a life in dance by Giuseppe Piccone
The Neapolitan étoile tells her story in this beautiful autobiography, giving her many fans and those who love the world of dance a painting of her own life in the name of beauty.
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Page by page, he chronicles his training, his career, the meetings and the art of ballet for which he is always immersed in its dreamy and magical atmosphere.
It is clearly stated, revealing an extreme curiosity about culture, a desire to improve and experiment with new things, and a need to question oneself, knowing that true identity can only be found with patience. can only be obtained.
Spontaneous reading, never boring and full of anecdotes that continue to captivate anyone who reads it, even offstage.
At the age of nine, Giuseppe Piccone joined the ballet school of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and at the age of twelve he was chosen by Beppe Menegatti (for whom he signed the preface to this autobiography published by Formantis, 172 pages and many more With evocative images) interpret the role of the young “Nijinsky” in the synoptic ballet with Carla Frisi and Vladimir Vasiliev.
She continued her studies at the National Academy of Dance in Rome and won competitions in Rieti and Positano. At the age of sixteen he was invited by Pierre Lacotte to be a soloist in the “Ballet National de Nancy”, in which he made his debut in the role of “Petrushka” by M. Fokine, followed by “La Sonnambula” by Balanchine. , “Paquita” by Petipa and “L’ombre” by Lacotte himself.
In 1993 he was a soloist with the English National Ballet in London, with whom he remained until 1997. Soon after he joined the American Ballet Theater in New York, making his debut in Ben Stevenson’s ballet “Cinderella” and starring in Anne earned appreciation. Kiselgoff, pioneer of American dance critics.
Guest of many companies including “Royal Ballet” of London, “Staatsoper of Vienna”, “Het National” of Amsterdam, “Los Angeles Dance Theatre”, “Boston Ballet”, “Ballet National de Bordeaux”, “Bucharest National Opera” , “Ballet National of Cuba”, “Ljublana National Ballet”, “Macedonia Opera and Ballet”, “Teatro dell’Opera” of Rome, “Teatro San Carlo” of Naples (of which he would become director of the Corps de Ballet for Rome), “Arena di Verona”, “Teatro Massimo” in Palermo, also participating in international festivals and concerts. With Nina Ananyashvili, he made the world premiere of Anne Marie Holmes’ “Le Corsaire” at the Metropolitan in New York debuted, an interpretation that earned him a nomination for the International Prize in 1999.benois de la dance,
He participated in the “Nina Ananiashvili and Friends” tour and the “Gala Stars of Ballet” in Japan. Los Angeles Dance Theater director John Clifford created for him the role of Humphrey Bogart in the dance-musical “Casablanca”. To celebrate her memorable career, she was invited by Vasiliev and Maximova to a grand gala held at the Bolshoi in Moscow. She performed the main roles in the most important ballets of the academic repertoire: “Giselle” (Dean, Frasi, Judd, Mackenzie), “Swan Lake” (Nureyev, Mackenzie, Dowell, Judd), “Cinderella” (Corder , Stevenson) , “Romeo and Juliet” (Nureyev, Macmillan, Judd), “The Nutcracker” (Stevenson, Holmes, MacKenzie, Amodio, Dean), “La Bayadère” (Makarova), “Etude” (Lander), ” Onegin (Kranko) , Goethe Parisienne (Franklin), Les Patiners (Ashton), Variations for Four (Dolin), Sleeping Beauty (Hund, Macmillan, Wright), Raymonda (Gassio), Don Quixote” (Mackenzie), “Corsair” (Holmes, Khomyakov) , “The Sylphs” (Fracy).
In the neoclassical and modern repertoire he performed “Tchajkovsky Pas de Deux”, “Square Dance”, “Who Cares?”, “The Four Temperaments”, “Divertissement 15′”, “Apollo” (G. Balanchine), “Sinfonietta”. danced. (J. Killian), “Gong” (M. Morris), “Spring and Fall” (J. Neumeier), “Black Tuesday” (P. Taylor), “Known by Heart”, “Push Come to Shove”, ” Brahms Haydn Variations” (T. Tharp), “L’Arlissienne” (R. Petit), “In the Middle, Something Elevated”, “Slingerland Duo” (W. Forsythe), “Symphonic Dances” (M. Bigonzetti), “Disposition” (J. Celaya), “Homage to Miles Davis” (M. Naci), “Te Vojo Bene Asaje”, “Franca Florio”, “La Sonnambula” (L. Canito), “I Have a Dream” ( L. Cainito and M. Merola), “La primavera romana della Signora Stone” (L. Boye), “Bacchus and Ariadne” (F. Franzutti), “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “David and Apollo and Daphne” (S. ) Giannetti), “Narciso”, “Blue Moon”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Like the Leaves” (G. Garofoli), “La Lacrimosa” (C. Tancini), “Vidrunte Omnes” (L. Martorana), ” Dibbuk ” (A. Ratmansky), “Sahara”, “Bolero” (W. Mateny), “Farinelli” (A. Cuoccolo), “Death of an Innocent”, “Spartacus”, “Amadeus Mozart”, “Else Walser “, “Thais” and “Apollo Musagète” were created in 2011 with the corps de ballet. Arena di Verona (R. Zanella), “Aida” and “Macbeth” (G. Inkoo-V. Vasiliev), “The Threepenny Opera” (M. Piazza) and “Compassione” (composed in 2011 by Michele Merola for Picone Gaya) , “Verdiana” (G. Sticcia), “Minotauro” (A. Canestro), “Gran Suite Classico Verdiana” (M. Batti).
In 2005 he was the first Italian to participate in the Vienna Opera’s New Year’s concert, broadcast live on world television, where he danced to the music of Strauss’s “Blue Danube” composed by Renato Zanella.
She has danced in some events of Rai1 and Mediaset, including the “Festa della Repubblica” in 2002, the final evening of the “Festival di Sanremo” in 2009, the “Premio Caruso” in Sorrento and 2010–2012. “Concerto di New Year’s Eve from the Teatro La Fenice in Venice”. In March 2010 in New York he was the “Ambassador of Italian Dance to the World” for the “Gran Gala Tribute to a Dance Legend” (Vladimir Vasiliev), Andrea Bocelli accompanied him to Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (choreographed by invited to perform. Of. Cellini participated in the fifth edition of the concert at the Teatro del Silenzio with artists of the level of José Carreras and in December of the same year he participated in “Illuminated Night” at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa.
In the role of choreographer, Giuseppe Piccone has created three singles, “Carmina Burana”, “Adgetto”, “Homage to Verdi” and other compositions, including “Tchaikovsky Classic”, “Elegies”, “Bolero”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Nutcracker” and “Cinderella”.
In February 2011 at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Renato Zanella created for him the world premiere of “Apollo Musegatte” for the show “Homage to Stravinsky”, and in 2012 Mario Piazza assigned him the role of “Pulcinella”. He has received many prestigious awards for his talent. In 2019 he is the choreographer and principal dancer of “travita”Also a show on stage at the 99th Opera Festival 2022.
Page by page, Picone’s hard work is revealed because as he said in one of my interviews at the time “Great goals can only be achieved by work, the phrase that hard work beats talent has always been true.” Is”. Certainly in his career there has been the influence of two world giants such as Rudolf Nureyev and above all Carla Frasi, with whom he worked a lot, following an important artistic and humanitarian path that allowed him to understand the value of the artist, Which should be strong. any other aspect.
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