Monthly Archive: June 2025

Too Bad

29. June 2025

“Scheherazade”
Czech National Ballet
National Theatre
Prague, Czech Republic
June 21, 2025 (matinee)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

To be upfront, Mauro Bigonzetti’s new Scheherazade for the Czech National Ballet is no asset to its repertory. Its choreography is meager and the plot thin; the characters lack depth, and the digital set design is unconvincing.
Bigonzetti takes up the narrative thread where Fokine’s 1910 Scheherazade for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes ends. Zobeida, the favorite but unfaithful wife of Shahryar, the king of Persia, had died. Enraged about womanhood in general, Shahryar took revenge by killing every woman he slept with the morning after their first night together. Scheherazade, the clever daughter of his vizier, put a stop to the slaughter. The tales she narrated to the king each night (collected in the Middle Eastern folk tale, One Thousand and One Nights) softened him.
Bigonzetti portrayed the women in line for Shahryar, among them Scheherazade (Nana Nakagawa), who was ready to sacrifice herself. (more…)

Eerie

26. June 2025

“Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”
Laterna magika
The New Stage
Prague, Czech Republic
June 20, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

The Czech avant-garde author Vítězlav Nezval’s gothic novel, Valery and Her Week of Wonders, written in 1935 and published in 1945, has experienced a revival at home. It was first adapted for the stage in 1967, and a new production was shown in Prague only forty years later in 2008. In 2023, two Czech companies simultaneously presented stage versions of Valeria and Her Week of Wonders; the West Bohemian Theatre in Cheb (located between Karlovy Vary and the Czech/German border) and Laterna magika in Prague. I saw Laterna magika’s production.

The wonders that Nezval’s teenage heroine, Valerie, experiences during the span of one week are far from wonderful and are rather a sexually laden horror trip that torpedoes her into womanhood. Events unfold with a dream Valerie has on the night of her first menstruation. Only late in the novel does this dream verge into the realm of reality, which it soon forsakes for a Garden of Eden-like happy ending. (more…)

Prix Benois Laureates 2025

18. June 2025

Prix Benois de la Danse
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 17, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

Yesterday evening, the Prix Benois laureates were announced on the Bolshoi Theatre’s historic stage for the 33rd time.

Mthuthuzeli November won the prize for best choreography in absentia for Chapter Two, a creation for Cape Ballet Africa in South Africa. The Mariinsky Ballet’s Renata Shakirova won the best female dancer prize for her performance as Swanilda in Alexander Sergeev’s new Coppélia. Like last year, the prize for the best male dancer was awarded twice. Joshua Williams received the Prix Benois for his performance in November’s Chapter Two; Dmitry Smilevsky (Bolshoi Ballet) was awarded for his performances as Mercutio in Leonid Lavrovsky’s version of Romeo and Juliet and Prince Désiré in Yuri Grigorovich’s version of The Sleeping Beauty. (more…)

Dancer Nominees for the Prix Benois 2025

14. June 2025

Prix Benois de la Danse
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

As in 2024, the Prix Benois jury nominated thirteen dancers from eight companies for this season’s award. Of the six women and seven men, two dance in China, France, and South Africa; one dances in Kazakhstan; and six, Russia. Next Tuesday, the laureates will be announced at an award ceremony at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

Here’s a short overview of the nominees in alphabetical order by company name: (more…)

Choreographer Nominees for the Prix Benois 2025

13. June 2025

Prix Benois de la Danse
Mukaram Avakhri, Wang Ge, Thomas Lebrun, Andrey Merkuriev, Mthuthuzeli November, Alexander Sergeev
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 2025

On June 17th, the Bolshoi Theatre’s Historic Stage will host the annual Prix Benois charity gala and awards ceremony. Traditionally, laureates of previous years have performed in a gala concert on the following evening. Prizes will be awarded for the best choreographer, female dancer, and male dancer. This year’s festival will pay tribute to Yuri Grigorovich, who passed away on May 19th. Grigorovich founded the Prix Benois competition in 1991 and served as chairman of the jury, artistic director, and president.
Below is an overview of the six nominated choreographers. A report of the dancer nominees will follow. (more…)

Quarrel in Hamburg

10. June 2025

The Hamburg Ballet
Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg, Germany
June 2025

After John Neumeier handed over the artistic reins of the Hamburg Ballet to Demis Volpi, a smooth transition process seemed underway. Volpi, whose career as a dancer and choreographer began in Stuttgart, was artistic director of the Ballett am Rhein when Neumeier’s successor came into question. A selection committee of eleven (including Ted Brandsen, Dutch National Ballet; Tamas Detrich, Stuttgart Ballet; Brigitte Lefèvre, Paris Opera Ballet; and Ashley Wheater, Joeffrey Ballet) recommended Volpi to the Hamburg State Opera board of directors. As it happens, he was Neumeier’s desired candidate. In 2022, the then thirty-seven-year-old Volpi was unanimously elected as Hamburg Ballet’s new artistic director as of August 2024. (more…)