George Iancu - Interview
The stars of ballet travel almost ceaselessly: Paris today, Rome or Buenos Aires tomorrow, then prepare for a new destination. Gheorghe Iancu, dancer of Romanian origin, settled in Milan 24 years ago, is one of these Guest Stars. His body's sculptural perfection, his
Cristina Hamel
I first saw Cristina Hamel when I was a petit rat and I would sneak a look at the soloists during rehearsals, crouching behind a pillar. I remember her rehearsing unrelentingly a diagonal of pirouettes that wouldn't turn out well, in Act II of Swan Lake. I was admiring
Daphnis And Chloe
The new season of the National Opera opened this autumn with a ballet made up of four choreographic pieces united under the title of the most elaborate one, Daphnis and Chloe, a production staged by Gelu Barbu, a Romanian choreographer from the Diaspora. Gelu Barbu belongs
A Continent Dreamt By An Island
A talk with Gelu Barbu Each artist who fulfils his destiny up to the zenith of glory becomes the founder of an island nostalgic about the continent. The creator does not represent a boastful, empty oneness but a world within a world. His original formula is achieved thanks
Gelu Barbu At 45 Years From The Debut
The ballet dancer who made his debut on the stage of the Kirov Theatre in Sankt Petersburg, prime ballet dancer at the Opera in Bucharest, then, after 1961, prime ballet dancer at the Norwegian Royal Opera in Oslo, decorated by King Olaf with the Constitution medal, first
Irinel Liciu - A Great Sensitivity And Its Fragility
I was touched and amazed to discover this skinny little girl, thin and long legged, who was doing her exercises in the ballet room with the concentration of a mature artist. The way she led her body had lost any trace of effort and it was describing meanings known only to
Gabriel Popescu
A superstar of Romanian ballet in its golden era, when the light coming from the East would fashion great interpreters, Gabriel Popescu began the study of dance with the maestra Floria Capsali. He was hired by the Bucharest Opera in 1948, when he was 16, and in 1949 he was
Lully
I dedicate these lines to the one we, her friends and colleagues, as well as fans, used to call – and still do – Lully. That is, Ileana Iliescu. She belongs to that pleiad of prima ballerinas who built the fame of Romanian ballet, shining from the beginning of the 1960s:
Interview With Magdalena Popa
Art critics acclaimed Magdalena Popa: She is one of the most dazzling stars of the century. She was regarded as a goddess of this art. Her small body expressed grace, a sort of ritual noblesse. Born in Bucharest, she graduated from the High School of Choreography and then
Boris Kneazev
I owe much of my setting up as an artist to Boris Kneazev as well. There’s another aspect to consider. One can work enormously in ballet and never get proper parts. Or, there’s even a more dramatic situation, when one gets these parts and realizes that one doesn’t
Anton Romanowsky
Romanowsky was active in our country after the First World War, with several interruptions. These interruptions were caused by a series of frictions with some of the managers at the Romanian Opera House. Then, between the two world wars, the social context (the economical
Interview With Ioan Tugearu About Floria Capsali
You were one of Mrs. Capsali's students and on one occasion you confessed that you could talk about her excellence for days and days. This subject captivates me, it excites me, and at the same time it moves me because it's been 50 years since I met Floria Capsali.