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Henny Jurriëns Studio in Amsterdam has announced that Gary Feingold will retire as director on 31 December and that prior Ineke Drabbe will step down as head of programming in October 2023. Gary and Ineke both have been instrumental in developing HJS since it was founded 28 years ago and now feel that it is time for younger people to start leading the organisation. However, Gary will continue as director of Café Belcampo, Arts andDialogue Foundation and AmsterDans International Dance Competition, and Ineke, after receiving a diploma in furniture upholstery, is opening her own business; Huis van Ien. Henny Jurriëns Studio is now advertising for an ambitious artistic director and business manager. More details on the HJS website

Brandon Lawrence

Born in Hull, Brandon Lawrence joined Birmingham Royal Ballet on graduation from the Royal Ballet School 11 years ago and moved swiftly up the ranks to become a principal in 2019. He reflects on his career to date and explains why he has decided to move to the Ballett Zurich next season. The interview is published in the June/July 2023 issue of Dance Europe. 

Songs of a Wayfarer

Songs of a Wayfayer / Le Chant du compagnon errant  is currently being performed by the Paris Opera as part of a Maurice Béjart programme at the Opera Bastille. This film features the company's newest étoiles, Guillaume Diop and Marc Moreau, in an early rehearsal for the ballet with guest répétiteur Maina Gielgud, who shares her personal memories of working with the legendary French choreographer. 

Three Artistic Directors

In the June/July issue, Dance Europe features Stanton Welch who is celebrating two decades as Houston Ballet's director; Aaron S. Watkin, who reflects on his years in Dresden as he prepares to take over English National Ballet in August; and David Hallberg, who talks about his new life off-stage at the helm of The Australian Ballet as he prepares his company for its London seasons at the Royal Opera House in August.

Grand Audition Budapest

A short film shot at the Grand Audition in Budapest featuring Sachiya Takata, Kirill Mobereo de la Sota, Diede Schuur, Otto Eltell and Gvendolin Nagy, who were among the dancers offered contracts. The event was held at the Hungarian Dance University and is introduced by artistic director David Makhateli.

Gvendolin Nagy

Following her participation in the Grand Audition in Budapest, Gvendolin Nagy, who studies at the  Hungarian Dance University, has been offered a contract with the National Moravian - Silesian Theatre in Ostrava.

Requiem

This short documentary on Requiem, a new work by Dane Hurst, features dancers from the Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre and Jazzart Dance Theatre from South Africa. Set to the Mozart Requiem, the work will  be premiered at the Leeds Grand Theatre from 26 May - 4 June 2023.  Phoenix Dance Theatre's ‘Requiem’ is a collaboration with Opera North, Jazzart Dance Theatre & Cape Town Opera.

BRB2

BRB2 will give its final performances off its programme - Carlos Acosta's Classical Selection - at the Linbury, Royal Opera House, on 13 & 14 June, and at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on 4 June. Review coming in the June/July issue. Photo GALLERY

Paris Opera - Maurice Béjart

The Paris Opera is presenting a triple bill of ballets by Maurice Béjart at the Opera Bastille runs from 20 April until 28 May. Curtain calls from the générale feature Mathieu Ganio as the Firebird and Florimund Lorieux as the Phoenix in The Firebird; Hugo Marchand and Germain Louvet in Songs of a Wayfarer; and Amandine Albisson as the soloist in Boléro.  operadeparis.fr

PHOTO GALLERY

Ballet Auction
This short film previews some of the items to be auctioned by British Bespoke Auctions in their first ever ballet auction on 11 May. Included in the sale are some effects from the estate of the late Dame Beryl Grey and a photo of Nijinsky and Karsavina in Le Spectre de la Rose signed by the two legendary dancers. Additionally there are designs by Picasso, Erté, Benois and others. Based in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, the company's auctions take place online and are overseen by the company's parrot, Bella. Music - Invitation to the Dance by Carl Maria von Weber. Pianist - Jonathan Still. A catalogue will be available shortly.
https://bidlive.bespokeauctions.co.uk/

Tribute: Pierre Lacotte 1932 - 2023

Victor Caixeta Promotion

Following his debut as Prince Siegfried, partnering Maia Makhateli in Swan Lake, Victor Caixeta was promoted to principal dancer by Dutch National Ballet director Ted Brandsen on 4 April. The announcement took place backstage at the National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam. PHOTO GALLERY

Laura Morera

Born in Madrid, Laura Morera joined the Royal Ballet School aged 11 and duly graduated into The Royal Ballet in 1995. After 27 years in London, during which she has evolved into one of The Royal Ballet’s most versatile principal dancers, she is retiring from the stage at the end of the season to work as a répétiteur. Her final performance on the Royal Opera House stage will be on 17 June in Kenneth MacMillan’s Anastasia Act III. She will also perform on The Royal Ballet’s tour to Japan in Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country with final performances at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on 25 June and at the City Cultural and Convention Centre in Himeji on 8 July.In this filmed interview she talks passionately about her extraordinary career and her aspirations for the future.

Grand Audition - Paris

The second Grand Audition this year was held in Paris on 25 & 26 March at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Read more... 

Marianela Núñez

During the curtain calls for The Royal Ballet's opening night of Cinderella, Marianela Núñez was presented was a medal to mark her 25 years as a dancer with the company.

Victor Caixeta

The Dutch National Ballet's Brazilian dancer takes a break during rehearsals for Prince Siegfried to talk about the role’s challenges. He will be making his debut at the National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam on 4 April. www.operaballet.nl

César Morales

Promoted to a principal after his inaugural Siegfried in Santiago at 18, and now a principal dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Chilean dancer talks about his affinity with Swan Lake. He is currently performing Prince Siegfried on BRB's tour of Swan Lake in the UK. www.brb.org.uk

Three New Soloists at New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet has announced the promotion of three corps de Ballet dancers to soloists - KJ Takahashi Olivia MacKinnon and Alexa Maxwell. The promotions were made by NYCB Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, fin advance of the company's Spring Season which runs from 18 April - 28 May at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. www.nycballet.com

Cinderella

The Royal Ballet premiered a new production for Frederick Ashton's Cinderella on 28 March with Marianela Núñez and Vadim Muntagirov in the leading roles. Originally created in 1948, the ballet has new sets and costumes by Tom Pye and Alexandra Byrne respectively, along with lighting by David Finn, video by Finn Ross and Illusions by Chris Fisher. The ballet has several casts and runs until 3 May. Photo GALLERY. Tickets and more info www.roh.org.uk

Swan Lake

Dutch National Ballet opens its run of Rudi an Dantzig's Swan Lake on 22 March with nine different casts: Olga Smirnova and Costa Allen; Maia Makhateli and Jakob Feyferlik; Anna Ol and Young Gyu Choi; Qian Liu and Semyon Velichko; Maia Makhateli and Victor Caixeta; Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili; Riho Sakamoto and Martin ten Kortenaar; Salome Leverashvili and Tim van Poucke; Jessica Xuan and Jakob Feyferlik; and Yuanyuan Zhang and Davi Ramos. operaballet.nl

Ballet Central
TOUR 2023

Ballet Central's 2023 repertoire includes: two ballets by Frederick Ashton - Monotones I and The Two Pigeons - the latter was premiered back in 1961 with Christopher Gable, founder of Central School of Ballet, and Lynn Seymour in the titular roles. This short film shows Isabel McMeekan coaching three couples in the final pas de deux from The Two Pigeons. Ballet Central is the performance company of Central School of Ballet and the tour opens in Dunstable on 4 May.

New Etoiles at Paris Opera

Hannah O'Neill and Marc Moreau were promoted to étoiles by José Martinez and Alexander Neef following their performance in Ballet Imperial at the Paris Opera on 2 March 2023. Photos Agathe Poupeney / OnP

English National Ballet announces first season under director Aaron S. Watkin LINK

Le Corsaire

Bayerisches Staatsballett first soloist António Casalinho and soloist Margarita Fernandes made their London debuts performing Le Corsaire at the Ballet Icons Gala @balleticonsgala  on 19 February 2023. This film captures the dancers in rehearsal at Pineapple Studios in the morning and excerpts from  their performance, which closed the gala, at the London Coliseum in the evening. Pianist - Jonathan Still With thanks to: Maina Gielgud and Olga Balakleets.

Ballet Icons Gala

Under the direction of Olga Balakleets, this year's Ballet Icons Gala took place at the London Coliseum on Sunday 19 February featured some of today's leading ballet dancers from around the world. The gala opened with The Royal Ballet's Yasmine Naghdi and Reece Clarke in a pas de deux from MacMillan's Manon and closed with Bayerisches Staatsballett's Margarita Fernandes and António Casalinho making their London debut in Le Corsaire, aged 17 and 19 respectively. Photo GALLERY.

Francesco Gabriele Frola

English National Ballet principal Francesco Gabriele Frola in rehearsal for Prince Siegfried's Act I variation in Derek Deane'e production of Swan Lake.

Balanchine
at the Paris Opera

A Balanchine double bill opened at the Paris Opera on 8 February and runs at the Palais Garnier with different casts until 10 March. The curtain calls from the générale feature Lumila Pagliero, Paul Marque, Silvia Saint-Martin, Florent Marla and Thomas Docquir in Ballet Imperial and Dorothée Gilbert, Jérémy-Loup Quer, Bianca Scudamore and Rose Stojanov in Who Cares? operadeparis.fr

Prix de Lausanne

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Prix de Lausanne. Millán de Benito from Spain and Fabrizzio Ulloa Cornejo from Mexico shared the first place. Additionally prizes were awarded to: Sangwon Park (South Korea); Julie Joyner (USA); Seehyun Kim (South Korea); Alecsia Maria Lazarescu (Romania); Ana Luisa Negrã (Brazil); Keisuke Miyazaki (Japan); Emily Sprout (Australia); Giuseppe Ventura (Italy) and Soo Min Kim (South Korea). www.prixdelausanne.org. GALLERY OF FINALISTS and report by AMANDA JENNINGS

Paul Marque

The Paris Opera étoile talks about his journey that began with jazz dance classes and the challenge of dancing the world's most famous ballet.

Le Corsaire

José Martinez first created his production of Le Corsaire for the Rome Opera Ballet in 2020, and the production was also staged in Ljubljana for the Slovenian National Ballet later that year. A new production of the ballet has now found its way to Tallinn, where it was premiered by the Estonian National Ballet in December. Martinez oversaw the staging, assisted by Agnès Letestu, just prior to taking up his new role as Director of Dance at the Paris Opera. This film shows clips from the production and four of the leading characters talk about their roles and what it was like to work with Martinez and Letestu.

Lorenzo Trossello

English National Ballet's new junior soloist dancer made his debut with the company dancing Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. The Italian dancer talks about his journey from Crova to London in this film which also includes footage from a Swan Lake rehearsal with Trossello, Erina Takahashi and James Streeter.

The Sleeping Beauty

LONDON The Royal Ballet opened its run of The Sleeping Beauty at the ROH on 16 January with sublime performances by Marianela Núñez and Vadim Muntagirov as Aurora as Prince Florimund. The February/March cover of Dance Europe features Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell who will dance on 8 February and 4 March. Performances continue until 6 June. roh.org.uk PHOTOS

The Sleeping Beauty

AMSTERDAM The last photo gallery of the year is very evocative of 2022 in that the two leading dancers both chose to leave their very successful careers behind - Olga Smirnova resigned from the Bolshoi and Victor Caixeta from the Mariinsky - when Russia invaded Ukraine. Smirnova and Caixeta secured new contracts as principal dancers with the Dutch National Ballet. PHOTOS

Promotions in Munich

Following the performance of Alexei Ratmansky's Tchaikovsky Overtures by the Bayerisches Staatsballett, director Laurent Hilaire announced the promotions of António Casalinho to first soloist and Caroline Bastos to soloist from 2023. Photo © Maina Gielgud

Tchaikovsky Overtures

Bayerisches Staatsballett presented the world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Tchaikovsky Overtures at the Nationaltheater in Munich on 23 December. The new ballet has designs by Jean-Marc Puissant and further performances take place on 26 (mat & eve) and 27 December. Pictured - Shale Wagman in Elegy. PHOTO GALLERY

José Martinez

This interview was filmed in Tallinn where José Martinez recently staged his production of Le Corsaire for the Estonian National Ballet. The former étoile returned to the Paris Opera as its new Director of Dance, succeeding Aurélie Dupont who stepped down in the summer, in December. 

PHOTO GALLERIES

The Royal Ballet
The Nutcracker

Estonian National Ballet
Le Corsaire

Paris Opera
Swan Lake

English National Ballet
The Nutcracker

Olga Smirnova

We are very happy to announce that Olga Smirnova has been voted at the Dancer of the Year 2022 by the readers of Dance Europe following the initial nomination by Valentina Bonelli in the annual Critics' Choice. Currently a principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, Olga is pictured on the front cover in Grand Pas Classique, which she performed in the company's 60th anniversary gala. She is also featured and in a filmed interview, in which she talks frankly about leaving the Bolshoi and her new life in Amsterdam in the Dec/Jan issue of Dance Europe.

Xander's Story 

After 12 years of living and dancing in St Petersburg, Xander Parish left his career as principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet - and much else behind - due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After many months without performing, he joined the Norwegian National Ballet and also taken on the directorship of a project, Reunited in Dance, launched at the Segerstrom Center in California in November. Included in this filmed interview is a short excerpt from Juliano Nunes's new ballet Canvas.

Laurent Hilaire
After relinquishing his post at the Stanislavsky Theatre, the former Paris Opera étoile  talks about his new role as director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett

Ingrid Lorentzen
Norwegian National Ballet's artistic director contemplates a decade of achievements and challenges.