Cipriani, my grand finale at the Ravenna Festival

(by Marzia Apice) With a "unique and unrepeatable evening, for what I hope will be not a farewell, but a see you later," Daniele Cipriani will put his long-standing and fruitful collaboration with the Ravenna Festival on hold, in preparation for his upcoming professional engagement as the new artistic director of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. The 2025 edition of the event, directed by Franco Masotti and Angelo Nicastro, will close with his "Les Étoiles pour homme," an international dance gala featuring an all-male cast, taking place at the Pala De André on Sunday, July 13th at 9:30 pm. This exclusive show, "perhaps my last Les Étoiles in Ravenna," says the dance expert and manager in an interview with ANSA, "will feature an exclusively male focus, starting with historical figures such as Baryshnikov and Nureyev, and extending to contemporary creations." For the audience, an evening in which beauty will be synonymous with strength and lightness fused together, in a veritable parade of talents (such as Sergio Bernal, Davide Dato of the Vienna State Opera, Lloyd Knight of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Matteo Miccini and David Moore of the Stuttgart Ballet, dance poets Sasha Riva and Simone Repele, as well as the "divine" Tatiana Youbetyabootskaya, born Andrea Fabbri, of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte-Carlo) who will perform a heterogeneous repertoire, uniting the past and present of dance. A special edition, therefore, almost a response to the great choreographer George Balanchine, who maintained that "ballet is a woman": "As stars of the caliber of Bolle and Bernal demonstrate, over the years the male figure in dance has changed: the dancer is no longer simply the woman's porteur, but is central," explains Cipriani, harking back with the affectation 'pour homme' in the title to the legendary "Marilyn Monroe who said that a woman is remembered by her perfume." On Sunday evening, therefore, the audience at the Ravenna Festival will be inundated with the rarest bouquets, all different: Lloyd Knight, one of the greatest interpreters of Martha Graham's repertoire, will dance the famous piece "Lamentation," which the mother of modern dance created for herself and which until now has been performed primarily by women; Knight will also take on the European premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Complete the Revolution solo; Matteo Miccini and David Moore will star in Le chant du compagnon errant, a ballet by Maurice Béjart based on a Mahler Lied, and Riva & Repele will perform their own choreographies—a European premiere, Life Is Beautiful, and The White Pas de Deux, a custom-made creation based on the "White Swan" pas de deux from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake—while Sergio Bernal, a unique flamenco bailaor and bailarínclassico, will bring the primordial vigor of Iberian dance to Ravenna in Farruca a dos, accompanied by Daniel Jurado on guitar (the piece is a world premiere), along with Rodin: the thinker, a solo inspired by the French artist's iconic work. "Never before have we needed not only beauty but also lightness," he continues, "which is why the Gala will close with Youbetyabootskaya/Fabbri, the only Italian dancer from the troupe en travesti, in a parody of Mikhail Fokine's The Dying Swan: her performance will be a battered swan, losing its feathers." The evening will also feature performances by dancers from the MM Contemporary Dance Company (Lorenzo Fiorito, Mario Genovese, Nicola Stasi, Giuseppe Villarosa), and, for the live music that will characterize some moments of the show, Andrea Obiso, first violin of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, cellist Alessio Pianelli, and guitarist Daniel Jurado. It's often been said that dance seems a step behind the other arts: is that still the case? "Never before has the Ministry of Culture paid so much attention to the world of dance," Cipriani continues. "For example, in the last two years, the percentage of FUS funding for dance has been increased, and the star Eleonora Abbagnato was appointed President of the Higher Council of Entertainment. The choice of me as the new artistic director of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto also goes in this direction." In this regard, how do you comment on your appointment? "For now, I can only say that I am very pleased. I'm sorry to have to put my collaboration with the Ravenna Festival on hold, which has two extraordinary artistic directors and an incredible staff. But it will be a goodbye."