Opera Chic

Are We Humans Or Are We Dancers: Rudolf Nureyev

(Le corsaire, 1966, archivio del Teatro alla Scala)

With slick aerials that killed the stage and jumps that would make the most agile Parkour traceur blush, Rudolf Nureyev made you believe that the body was capable of flight, unburdened by its humbly-human, stiff-jointed limitations. Yesterday marked the 20th annivesary of the death of the legendary dancer. In homage to his Milan-side legacy, Teatro alla Scala curated posters, costumes and photographs of the Soviet dancer as he assemblé'd and pas de deux'd his way across Piermarini's stage, starting with his La Scala premiere in October 1965 (with Margot Fonteyn in Romeo and Juliet) through the 80s. The exhibition opened in December and runs until the end of the month at La Scala's in-house museum.

The Gr8 Nureyev -- In More Ways Than 1

We recently revisited this iconic Richard Avedon 1961 portrait of Rudolf Nureyev, in Paris, posing with nothing but two loaves of smiling bread.

ok, well, we had to alter the image to make it safe for those browsing OC from work. Or university. Or whatever puritanical prison of censorship you happen to work in. p('_')p

Tempting, isn't it...to make clicky-click? ok, enough: you serious internet business guys have been duly warned. Click link below for the NSFW [NOT SAFE FOR WORK*] (or prudes) version of Nureyev in all his glory. NSFW link here.

*webpage contains loads of gorgeous male nudity...yay for that.

Before I Drop Into Bed: La Bella Addormentata Recap

Opera Chic survived two intermissions and emerged tonight into the humid Milan air a full three hours & fifteen minutes after the eight-o’clock la prima of La bella addormentata nel bosco at Teatro alla Scala. (was that even a sentence?!)

Ballerina Svetlana Zakharova made us for a moment forget that we were crammed in a palco in the middle of a historical theater in a boisterous city in Europe. Zakharova flawlessly pranced through her steps as Princess Aurora, taunting years of practice and devotion into something transcendent. When after pricking her finger on a hidden spindle lurking in a bouquet of flowers, she faded-out like something truly ephemeral. When she was given the kiss to breathe back life, she flourished like a flower in the sunlight. She’s beautiful, tall, and was in perfect control. Prince Desire’s (lamest name ever) Denis Matvienko was solid, elegant, and provided perfect accompaniment.

Sets were indeed reminiscent of Versailles, and each scene was a variation on a receiving court of a royal château. Costumes were of shiny, luxurious, and luminous textiles. Tutus were classical with gorgeous beads and embroidered bodices, all finished with gorgeous tiaras and headpieces.

Tchaikovsky’s score is for OC pretty lame, unfortunately, and didn’t elicit an ounce of resonance throughout the entire work. An aberration of the evening was the over-implementation of dry ice to create the water effect in which prince and princess take a pass in a boat. The excess vapor poured into the orchestra pit, blanketing two very hawt clarinetists, upsetting the harpist, bass clarinet, and oboe section. damn. But at least it called into play the hotness of the clarinet players. Shoot. Bonus: during the first intermission, there was a personality interviewing some of the omnipresent Milanese royalty in the lobby. Picture below:

   

Maybe more tomorrow? Maybe not. We’ll see. l8r gators.

Svetlana Zakharova Talks to Corriere

A piece from today's Corriere shares an interview with pretty pony ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, tonight starring in the premier of La bella addormentata nel bosco at Teatro alla Scala.

The twenty-eight-year-old Ukrainian-born dancer's father is a retired member of Red Army, which is pretty freaking, um, hardcore. She is concurrently in Milan with the Bolshoi Theatre's tour, interpreting Pierre Lacotte's (music by Cesare Pugni) La Fille du Pharaon at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi with 119 other Bolshoi ballerini. She describes how impressed she was with a certain Milanese tailor that she sampled while here in the city, how her mother pushed her into dancing, how dancing on stage is completely natural to her, and how she wouldn't demand ballerina offspring when she decides to have a family. She also tells Corriere that she hopes her Bolshoi colleagues do not show up at the theater tonight to see her dance, as today is their last day to go shopping and relax before leaving, and she rather see them take advantage of those things.

Rudolf Nureyev's La Bella Addormentata @ La Scala

Tonight La Scala hosts the premiere of La bella addormentata nel bosco, and Opera Chic, of course, must be there. The Sleeping Beauty (lol of the Wood lol) is based on the fairytale of the same name in Perrault's ubiquitous "Mother Goose Tales" from the seventeenth century. Here we are dealing with good & bad fairies, princes and ogres.

It is a ballet near and dear to the heart of La Scala (and one that Nureyev himself called “the apex of classical ballet”), as it was here in Milan in 1966 that Rudolf Nureyev himself took to the stage in his Western Hemisphere world premier, dancing the title role (having previously danced it at the Kirov in Leningrad during the late 1950s).

This rich ballet premiered in 1890 in Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. Set to Tchaikovsky's Opus 66, it became his first big success (Swan Lake apparently was sort of a snoozer). The choreography was set by Marius Petipa, which Rudolf Nureyev later took great inspiration in his subsequent version, while giving it a new theatrical and dramatic impulse.

Tonight's production is of La Scala's and Rudolf Nureyev’s choreography, last seen during the La Scala 2001/2 season, which was also the last show at the opera house before the transfer was made to Teatro degli Arcimboldi. The 1993 Franca Squarcipino sets and costumes will be implemented, which sets the tale in a lavish and opulent background, inspired by Versailles.

At a hefty three hours and fifteen minutes, with a prologue and three acts, this may be my undoing. Make sure to check in later tonight for a trip report!