Lusymay Di Stefano and Claudio Coviello in Romeo and Juliet balcony scene

Lusymay Di Stefano and Claudio Coviello in Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, music by Sergei Prokofiev, choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Gala des Etoiles 2015, Juwelen des Welballetts, shot on 15.th and 16th of May 2015 in Grand Théâtre Luxembourg.

 

 

Lusymay Di Stefano is member of corps de ballet with Teatro alla Scala Ballet company.

Claudio Coviello is Principal with La Scala Ballet.

MacMillan’s first full-length, three-act ballet, Romeo and Juliet (1965), to Prokofiev’s score, was choreographed for Seymour and Christopher Gable, but at Webster’s insistence the gala premiere was danced by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. The decision was made for commercial rather than artistic reasons: Fonteyn and Nureyev were internationally known stars and guaranteed a full house at premium prices, as well as huge publicity. In Parry’s words, MacMillan and his two chosen dancers felt betrayed.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929 – 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992. From a family with no background of ballet or music, MacMillan was determined from an early age to become a dancer. The director of Sadler’s Wells Ballet, Ninette de Valois, accepted him as a student and then a member of her company. In the late 1940s, MacMillan built a successful career as a dancer, but, plagued by stage fright, he abandoned it while still in his twenties. After this he worked entirely as a choreographer; he created ten full-length ballets and more than fifty one-act pieces. In addition to his work for ballet companies he was active in television, musicals, non-musical drama, and opera.

 

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, special thanks to Georges Richette and Natascha Ipatova.