Tag Archive: Mauro Bigonzetti

Too Bad

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

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu 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.
3. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu 2. G.Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu Ambiguous movements made it difficult to discern their natures. Elegant and spiky sequences seemed to alternate randomly, flexed feet spoiled the lines, and hips gyrated but weren’t enticing. Little of these modern Orientals radiated beauty. Panels of rippling silky fabric (hanging from above like curtains and, later, symbolizing a connective bond between the women) and shawls that fluttered through the air in a ribbon-like dance distracted the eye from the limited choreography.
Video projections by OOOPSudio transported the audience into Shahryar’s (Giovanni Rotolo’s) palace, through whose hall snappy court society darted, either hopping on both feet or turning pirouettes.
4. G.Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu 5. G.Rotolo (Shahryar) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu Shahryar’s characterization was blunt. A silent darkness represented his mental state; a stiff, pompous cloak closed with a grid collar (costumes by Anna Biagiotti) either imprisoned or protected him. Even after slipping out of it, he remained static and brooding. The knife in his overly beringed hand was connected to the huge splashes of blood on the backdrop. Suddenly, the seductive violin melody of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade composition began to sing. It sounded out of place, like a far cry from cultured times. The violin accompanied the king as he entered a glass dome reminiscent of a space travel command center. He threw himself to the floor, ready to beat himself, but instead his movements alternated between sharp jerks and freezing.
7. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu6. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.GherciuHeavy yellow smoke billowed in a video as the scene changed to a vaulted oriental hall, photos of which lined the backdrop. In each photo, the hall glowed as if burning hot. From there, two men dragged Scheherazade to the king. Although she was resolved to become his next lover, she fought her captors and flailed her legs while being carried past a blood-smeared wall. Her fate seemed to be part of the assembly line of women that Shahryar’s men delivered to him. Each woman was thrown, thrashing, into Shahryar’s arms, whose brief yank broke their necks. Shahryar dragged one woman across the floor like slain game and overstretched her leg as if to tear it out before strangling her. He then flung his coat off and screamed, which brought Rimsky-Korsakov’s music to a sudden halt.
8. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu 9. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and G.Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.GherciuScheherazade walked for a long time between the corpses, which, after some time, came to life. To prepare herself for her encounter with Shahryar, she gave her headdress and jewelry to other women and, for some reason, pulled red ribbon from her mouth. After cutting a lock of her hair, she thrust Shahryar’s knife into the floor. The firestorm raging behind her indicated that the story was close to its climax. Although nothing in Scheherazade’s appearance indicated any special power, Shahryar backed off the moment she approached him. She immediately dominated him and stood on his chest, pushed him around, and flew into his arms like a redeeming dove. Chastening him was easier than previously thought. The violin played at a high pitch as Shahryar knelt on the floor, his bare chest bent back toward the audience, and his gaze lost.

Václav Zahradník and the orchestra of the National Theatre did their accompaniment for Rimsky-Korsakov’s iridescent Scheherazade score (to which Bigonzetti added Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sinfonietta on Russian Themes). Yet its allure suffered from the gloom onstage.
10. N.Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and G.Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by M.Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025 © S.Gherciu

Links: Website of the Czech National Theatre
“Scheherazade” – The Making Of
“Scheherazade” – Trailer
Photos: 1. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade), Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
2. Giovanni Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
3. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
4. Giovanni Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
5. Giovanni Rotolo (Shahryar) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
6. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
7. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
8. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and ensemble, “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
9. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and Giovanni Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
10. Nana Nakagawa (Scheherazade) and Giovanni Rotolo (Shahryar), “Scheherazade” by Mauro Bigonzetti, Czech National Ballet 2025
all photos © Serghei Gherciu
Editing: Kayla Kauffman

 

Much Hot Air

“FireWorks”
Gauthier Dance
Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
April 30, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Hold me Now” by D.Dumais, Gauthier Dance 2025 © J.Bak Gauthier Dance’s latest program, FireWorks, is an homage to the Theaterhaus Stuttgart, its home since the company’s foundation in 2007. This year, the Theaterhaus celebrates its fortieth anniversary. In honor of the occasion, the company’s director, Eric Gauthier, selected forty short pieces of music performed at the Theaterhaus over the past decades and asked ten choreographers (among them long-term collaborators) to choose one for a new piece for FireWorks.
A born entertainer, Gauthier introduced the program on opening night, welcomed some choreographers, and, in doing so, put the audience in a celebratory mood.

The company’s sixteen dancers sat on chairs lined along the wings with a red carpet between them. As they acted like an onstage audience, a trumpet solo signaled something big to come. It belonged to Ciocârliǎ și suite by Fanfare Ciocǎrlia to which the troupe’s artist in residence, Barak Marshall, created The Gathering, an assembly of athletic and showy solos and partner dances during which the dancers roared and cheered each other. (more…)

Style Over Substance

Modanse”
Svetlana Zakharova Evening

Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
October 31, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

1. S.Zakharova, “Come un respiro” by M.Bigonzetti; Svetlana Zakharova Evening, MuzArts 2023 © A.Stepanov The title “Modanse” sounds like an à la mode ballet – classy, extravagant, and fashionable. It belongs to a double bill featuring the Bolshoi Ballet’s prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova. The external production includes dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet’s roster, and since 2019 has guested regularly on the Bolshoi Theatre’s stage and abroad.

As a seasoned artist, Zakharova must have an instinct about what suits her on stage. Hence I’m flabbergasted that she has kept Mauro Bigonzetti’s “Come un respiro” (“Like a Breath”) in the program. The 2009 creation, of which Zakharova acquired a reworked version, is ill-suited to make her and her co-dancers (among them Anastasia Stashkevich, Ana Turazashvili, Mikhail Lobukhin, Vyacheslav Lopatin, and Denis Savin) look good. Moreover, its succession of bland solos, pas de deux, and group dances fails to excite. (more…)

Happy Eightieth!

“Egon Madsen 80”
Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
September 28, 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. E.Madsen, “Egon Madsen 80”, Theaterhaus Stuttgart 2022 © J.BakEgon Madsen has been a foundational figure in Stuttgart’s ballet and theater world for close to his entire career. He gave his stage debut at the young age of ten in a children’s ballet in his home country of Denmark. Nine years later (in 1961) he joined the Stuttgart Ballet under the newly appointed John Cranko. Key roles in Cranko’s signature pieces were choreographed on Madsen during a period dubbed the “Stuttgart Ballet Miracle”. After Cranko’s death, Madsen stayed with the Stuttgart Ballet until 1981. In the years that followed, he helmed several companies (the Frankfurt Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, and the Ballet of the Teatro Communale/Florence) before becoming Marcia Haydée’s assistant director at Stuttgart and serving as ballet master in Stuttgart and Leipzig. In 1999 – at age fifty-seven – he returned to the stage with Nederlands Dans Theater’s NDT III. He also served as the troupe’s teacher and rehearsal director until it disbanded in 2006. One year later, Madsen returned to Stuttgart as a driving force behind Eric Gauthier’s newly established Gauthier Dance Company at the Theaterhaus. In addition to dancing in numerous Theaterhaus productions (most recently “Greyhounds” in 2015), Madsen also coached and trained the dancers. Since 2014, he has forayed into play-acting; his solo evening “King Lear”, choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti, can be seen at the Theaterhaus for a final time this November. (more…)

Done For Reid

Stuttgart Ballet’s Festival Weeks: “Gala”
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart State Opera
Stuttgart, Germany
July 24, 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

1. R.Anderson, guests and ensemble,”Stuttgart Ballet Gala” © Stuttgart Ballet 2016Not even a quarter of the way into Reid Anderson’s twentieth jubilee gala, this leader of the Stuttgart Ballet confided to the audience that “We’re both done for and, by the way, I’m a bit gaga.” By “we” he meant himself and Tamas Detrich, his Associate Artistic Director. Detrich, though, will take charge after the 2017/18 season. What was going on ? (more…)

The Talent Scout

Stuttgart Ballet’s Festival Weeks: “Sketches”
Stuttgart Ballet
Kammertheater Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
July 17, 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

1. A.Osadcenko and J.Reilly, “Delta Inserts” by K.O'Day, Stuttgart Ballet © Stuttgart Ballet 20162. A.Osadcenko and J.Reilly, “Delta Inserts” by K.O'Day, Stuttgart Ballet © Stuttgart Ballet 2016In Stuttgart the ballet season reached its climax this July. Reid Anderson’s twentieth jubilee as artistic director is being celebrated with a vast program of extras for three weeks. On July 3rd he had allowed insight into his life and career in the talk “Everything you Always wanted to Know…”. The film documentation “Miracles and Superheroes – 55 Years Stuttgart Ballet” received its cinema premiere on July 15th. It was broadcast on television on July 20th. (more…)

La Scala’s Tasteless New “Cinderella”

“Cinderella”
Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
January 15, 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

1. A.Albano, D.Gazzo and V.Toppi, “Cinderella” by M.Bigonzetti, Ballet Company of Teatro alla ScalaLast Friday a huge crowd queued up in front of La Scala, eagerly waiting to gain entry for Mauro Bigonzetti’s new “Cinderella”. Just ten minutes before the performance was to begin did things finally get going. Passing policemen, who lined the entrance area, people hurried to their seats. Only a few minutes late the curtain went up.
What had happened? The police had decided to do bag checks but, having started much too late, necessarily had to stop to not overly delay the performance. Later, the young Italian woman sitting next to me told me that “Italians already feel safe when police are within sight.” (more…)

Give it Another Shot

“Greyhounds”
Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
November 04, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

1. J.Krämer, M.Kruuse, E.Madsen and T.Lempertz, “Greyhounds” by E.Madsen, photo: R.BrockeThe four dancers of Egon Madsen’s “Greyhounds” compare their careers to long-distance journeys with various stopovers. Although this is not quite correct. Only two protagonists are indeed gray-haired veterans of the dance floor, Marianne Kruuse and Madsen himself. Both are in their seventies. The quartet’s other two, Julia Krämer and Thomas Lempertz, bid their farewell to Stuttgart Ballet’s stage only around ten years ago: Krämer was principal, Lempertz first soloist. The current get-together of the four at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart was initiated by Madsen, a formative dancer of Stuttgart Ballet under Cranko’s reign.

From 1981 on, he was director of Frankfurt Ballet followed by directorships in Stockholm, Florence, and at the Nederlands Dans Theater III (NDT III). Madsen’s affinity to dance never stopped. He is closely connected with Stuttgart’s Gauthier Dance Company and a respected figure in the city’s dance scene. (more…)

Who’s as Big?

“Made in Germany”
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Schauspielhaus
Stuttgart, Germany
October 10, 2013

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2013 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Constantine Allen in Fancy Goods by Marco Goecke, Stuttgart Ballet 2013, photo Stuttgart BalletOnce upon a time the label “Made in Germany” conveyed craftsmanship and reliability. Innovation, novelty and experimentation weren’t features associated with this phrase in any primary way. Now, Stuttgart Ballet has proven the opposite. “Made in Germany” is the ever so self-confident title of the company’s new ballet program which premiered earlier this month. A mixed bill of twelve little pieces, specially created for the dancers of Stuttgart Ballet by nine choreographers, it serves as nibbles for various tastes. In addition to these miniatures, a vast number of works have been made for the company since Reid Anderson’s directorship began in 1996: more than eighty, seven of them program-filling story ballets. Where else can one find such fertile creativity alongside the careful guardianship of tradition?

Crucial for spotting new choreographic talent is Stuttgart’s Noverre Society. Founded during Cranko’s era, it annually gives as yet unknown choreographers the opportunity to show their creations to an audience. For six of the current evening’s choreographers the Noverre presentations were the doorway to the big stages for which they have subsequently been making work. (more…)