(by Francesca Pierleoni)
The 2018 edition of the annual dance
extravaganza Roberto Bolle and Friends premiered in Rome on
Tuesday night with a gala event hosted by the Foundation of the
Rome Opera Theater at the Terme di Caracalla.
The second and last performance in the capital is scheduled
on Wednesday night before dates in more locations across Italy.
This year the cast includes international stars Taras
Domitro and Maria Eichwald (principal guest artists; lead
dancers from La Scala in Milan, Nicoletta Manni and Timofej
Andrijashenko; Maria Kochetkova and Angelo Greco (San Francisco
Ballet), Misa Kuranaga (Boston Ballet), Osiel Gouneo
(Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich), international guest
artist Sebastian Kloborg and Tatiana Melnik (Hungarian National
Ballet in Budapest).
The event marks a successful season for Bolle.
A principal dancer at La Scala in Milan since 2004 and at the
American Ballet Theatre in New York since 2009, the 43-year-old
dancer will also star in a prime-time event broadcast by RAI1 on
January 1, after the success registered by Danza con me (Dance
with me).
The televised performance competed for the Rose d'Or award as
one of the four best shows in Europe.
The event in Rome opens with Thais, pas de deux by Roland
Petit on a music by Massenet, which Bolle performs with Maria
Eichwald.
The duo also star in 'Mono Lisa', created in 2010 by Israeli
choreographer Itzik Galili to music inspired by the sound of a
typewriter.
The event includes 'Dorian Gray' with internationally
renowned violinist and composer Alessandro Quarta with a
choreography by Massimiliano Volpini.
Bolle also performs with one of his favorite partners over
the past few years, Nicoletta Manni, a principal dancer at La
Scala, in Step addition, by choreographer and dancer Sebastian
Galter and in the closing pas de deux, the poetic Caravaggio,
choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti in which the two dancers
embody the light and truth of the bodies painted by the great
artist.
Principal dancer Timofej Andrijashenko stars in a pas de
trois 'Il Corsaro' with Misa Kuranaga and Taras Domitro in the
cult pas de deux with Bolle, Proust, ou les Intermittences du
coeur, by Petit with music by Gabriel Fauré.
Italian up-and-coming dancer Angelo Greco performs in 'Le
fiamme di Parigi' with fellow dancer in San Francisco Maria
Kochetkova and in The Nutcracker with Misa Kuranaga.
The tour Roberto Bolle & Friends will continue in Florence
(July 20), Ravenna (July 22) and Verona (July 25).
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