The main curiosity surrounding the return to La Scala of Roland Petit’s ballet Notre-Dame de Paris was how cover-boy-ballerino Roberto Bolle could handle the role of the hunchback Quasimodo; as he said himself “it’s the first time I haven’t played il bello”.
Well, he comes out of it very well, maybe he’s not a dancer-actor like a Nicolas Le Riche, but he is convincing and executes the choreography superbly. But he was only one of four superb interpreters, and the dancer who stirred most curiosity amongst ballet fans was Natalia Osipova.
In this theatre she has only been seen in the role of Kitri, and the backstage buzz has been why a virtuoso like Osipova has been chosen this season to play both Esmeralda and Manon. Those of us who have seen her Sylphide and Juliet knew already that La Scala was making a smart move by bringing her to Milan’s opera house in a new repertory.
Her Esmeralda is a triumph. Her leaps and laser-sharp leg movements we can, for now, take for granted, but she can be extraordinarily delicate and sinuous in her movements, and demonstrated a beautiful fluid cambre as she was manipulated beneath the gaze of Frollo in their pas de deux.… [continue reading]
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