer.

 

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Jan McNulty

Jan McNulty

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Just now, Rob S said:

 

Wish I'd known about this earlier, the matinee has sold out and GWR seem to have odd timetables coming home from Bath....the last thing I saw at the Ustinov I had to miss the final act (of 3)

 

 

I believe these performances were mentioned a few weeks ago and when I looked them up the Saturday matinee was already sold out.

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San Perregrino

San Perregrino

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1 minute ago, Rob S said:

 

Wish I'd known about this earlier, the matinee has sold out and GWR seem to have odd timetables coming home from Bath....the last thing I saw at the Ustinov I had to miss the final act (of 3)

What’s Bath station like for an overnight nap I wonder? 
 

Does anyone know if Alina & Matty will dance all performances? 

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Rob S

Rob S

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1 minute ago, PeterS said:

What’s Bath station like for an overnight nap I wonder? 
 

Does anyone know if Alina & Matty will dance all performances? 

 

Nowhere near as good as Paddington!!! Sometimes the last train home is 2213, sometimes its's 2253 (as I see it is tonight)

 

I see Mr Ball isn't in London doing Manon during the Bath run

 

I'll book and hope for the best

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SheilaC

SheilaC

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Sorry for delay, I've got on-going problems with my WiFi.

I assume that Alina and Matty will dance all performances.

There's a double bill of Minotaur (with Jonathan Goddard, I think and hope) and a new piece by Kim Brandstrup (who has created pieces on Alina before), Metamorphoses, for Alina, Matty, Kristen McNally and Tommy Franzen.

I hope that's all accurate, I'm just going by notes I made prior to booking, so forgive any inaccuracies.

It's quite a short bill, and likely to be contemporary rather than classical - but should be great!

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capybara

capybara

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7 minutes ago, alison said:

This is getting confusing.  The Bath performances of Minotaur are discussed on this thread:

 

 

I can see I need to do some tidying up.


Thank you, Alison. I hadn’t realised that.

But shortened forms of names aren’t always the best ones to use on here.

 

And, now, news of La Strada is also on the Alina Cojocaru news thread.

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annamicro

annamicro

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2 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

I see Mr Ball isn't in London doing Manon during the Bath run

 

I'll book and hope for the best

 

As far as I know, Cojocaru is dancing all the shows in Bath (luckily it was possible to delay of 1 weeks in order to avoid the "conflict" with Sadler's Wells shows), so I suppose it will be the same for Ball.

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San Perregrino

San Perregrino

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Back on topic: 

Interestingly the two matinees of La Strada are priced lower than the evening performances.

I wonder if this is to encourage audiences or reflects that casting for these performances may not include Ms Cojocaru herself….

(comment partly posted to two threads as relevant to both)

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SheilaC

SheilaC

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32 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Back on topic: 

Interestingly the two matinees of La Strada are priced lower than the evening performances.

I wonder if this is to encourage audiences or reflects that casting for these performances may not include Ms Cojocaru herself….

(comment partly posted to two threads as relevant to both)

I hope she'll be dancing at the matinees, I've just booked 2. But as it's only a small troupe presumably there won't be another lead.

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FionaM

FionaM

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21 hours ago, PeterS said:

Back on topic: 

Interestingly the two matinees of La Strada are priced lower than the evening performances.

I wonder if this is to encourage audiences or reflects that casting for these performances may not include Ms Cojocaru herself….

(comment partly posted to two threads as relevant to both)


There is only one cast for LA STRADA … so it’s the same at all shows.  
 

Some short clips of the rehearsal process at beautiful Orsolina28 have been shared on Instagram by the dancers in the 3 main roles, namely Alina, Mick Zeni (former La Scala principal) and Johan Kobborg, plus more from the supporting cast. 

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FionaM

FionaM

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I’m excited to see this …. it was originally announced some years ago with Alban Lendorf in the Mick Zeni role, but I guess time moved on and other projects intervened.  
 

Also it was originally supposed to premiere in Milan at Teatro Arcimboldi.  I’m thrilled it’s going to be at Sadler’s instead! 

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FionaM

FionaM

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On 03/11/2023 at 14:06, PeterS said:

Does anyone know if Alina & Matty will dance all performances? 


I was told indirectly from Alina herself, that she and Matthew Ball dance at every performance of the new creation for them together by Kim Brandstrup in Bath in January/February 2024.   

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FionaM

FionaM

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28 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Has anyone seen any other work by Natália Horečná?


I found this bio online which mentions she won “Choreographer of the Year” by German Tanz magazine in 2012

https://www.danceopen.com/en/55-dance-open-persons/choreographers/437-natalia-horecna

 

another here https://danceartsfaculty.com/en/artists-teachers/natalia-horecna/

 

and this interview from DANZA&DANZA magazine in 2021 

 

Edited by FionaM
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Emeralds

Emeralds

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I remember previously looking up the Minotaur production scheduled for Bath, but will probably stick to seeing Alina at Sadler's Wells (both BRB as well as La Strada). It will be wonderful to see Johan Kobborg back on stage again in London! I have Mick Zeni's performance in Raymonda on DVD so it will be great to see him for the first time on stage (I missed his previous visit years ago with the La Scala company.) 

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Angela

Angela

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9 hours ago, FionaM said:

she won “Choreographer of the Year” by German Tanz magazine in 2012

 

Her bio says "she was named a “Choreographer of the Year” by German Tanz magazine", not "choreographer of the year".  It is a critics' survey, so she got nominated by one out of ca. 30 critics. Boris Charmatz, now director of Wuppertal Tanztheater, got the most votes in 2012 and won the title "choreographer of the year". 

 

Horecna has a kind of NDT style, influenced by Kylián, most articles about her work say. But to be honest, she has not worked so much here in Germany, I would not say she is famous. 

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annamicro

annamicro

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On 05/11/2023 at 02:01, Angela said:

 

Her bio says "she was named a “Choreographer of the Year” by German Tanz magazine", not "choreographer of the year".  It is a critics' survey, so she got nominated by one out of ca. 30 critics. Boris Charmatz, now director of Wuppertal Tanztheater, got the most votes in 2012 and won the title "choreographer of the year". 

 

Horecna has a kind of NDT style, influenced by Kylián, most articles about her work say. But to be honest, she has not worked so much here in Germany, I would not say she is famous. 

 

Maybe not famous in Germany, but Horecna created a work also for La Scala (I didn't see it), where Zeni was her leading dancer. She has been a dancer of Hamburg Ballet for several years, as was the charismatic Sasha Riva, initially in the cast with his partner in crime Simone Repele (they create many works of their own as Riva&Repele, unfortunately the final dates for La Strada were in conflict with a commitment they already had with Opera di Roma, so they had to withdraw).

I remember Zeni was supposed to be Cojocaru Romeo in La Scala in 2010, but unfortunately he was requested by Roland Petit for I don't remember what and Cojocaru danced with a modest Sutera (he was named principal after those shows, probably for previously earned merits). Indeed Zeni was particularly fine in Petit's works, and this Summer Alina danced L'Arlesienne (a beautiful Petit ballet) with Jacopo Tissi, rehearsing it in La Scala.

All the above to say that it's a world of connections and in such a small group it's important to work well together (one of the dancer, Cristi Preda was a dancer in Bucharest under Kobborg's directorship).

I think it's interesting, in Horecna interview below, the point about co-creating with the dancers: with three so experienced and talented leading dancers, I think that a strong and deep cooperation is a relevant plus.

More than the choreographic style, I'd be curious about the dramaturgy of this new La Strada: I would love to know how it was "written".

 

 

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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In a very very rare instance of me beating Johan Kobborg to something,  I've beaten him to it (ie his tweet)- already got my tickets  😀

 

I wonder how closely their ballet follows the Fellini movie. The Nino Rota score is fabulous and very catchy.

 

Thanks @annamicro for the video and info. It looks very promising- although I  hope there won't be any injuries with those  throws/flings! Wonder if I should book an earlier show as well just in case.....!

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