Durante was born in Rome and started ballet there at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma aged six. Spotted by ballerina Galina Samsova, she joined the lower school of the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in Richmond Park, London. A year later, she featured in a Thames Television documentary entitled I really want to dance. Shortly after graduating to the upper school, aged 17, she joined the Royal Ballet Company. Two years later, she attracted national attention when she took over as Odette/Odile in mid-performance, never having been taught the role.[4] At 21, she became the company's youngest principal dancer, and a year later, in 1990, she became the youngest artist to receive the Evening Standard Ballet Award.
In 1992, Durante and her fellow principal Darcey Bussell were the joint subjects of a South Bank Show documentary Two Ballerinas at the Royal Ballet (UK: Two Royal Ballet Dancers), and the following year both were invited by the New York City Ballet for the Balanchine Celebration at the New York State Theater.
In 1995, she appeared in the title role of a ninety-minute version of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, which was telecast on Great Performances by PBS during the Christmas season.[6] In 1998, Durante made a return to the Rome stage as a guest artist in Prokovsky's production of the Tchaikovsky ballet, one of many international guest appearances.
Durante appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan and Harpers and Queen magazines and was profiled in many publications including Vogue,[7]Elle, and Hello. She modelled for photographic shoots for Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino and for catwalk shows by Maison Gattinoni, and featured in commercials for Toyota.
In 1999, a disagreement between Durante and The Royal Ballet, reportedly following her request for a cast change after she was dropped by a partner, blew up into a national media storm.[8] After what the media called a 'dazzling 12-year career' as one of British ballet's major stars,[9] Durante left the company in 2001 to pursue a freelance career.[10]
Durante is a patron of The Hammond School and New English Ballet Theatre. She is a regular juror at competitions including the Prix de Lausanne and the Beijing International Ballet Competition. In 2010, a work choreographed by Durante premiered at Dance Base, Edinburgh,[11] and the same year she collaborated with Richard Eyre on a dance adaptation of the film Truly, Madly, Deeply.[12]
Durante holds diplomas in dance education from the Royal Ballet School and Trinity College, London.[13] In 2016, she returned to The Royal Ballet as a regular guest coach.[14] In 2017, she founded Viviana Durante Company which debuted with Kenneth MacMillan: Steps Back in Time at the Barbican Centre.[15] In 2020 the company premiered Isadora Now at the same venue.[16] Durante was the consultant and wrote the foreword for the 2018 DK book Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated History.[17] In 2019 she was appointed Director of Dance and in 2020 Artistic Director at English National Ballet School.[18]
Critical reviews
Critics noted Durante's combination of immaculate technique and acting ability, often describing her as a blend of Latin passion and British coolness.[19] Her Anastasia was widely appreciated, her Manon (with Russian dancer Irek Mukhamedov as Des Grieux, in particular) has been called the definitive interpretation, and the recording of her performance in The Sleeping Beauty has been perhaps most influential. Critics called her 'the most dramatic of dancers',[20] and an 'unsurpassable actress' (The Independent).[21]
Personal life
Durante married the British author and journalist Nigel Cliff in June 2009.[22] They have a son, and live in London.[23]
Awards and honours (selected)
Awarded Dancer of the Year in the UK, Japan, Italy, Chile
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.
The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Alessandra Ferri OMRI is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of prima ballerina assoluta.
Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.
Fabio Grossi is a retired Italian dancer and ballet teacher.
Lynn Seymour was a Canadian-born ballerina, mostly associated with the Royal Ballet in London. She was a muse of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, creating lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, The Invitation, Concerto, Anastasia and Mayerling, among others. She originated lead roles for several ballets by Frederick Ashton, including The Two Pigeons, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan and A Month in the Country. She also guested with various ballet companies throughout her life.
Silvia Azzoni is an Italian ballet dancer who performs at the Hamburg Ballet as a principal dancer.
Gemma Bond is an English ballet dancer and member of the corps de ballet with American Ballet Theatre (ABT).
Luciana Ravizzi is an Argentine retired ballerina who graduated from The Royal Ballet School and was a Soloist with Scottish Ballet until her retirement in 2015.
Molly Smolen is an American ballet dancer.
Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.
Susan Jaffe is an American ballet dancer and arts administrator. She is currently the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, where she had danced for 22 years and held the rank of principal dancer. She previously served as the dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the artistic director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Natalia Petrovna Osipova is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London.
Yasmine Naghdi, is a British ballerina, and a principal ballerina of The Royal Ballet, London. She joined The Royal Ballet's corps de ballet in April 2010 when she was still a Graduate student at The Royal Ballet School. She rapidly made her way up through all the five ranks of The Royal Ballet and reached the highest rank aged 24, when she was promoted to principal ballerina.
Giuseppe Picone is an Italian principal ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director of the Ballet Company of Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
José Carlos Martínez is a Spanish dancer and choreographer. He was a danseur étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet and artistic director of the Spanish National Dance Company. He became the director of dance at Paris Opera Ballet in December 2022.
Anastasia is a ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan. The first version in one act was premiered in 1967 by the Deutsche Oper Ballet. In 1971 MacMillan expanded the work to three acts for the Royal Ballet; the original one-act version became the final act of the 1971 work.
Sara Renda is an Italian classic ballet dancer, on 15 December 2015 nominated Étoile at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, one of the youngest dancers to receive this recognition.
Petra Conti is an Italian prima ballerina. She is a former principal dancer with Los Angeles Ballet, the Boston Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet.
References
↑ Rogai, Natasha (October–November 2016). "The Importance of Emotion". Dance Journal/HK. 18 (5): 16.
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