<<  -- 2 --  Bill Newman    CELEBRATORY PARADE

9. Ballet spectacle

'International Dance Marathon', created by Alberto Testa with the collaboration of Daniel Cipriani and Paola Tenaglia was staged, once more in front of the Duomo. I watched dancers rehearse Nuages by Debussy way past midnight against an ultra violet light setting.

Ballet, as always is one of the most popular of art forms, and two differently chosen programmes were selected for following nights, each featuring eight numbers apiece. It featured a fusion of music from two centuries -- besides Debussy, other composers included Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Willems, Brel, Adam, Einach, Gottschalk/Kay for the second showing.

With a combination of dancers from America, Denmark, Italy, France, Canada, Austria, Japan and Russia, you can imagine the excitement engendered with the most enthusiastic audience. Stagings were simple but made theatrical sense. A pity that no one could afford to employ a live orchestra. CDs were relayed through loudspeakers instead.

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