Jan McNulty Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 The Slovakian National Ballet is performing (Northern Ballet's) Massimo Morricone's Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre in Rome from 31st July - 3rd August. Federico Bonelli and Alina Cojocaru are scheduled to perform the eponymous roles on 31st July, 2nd and 3rd August. It looks like the Rome Globe is a copy of The Globe so it should be really exciting! Wish I could go!! http://www.globetheatreroma.com/707/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Interesting. I'd never thought of anyone else but NB dancing Morricone's version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Daniel de Andrade, Ballet Master at NB, mounted it for the Slovakian company earlier this year. Actually a number of the older NB Ballet's have been performed elsewhere - Dracula (Gable/Pink) - Norwegian Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, RNZB; Hunchback - RNZB; Carmen - RNZB, Les Grand Ballets Canadiens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) Slightly off topic, but how old is Bonelli? He seems to have been around forever, but he still looks about 16. Edited July 9, 2013 by chrischris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Mid-30s or so, I'd guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nina G. Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Re. Ballet Association report on Mr &Mrs Bonelli "....This led to him being entered into the international competition in Havana in 1996 at the age of 17....." He is 34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 The Slovakian National Ballet is performing (Northern Ballet's) Massimo Morricone's Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre in Rome from 31st July - 3rd August. Federico Bonelli and Alina Cojocaru are scheduled to perform the eponymous roles on 31st July, 2nd and 3rd August. It looks like the Rome Globe is a copy of The Globe so it should be really exciting! Wish I could go!! http://www.globetheatreroma.com/707/ This announcement is around since more than 20 days, but has Cojocaru presence really been confirmed? I was unable to have any kind of information from her and also an Italian ballet critic asking her on the 30th if June had vague answers about "being studying the production". The stage is reported to be very small. The alternating cast is Alessandro Macario (a good dancer of San Carlo Theatre) and his fiancé Anbeta Toromani, an Albanian dancer very famous in Italy for having been a partecipant and then a professional demonstrator in a talent/reality show (she is around 30, with a good technique but also known for her lack of expressiveness: maybe this is her big opportunity to demonstrate the opposite), these two will also dance in some shows of San Carlo in the next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 She's advertised on the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 She's advertised on the website. I know! but it's an Italian web site. The production with Cojocaru and Bonelli cast was "sold" to other Italian theatres from at least January even if none of the two had signed a contract yet. Until 10 days ago (the advertisement was out before the 21st of June for sure) Cojocaru wasn't willing to answer "yes" when asked if dancing in Rome. Sometimes is strange to undestand what is passing in a dancer's head :-) but honestly it seems a strange attitude... I was planning to go, but I'm not going anymore. With all the respect, it's quite a poor thing if Cojocaru is not dancing and I cannot run the risk to spend 200 euros to travel to see the other cast, also because I've been in Rome many times and if I want to have just an holiday there I know there are much better season than super hot Summer to visit the town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Well I would go to see this much loved and wonderful production (mine and many other people's favourite)! Please do not diss this production. PS, I Have seen at least 9 other different productions including the usual suspects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Until 10 days ago (the advertisement was out before the 21st of June for sure) Cojocaru wasn't willing to answer "yes" when asked if dancing in Rome. Sometimes is strange to undestand what is passing in a dancer's head :-) but honestly it seems a strange attitude... Cojocaru has been missing performances through injury. Maybe that's still the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Cojocaru has been missing performances through injury. Maybe that's still the case. Maybe, but she danced without apparent problems the full lenght Liliom (on June 25th) and a Peer Gynt pdd (on June 30th, the night she was asked about Rome) in Hamburg. Of course they are not as physically demanding as the Swan Lake and Seeping Beauty she cancelled in the last few weeks. I have not idea of how this choreography is but usually modern choreography are less demanding for a recently broken foot than Petipa's one.... Personally I'd trust to her being there only when this is added to her web-site (not the most accurate place for cancellations, but I hope it is trustable at least for addition....) Having always to travel to see ballet (well, for once I'm going to La Scala to see Osipova and Coviello in Swan Lake the next week: 15 min by bike :-) ), I need to plan where to invest my money and unfortunately IMO the alternating cast (her especially) cannot justify the expense. I have some concerns also about the stage, very small: the theatre is usually used as you expect for a theatre called Globe and imitating the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 For me the thought of having to stand or (worse) sit on the floor for the whole performance is a deal-breaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 I was planning to go, but I'm not going anymore. With all the respect, it's quite a poor thing if Cojocaru is not dancing and I cannot run the risk to spend 200 euros to travel to see the other cast, also because I've been in Rome many times and if I want to have just an holiday there I know there are much better season than super hot Summer to visit the town. As a matter of interest, have you seen this production? I would agree it is a poor do if theatres are advertising specific dancers without contracts being in place. If the contracts are in place and dancers pull out for no good reason (ie not through injury) then that is reprehensible too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 (edited) As a matter of interest, have you seen this production? I would agree it is a poor do if theatres are advertising specific dancers without contracts being in place. If the contracts are in place and dancers pull out for no good reason (ie not through injury) then that is reprehensible too. No and I'd be interested to see it, but not with any dancer and definitely in a proper dance theatre and I don't think it is the case of this Globe. I don't want to be unrespectful, but I really cannot travel to Rome, sleep in a hotel, buy a ticket to stand (or worse, as afds wrote) and not see the cast I booked for or a at least a slightly similar level one: the organizers are simply not offering this kind of alternating cast. She is definitely not the worst dancers around, but I'm not sure if Toromani has danced in a proper ballet production or in a proper theatre in the last 10 years. I don't think the show has been advertised at all in Italy so far, at least outside Rome. I knew about the project since January and I've been searching for news: the web site has been updated in the second part of June. I'm editing for the second time to try to fix typos. This is the LAST attempt, so please forgive me for the remaining... Edited July 10, 2013 by annamicro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 It has now been confirmed by an almost direct source that Cojocaru will be dancing in Rome. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Oh well, that's good to know. Thanks, Anna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 28, 2013 Author Share Posted July 28, 2013 Although the page is in Italian there is a trailer: http://www.globetheatreroma.com/707/ It is a different set to the one that NB fans are familiar with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Just wondering if anyone saw this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Of course! The venue was much better than expected and the project interesting: the theatre was celebrating its 10th anniversary and they wanted to add for the first time a ballet to the Shakespearean season. The audience seemed made mostly of regulars of the theatre more than balletgoers (I heard several people asking which cast was dancing on the night), so this novelty and the profile of the four main dancers were introduced them by Simona Marchini, an Italian actress. Alina Cojocaru (dancing for the first time in Rome) was deservedly presented as “one of the five most important ballerinas in the world”, but it was annoying to hear the other dancer introduced disrespectfully as “the famous Anbeta”, without a family name (and even with a little side laugh in the first of the two shows I saw): the pairing of the two dancers (Toromani said in an interview to have not danced in a theatre in the past 10 years – she was born in 1979) was embarrassing on the paper (I’ve not seen the other cast and cannot say of the dancing), but it’s not Anbeta Toromani fault. Anyway, despite the very hot and humid weather and a bat flying over their heads, Cojocaru and Bonelli gave their best and that of course means top quality performances; I also enjoyed Orazio di Bella as Mercutio. I think it was the first time that Cojocaru and Federico Bonelli danced together in a dramatic ballet, nevertheless the partnering worked extremely well not just on a technical but also at an artistic level. The peculiarity of the venue was cleverly used: in absence of wings, the dancers several times entered or run out from the entrances of the theatre, widening the space and effectively underlining the change of scenes and locations. But the choreography was poor, the steps were banal, unable to convey emotions and create a mood and unable neither to use the power of the music nor to color it. The worst was a sense of grossness and vulgarity in the definition of the character and situations and that made me think a lot about Tamara Rojo clever and provocative remarks about the lack of female choreographers and their possible different vision of the art form. Unfortunately after one month and a half are those ugly moments that are more in my memory: Lord Capulet trying to beat Juliet with his belt and then clumsily rubbing his hand in greedy satisfaction when she accepts the “deal”, Romeo and Juliet rolling on the floor after few second of the balcony pdd (the girl was quite accessible and probably pregnant before the first kiss) and even trying to have a last urgent coitus when Romeo has to leave to Mantua (the drama of the farewell was totally absent in the whole scene and in any case they don’t succeed having sex because the nurse – a true bitch: not a surprise Juliet grew up that way- enters and surprises Romeo completely lying ON Juliet), the despair of Lady Capulet at Tybalt death was so messily wild and coarse to look ridiculous, I should look back to other productions, but I really I cannot imaging 4 girls and 4 BOYS entering in the bedroom of a sleeping young woman to wake her up. I’ve been told that the choreographer recently is producing darker stuff and that he has changed also some of his earlier works, so maybe this version is not exactly the same that has been appreciated with Northern Ballet. It’s always a pleasure to see Alina dancing, but a great dramatic dancer, as Cojocaru is, seems wasted doing ugly disconnected movements without the space and the time to express emotions playing with the music. In a way Cojocaru’s artistry made also this show well worth to be seen, but also made probably more evident the limits of the version: Usain Bolt would stand out amazingly also running in the mud, but everybody knows what he can do running in a proper track. The same for Alina. Bonelli said that the show was going to be presented also in Palermo, at Teatro Massimo in December 2014. Supposed that Bonelli was dancing, but I saw that the only cast announced is Toromani and Macario (http://www.operaclick.com/news/palermo-stagione-di-opere-e-balletti-2014-del-teatro-massimo). Honesty I hope Bonelli and Cojocaru be busy doing something else…even if I know that if Alina will be there I could not stay away: her Juliet just cannot be missed, and at the end of the day I’ve been several times in Palermo but always for my job and without time to really visit that wonderful city and also Moricone could decide to change again his work a little bit. A side note: Cojocaru said to have been uncertain till the very last moment if she was dancing or not because she was “rehearsing with Federico in Tokyo in trainers”, having clearly not yet fully or enough confidently recovered from her fracture: I cannot imagine who in the Royal Ballet was thinking that she would have danced the much more demanding for her foot Swan lake planned on the 12th of July. The withdrawal was announced only on the 9th, I think, but I suppose it’s something similar to her withdrawal from ABT Sleeping Beauty, announced to the audience weeks after the Swan Lake one, even if Alina was talking openly and publically about that in London on the 5th of June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Thank you for your review annamicro, it made very interesting reading. However wonderful the individual performers are, if the overall production is disappointing - to put it mildly considering the coarse details you mention - it certainly detracts from the audience's experience. I found your comments about the presentation of Anbeta Toromani very telling about the attitude towards ballet dancers. I remember seeing a video of one of the shining stars of the Rome Opera ballet (in terms of performance although her official position remains corps de ballet despite having danced principal roles for years), Alessandra Amato, receiving a prize. She came on in a tutu and the person presenting the prize, who is probably some TV personality but I don't know since I don't watch, said "Look how well she walks!" which for stupid and condescending comments takes the cake. To be unfazed by a bat is impressive! The only time I saw Alina live, when she danced Juliet at La Scala, someone in my row of the orchestra stalls collapsed in the aisle just as the balcony pdd was starting, at the moment when Romeo and Juliet are standing holding hands and looking directly at the audience. There was a bit of commotion, emergency service personnel swooped in and removed her very efficiently (the story has a happy ending, she came back seemingly full recovered for Act 3), but neither Alina nor her partner Antonino Sutera batted an eyelid. I do apologise for the bad pun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Italy is the country where you can see a half naked vacuously giggling Bolle introduced as the best dancer in the world by the male straight presenter happy to palpate his abs. These kind of approaches are setting the level and some dancers are completely happy with this kind of publicity. Forget of culture. Mala tempora currunt. The bat was there in the two shows I saw, so maybe they were already used to it, anyway it was flying at a certain distance from their heads. Cojocaru has been quite unlucky with partners in La Scala (with the exception of Massimo Murru in Ballet Imperial: they had some fantastic moments together), especially in that truly desperate (under many aspects) run. She danced two excellent shows, but memorable only in some moments. Not only bad productions but also, and especially, modest pairing can be frustrating. I wish you to see her dancing with a dancer able to match, support, share and enhance her dancing, her acting and her emotions, the next time. She is dancing Juliet with La Scala in Tokyo in these days, with Friedemann Vogel: a pity they reserve the best for export only. :-( 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveclassics Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Anna, I'm pretty certain that Alina & Federico danced together in Ondine, back in 2005. I certainly saw them rehearsing together at an Insight Day on the subject and thought then that they made a good couple. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Anna, I'm pretty certain that Alina & Federico danced together in Ondine, back in 2005. I certainly saw them rehearsing together at an Insight Day on the subject and thought then that they made a good couple. Linda You are right, I saw them in one or two shows. Ondine is a ballet that I tend to remove, I'm afraid. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Another clip of the show, in this case with Alina Cojocaru and Federico Bonelli http://video.sky.it/news/spettacolo/roma_romeo_e_giulietta_danzano_sulle_note_di_prokofiev/v167333.vid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Sky TV (italian version) is presenting tonight (21.45 Italian time) a documentary about this shows (the cast should be Cojocaru-Bonelli), on Sky-Classica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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