“A hot head and a cold brain! It took me almost twenty years to learn that I need that to dance well and enjoy performing,” says Natalia Osipova, principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet. “But it wasn’t always easy for me to find that balance and I was tearing myself apart, making myself sick with … Read more
Christopher Marney recently received a very nice letter from Prince William and his wife. Thirty years ago, William’s mother, Diana, a ballet lover and sometime dancer, was patron of the London City Ballet. That company went bankrupt in 1996, but Marney was on a mission to revive it. He sent the royals some photos of … Read more
The Billy Elliot story could become impossible because of Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private schools, the head of the Royal Ballet School has warned. David Gajadharsingh said the proposed 20 percent tax was likely to “destroy” opportunities for talented children from less affluent backgrounds and could ultimately damage ballet’s reputation in Britain. In … Read more
Eight new productions, a world premiere, a European premiere – and a name change: the Royal Ballet and Opera, as it is now known, announced on Tuesday an ambitious program on the main and Linbury stages for the 2024-2025 season. The world premiere is the opera Festen by Mark-Anthony Turnage, based on Thomas Vinterberg’s 1998 … Read more
(Publicity photo) I still love Philip Larkin, have no problem with David Bowie and enjoy Kanye West’s music. I don’t like cancel culture and understand the need to separate the art from the artist. So why do I feel so uneasy at the thought of the West End’s biggest opening this year? Tomorrow MJ walks … Read more
Difficult art: ballet is hard on the feet, body and mind – SimonSkafar For more than half a millennium it has been the most beautiful art form; that little girls all over the world dream about, with streams of young hopefuls throwing themselves at the feet of schools every year. Yet in recent months, a … Read more