Roberto Bolle is returning to the role of Apollo at Milan’s La Scala, a part he first danced as a young principal and has carried throughout his career. He says he now approaches it with greater maturity. The ballet is part of a programme running from November 7 to 21 that brings together works by George Balanchine and Pina Bausch, both set to music by Igor Stravinsky.
Balanchine’s Apollo has been staged at La Scala several times since 1965. This run will feature the complete version, including Apollo’s birth and his encounters with the muses. Bolle will dance in five of the ten performances; Nicola Del Freo and Mattia Semperboni will make their debuts in the role in the remaining shows.
Nicoletta Manni, Marina Arduino and Virna Toppi return as the muses, while Alice Mariani, Gaia Andreanò and Alessia Auriemma will make their debuts. Sandra Jennings, representing the Balanchine Trust for the revival, described Apollo as one of Balanchine’s most modern ballets.
The programme also marks the first La Scala performance of Bausch’s Le sacre du printemps, created in 1975. Josephine Ann Endicott, artistic director for the Pina Bausch Foundation’s revival, said the work asks dancers to bring out something deeply human. Principal dancer Navrin Turnbull, part of the cast, recalled Bausch’s question to performers: how would they dance if they had to die?
Ido Arad will conduct the orchestra. He said that after seeing Bausch’s choreography, performing Le sacre du printemps without the ballet seemed almost senseless.
Sources: ANSA Cultura.