Landgraf on Dance

24. October 202624. October 2026

It Is What It Is

“Nijinsky”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
October 20, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The insight I gained from the Vienna State Ballet’s premiere of Nijinsky hit me at the curtain call when choreographer John Neumeier took his bow. He looks back on an oeuvre of more than 180 pieces, and though his foundation’s website announces a new choreography for 2027, his career is nearing its end. He held on past his prime and missed the right time to hand over his company. On stage, another career was over: Nijinsky’s. But he certainly hadn’t yet realized his full potential.

I saw Nijinsky several times in 2009 and 2011, always danced by Neumeier’s home company, The Hamburg Ballet, and each time Nijinsky’s misery preoccupied me. What was the final straw that shattered his mental health? That both his wife, Romola, and Diaghilev used him? The brutality of World War I? The untimely death of his older brother, Stanislav? Although Nijinsky does not show the hero’s stay at the sanatorium, I wondered what harm the high insulin doses he received there might have done to him.

Fifteen years later at the premiere in Vienna, these questions have become secondary. To ruminate on the wherefore of Nijinsky’s sad fate is pointless. Nothing can be fixed anyway. And when watching the eighty-seven-year-old Neumeier, visibly touched and gratefully acknowledging the applause, I recognized that the same applies to Neumeier. He has done his best. The time for changes is over.

Nijinsky (2000) is one of his strong pieces. It recaps key moments of Nijinsky’s career in a flashback that lasts from the first bars of his 1919 farewell performance at the Suvretta House, St. Moritz, to its last. He remembers his famous roles and choreographies—L’Après-midi d’un faun, Jeux, Le Sacre du Printemps, and Till Eulenspiegel—the blossoming romance with Romola and her later betrayal, the romantic and professional entanglement with Diaghilev, his brother’s fatal decline, and the relentless approach of a crushing war. Countless associations and thoughts run through his mind, which Neumeier merged into two cleverly constructed acts.

Back in 2000, he drew on a broader choreographic palette that allowed fascinating characterizations: Nijinsky’s Marriage to God solo, for example, his and Romola’s sultry encounter on a ship to South America, and Diaghilev’s power plays in which seduction and repulsion alternated at whim. I was mesmerized by the Golden Slave’s sensuality, suffered with Petrushka, and shared Nijinsky’s horror at Stanislav losing his mind. But being familiar with the works that followed Nijinsky and the movements and poses Neumeier increasingly used until they became hackneyed is a red rag to me. It’s like spoiling a fine menu with a stale ingredient.

Compared with Hamburg Ballet’s doyen, Alexandre Riabko, who frequently danced the title role and set the standard high, Alessandro Frola’s performance in Vienna was impressive. A former principal of Hamburg Ballet, Frola has grown tremendously since he joined the Vienna State Ballet one year ago. Also, Ketevan Papava’s stony-faced Romola was convincing. Nijinsky’s erotically charged roles enamored her more than the man himself, but she deserves credit for taking care of him when his psyche cracked. (Let’s disregard that she later neglected him for years while pursuing her ambitions in the U.S.) Why she would cuckold Nijinsky with the aloof Doctor Frenkel of all people (Masayu Kimoto) was incomprehensible to me.

Ionna Avraam portrayed Nijinsky’s sister, Bronislava (Avraam’s sculpted features made her a perfect cast). Tamara Karsavina (Madison Young) joined her in the dance scenes of Nijinsky’s choreographies and Bronislava’s Les Noces. Karsavina also appeared as the sylph, reminding Nijinsky of his role as the poet. Davide Dato crossed his mind as the Harlequin and the Spirit of the Rose, and Rinaldo Venuti scampered as the tragic Petrushka (but couldn’t match his Hamburg colleagues, Ivan Urban and Lloyd Riggins). Jerking as if electrocuted, António Casalinho’s Stanislav died a terrible death.

The impenetrable facade and rigidity of Eno Peci’s thin-lipped Diaghilev made it hard to believe that Nijinsky—and later Massine (Laurids Seidel)—gave in to his sexual desires voluntarily. Victor Caixeta’s Faun convinced, but the way his Golden Slave switched between eye-dazzling speed and sensual wriggles looked calculated and lacked the eroticism that Hamburg’s Otto Bubeníček oozed.

The pretentious posturing of the Suvretta House’s audience reminded me of modern-day realities. Nijinsky is, in fact, highly topical. War today feels as close as then, and Nijinsky’s empty glance made me think of a shop owner in last week’s riot-battered Paris. He hunkered on the doorstep of his demolished shop with exactly the same look.

Links:		Website of the Vienna State Ballet
		Introductory matinée
		Nijinsky—rehearsals
		Nijinsky—trailer
Photos:	1.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	2.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	3.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	4.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and Madison Young (Tamara Karsavina), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	5.	Victor Caixeta (Faun), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	6.	Davide Dato (Spirit of the Rose), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	7.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), Olga Esina (Eleonore Bereda, Vaslav’s mother), and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	8.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), Olga Esina (Eleonore Bereda, Vaslav’s mother), António Casalinho (Stanislav Nijinsky), and Ionna Avraam (Bronislava Nijinska); “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	9.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	10.	Ketevan Papava (Romola Nijinska), Victor Caixeta (Faun), Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), and Masayu Kimoto (Doctor Frenkel); “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	11.	Eno Peci (Sergey Diaghilev) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	12.	Laurids Seidel (Léonide Massine), Eno Peci (Sergey Diaghilev) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	13.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	14.	António Casalinho (Stanislav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	15.	Ketevan Papava (Romola Nijinska) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	16.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	17.	Rinaldo Venuti (Petrushka), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	18.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
		all photos © Vienna State Ballet/Ashley Taylor
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

6. October 202624. October 2026

Resilient

“Masurca Fogo”
Tanztheater Wuppertal
Opera House
Wuppertal, Germany
October 02, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The last time I saw the Tanztheater Wuppertal on their home stage was in 2014, five years after Pina Bausch’s untimely death. Gloom weighed on the Opera House. Its artistic heart had stopped beating, and tight finances worsened the outlook.

Longstanding members kept the company going; Dominique Mercy and Robert Sturm, and later Lutz Förster, stepped in as interim artistic directors. In 2017, outside expertise should have revived the company. Adolphe Binder, former artistic director of the Komische Oper Berlin’s dance theater and the Danskompanie Göteborg, was engaged but left after only one year due to differences with management. Continue reading “Resilient”

14. September 20266. October 2026

Legendary

“Swan Lake”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 7 and 8, 2026 (Historic Stage)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The Bolshoi Ballet is legendary for its Swan Lake. The first performance took place in 1877, almost one hundred and fifty years ago. This September, the swans danced for the 1,868th time, which translates to roughly thirteen Swan Lakes per year. Since 2001, the company has performed Yuri Grigorovich’s version, which includes scenes by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and Alexander Gorsky.

Grigorovich’s Swan Lake is grand. Its concepts and ideals represent the highest achievements of humanity and culture—dignity, decorum, grace, love, and unmatched beauty—and it shows how easily human nature can be led awry. Compared to Vladimir Bourmeister’s Swan Lake at the Stanislavsky Theatre, a ballet that reveals the protagonists’ inner life like none I’ve seen so far, Grigorovich portrays them as emblematic figures in an allegory, the sad ending of which Tchaikovsky’s prologue forebodes. Continue reading “Legendary”

12. September 202614. September 2026

Focused

“Anna Karenina”
Ballet of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 05, 2026 (evening performance)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Over the past twenty years, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has become increasingly popular among choreographers. In 2011, the Mariinsky Ballet toured Alexei Ratmansky’s 2004 adaptation to Baden-Baden. It told the story in retrospect, beginning with the heroine’s suicide, and it revolved primarily around her. I only remember Anna’s red dress, trains, and a lot of steam. Christian Spuck’s 2014 version for Zurich Ballet tried to retell the story in jam-packed, hectically changing scenes while wasting time on insignificant aspects. In John Neumeier’s 2017 ballet, Vronsky was a fancy lacrosse player, and the story was infused with sentimentality (I well remember its bare-chested Levin with a cowboy hat, sitting on a stack of straw next to an old farm tractor with his arms enthusiastically stretched toward a full moon and accompanied by Cat Stevens’s Moonshadow). Continue reading “Focused”

9. September 202612. September 2026

First Time

“Cinderella”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 05, 2026 (Historic Stage)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Of the two Cinderellas that premiered last May on major Russian stages in celebration of Sergei Prokofiev’s 135th birthday anniversary, I saw Nadezha Kalinina’s version for the Kazan Ballet a few weeks later on video. With some delay, I got to know Vyacheslav Lopatin’s Cinderella for the Bolshoi Ballet last Saturday during the new season’s opening matinee. Lopatin, principal of the company and fledgling ballet master, had never choreographed before. Giving his debut with no less than a full-blown production was due to the artistic director’s, Makhar Vaziev’s, encouragement and support. The outcome isn’t (and realistically couldn’t be) mind-boggling, but it is respectable.

Continue reading “First Time”

12. August 20269. September 2026

Torn Between Two

“Elláda” (“Minotaur”/“Leda and the Swans”)
MuzArts
Maly Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 15 and 22, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

In mid-June, Moscow’s production company MuzArts premiered the double bill Elláda at the Maly Theatre. Moscow’s local press called MuzArts’ director, Yuri Baranov, “Russia’s current top ballet producer with an excellent grasp on the global ballet scene who knows how to create ideas, discover and recruit talent, and attract sponsors,”—in short, a Diaghilev 2.0. So I was glad that MuzArts’ executive producer, Daria Faezova, sent video recordings of both performances. If a company is in the vanguard of a dance scene as vibrant as Russia’s, you won’t want to miss their productions. Continue reading “Torn Between Two”

4. August 202612. August 2026

Squandered

“Scirocco” (“Death in Venice”/“Bridge of Sighs”)
WINNDance
Teatro Malibran
Venice, Italy
August 01, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

“When if not now” (WINN) is the attitude of movers and shakers. Earlier this year, two such movers and shakers, Slava Tutukin (former soloist of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, St. Petersburg, and the Aalto Ballet, Essen) and Marijn Rademaker (choreographer and ex-principal of Stuttgart Ballet and Dutch National Ballet) founded WINNDance, a Stuttgart-based dance company for dancers forty years old and older. It attracted renowned names: People’s Artist of Russia, Diana Vishneva; the late Hans van Manen’s muse, Igone de Jongh; Hamburg Ballet’s Ivan Urban, Silvia Azzoni, and Oleksandr Ryabko; the Royal Ballet’s former principal, Mara Galeazzi; and Polina Semionova (who didn’t perform in Venice). The new enterprise includes an educational platform (WINN&Learn) and an exploratory platform for collaboration with different industries (WINNLab). Continue reading “Squandered”

29. July 20264. August 2026

A Ballet Onion

“Ma Bayadère”
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
July 24, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The pronoun Ma in Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s 2025 Ma Bayadère is a clever modification. It allows the ballet’s creator, artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot, to twist and mock Petipa’s La Bayadère with impunity while also advertising his brand. Ma Bayadère is like an onion of correlating layers. Like previous productions by Maillot, it reinterprets ballet history. Last weekend, the audience of the annual Ludwigsburg Festival had the opportunity to watch the German premiere of Ma Bayadère at the Ludwigsburg Forum.

Maillot transforms Petipa’s Indian Rajah from a palace ruler to a company’s choreographer who dances the role of the Rajah in his own La Bayadère. Niki, Gamza, and Solo are dancers of his company and prepare for the roles of the temple dancer, Nikiya, the Rajah’s daughter, Gamzatti, and the warrior, Solor, respectively. Continue reading “A Ballet Onion”

15. July 202629. July 2026

A Swansong and a Phoenix’s Rise from the Ashes

“Curtain Call”
Leonid Yacobson Ballet
Alexandrinsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia
June 01, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Few ballets have been so ingenious and gripping that I stopped taking notes so as not to miss a single moment. Vyacheslav Samodurov’s new choreography, Curtain Call, for the Leonid Yacobson Ballet, St. Petersburg, was one of them. Luckily, I received a video that I could replay.
The one-act piece premiered in early June as part of a triple bill alongside a new creation by Igor Bulytsyn’s (Bruch. Suite) and Samodurov’s 2024 award-winning 598 Beats. In mid-July, the company assembled all three pieces Samodurov has created for them so far (including the 2022 Cheeky Chastushki) in a new triple bill.

Continue reading “A Swansong and a Phoenix’s Rise from the Ashes”

10. July 202615. July 2026

Stellar

XV International Ballet Competition—Laureates’ Gala
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
July 05, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

After three rounds of competition in ten days, the XV International Ballet Competition’s jury awarded medals, certificates, and diplomas to 50 of 131 contestants. Due to the high standards, discussions to determine the laureates continued late into the night after the final round. A laureates’ gala concert concluded the competition.

Of the seven gold medals, three were awarded to competitors from the USA and the Republic of Korea and one to a Japanese dancer. Russian dancers received seventeen prizes, Chinese six, and Mongolians four. Western Europe wasn’t represented, and only a few dancers from Central Europe scored: the Swede Auguste Marmus (bronze medal men, duet), coryphée and, as of late, Kammertänzer of the Hungarian National Ballet, the Serb Jana Zimonjic (bronze medal women, solo), and the Slovene Vid Vogrin (silver medal boys, duet). What mattered, though, wasn’t nationality but talent. Continue reading “Stellar”

4. July 202610. July 2026

“It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.”

XV International Ballet Competition
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 25–July 05, 2026 (live streams)

Last week, the International Ballet Competition kicked off in Moscow for the fifteenth time since its foundation in 1969. This year, it is dedicated to Yuri Grigorovich (1927–2025), the competition’s artistic director and permanent chairman of the jury for more than half a century. His Legend of Love, performed by the Mariinsky Ballet, opened the competition.

Held every four years, the International Ballet Competition is compared to an Olympic contest in which participation is an honor. This year, a record 362 dancers from thirty-five countries applied, of whom 131 were invited to Moscow. They compete in two age categories—the junior group, ages 15-19 years, and the senior group, ages 20-27 years (many of whom are leading members of a company)—each divided into solo performances and duets. Laureates will emerge from Continue reading ““It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.””

24. June 20264. July 2026

Ambitious but Not Gripping

“Wonderland” (“Alice in Wonderland”/“Through the Looking-Glass”)
Hamburg Ballet
Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg, Germany
June 20, 2026

Compared to Alexei Ratmansky’s recent choreography, Callirhoe, for the Vienna State Ballet, his new creation, Wonderland, for the Hamburg Ballet feels empty. It combines two dance adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s most notable novels, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), each of which is presented in a one-hour act.

No doubt, the production is ambitious and elaborate. Ratmansky and his son, Vasyl, assembled different music for each of the no fewer than twenty-eight scenes, which Philip Feeney merged into a score. Erik Satie’s Three Gnossiennes, no.3, for example, lulls Alice (Olivia Betteridge) into her dream journey down the rabbit hole. Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore (amended by a cock-crow) gives the cackling animals at the Caucus race—among them a crab, mouse, dodo, and eaglet—a voice, Continue reading “Ambitious but Not Gripping”

5. June 202624. June 2026

Well on the Way

“Matinee Ballet Academy”
Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
May 31, 2026

Excitement permeated the Vienna State Opera as its auditorium filled for the Ballet Academy’s end-of-the-year performance last Sunday. One could feel the jitters of both the young artists and their families and friends who flocked to the performance. Their worries were unfounded; everything went as smoothly as could be wished.

Music by the Strauss family accompanied the opening Presentation, which assembled students of the 1.- 8. class. Its compilation of polkas, marches, gallops, and ball dances choreographed by the Academy’s director, Continue reading “Well on the Way”

4. June 20268. June 2026

Enlightening

“American Signatures”
Vienna State Ballet & Volksoper Wien
Volksoper Wien
Vienna, Austria
May 30, 2026

Of the four American choreographers included in the Vienna State Ballet’s mixed bill, American Signatures, only Jerome Robbins is well known in mainland Europe. Works by Pam Tanowitz, Lar Lubovitch, and Jessica Lang are rarely staged. Hence, I was glad to see this season’s last performance.

Robbin’s Interplay premiered in autumn 1945, shortly after World War II, as the second choreography in his oeuvre. Absolutely nothing in the piece hints at war. Instead, its eight dancers (four women and four men) portray unburdened, fun-loving youth with contagious optimism and self-assurance. A backdrop as gloriously blue as a summer sky intensifies the bright colors of the men’s shirts (with which they wear black, skintight pants and white socks) and the girls’ short dresses. Of course, they wear ponytails. The American way of living that they represent reminds me of Continue reading “Enlightening”

1. June 20269. September 2026

Cosmic Plans

“Cinderella”
Tartar State Academic Ballet
Jalil Opera and Ballet Tartar State Academic Theatre
Kazan, Russia
May 11, 2026 (video)

Romeo and Juliet is inextricably linked to Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891-1953) music, but it’s less well known that he also composed the score for Cinderella. The ballet was the Bolshoi Theatre’s first post-war world premiere in 1945. One year later, a lighter, more fairy tale-like version premiered at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). This year, Prokofiev would have celebrated his 135th birthday, and two new Cinderellas seem like respectable gifts. In mid-May, Nadezhda Kalinina’s version opened the 39th Rudolf Nureyev International Classical Ballet Festival in Kazan. Vyacheslav Lopatin’s debut choreography for his home company, the Bolshoi Ballet, followed closely on May 28th. I had the opportunity to watch a recording of Kazan’s Cinderella. Continue reading “Cosmic Plans”