Viviana Durante

Viviana Durante (born 8 May, 1967) is an Italian-born English prima ballerina who is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest and most dramatic ballerinas of her time. She was formerly a much beloved principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, an internationally renowned classical ballet company based in London.

Career

Early years

Durante was born in Rome and started ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma aged 8. Spotted by ballerina Galina Samsova, at age 10 she joined the Lower School of the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in Richmond Park, London. A year later she was the subject of a Thames Television documentary entitled I really want to dance. In 1983 she graduated to the Upper School, but within a year, aged 17, she was invited to join the Royal Ballet Company. At 19 she was promoted to Soloist and at 21 she became Principal Dancer.

Royal Ballet Company

At the Royal Ballet Durante danced all the main roles in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan (Manon, Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, Different Drummers, My Brother, My Sisters, Requiem, Elite Syncopations, Gloria and Anastasia, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award), Sir Frederick Ashton (Cinderella, La Fille mal gardée, Rhapsody, Ondine, A Month in the Country, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Symphonic Variations, Les Patineurs, Birthday Offering, Thaïs pas de deux), Bronislava Nijinska (Les Biches) and from the classical repertory (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Raymonda, Diana and Actaeon, Sylvia pas de deux).

She created roles in MacMillan's Judas Tree and Winter Dreams (based on Chekhov’s Three Sisters), in Ashley Page's Cheating, Lying, Stealing and ...Now Languorous, Now Wild..., in David Bintley's Tombeaux and in Amedeo Amodio's Cabiria.

Among other ballets, she has also appeared in Bintley's Cyrano de Bergerac, in Balanchine's Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Who Cares? and Symphony in C, in Nureyev's Laurentia, in Uwe Scholz's The Red and the Black, in Roland Petit's Coppelia, Carmen and Duke Ellington Ballet and in André Prokovsky's Anna Karenina.

In 1992 Durante and her fellow principal Darcey Bussell were the subjects of a South Bank Show documentary entitled Two ballerinas at the Royal Ballet and, the following year, they were both invited by the New York City Ballet for the Balanchine Celebration at the New York State Theatre.

In 1998 Durante made a successful return to Rome, on the stage of the Teatro dell'Opera, as a Guest Artist in Prokovsky's Sleeping Beauty.

In 1999 a disagreement between Durante and the Royal Ballet, beginning when she was reportedly dropped by a fellow dancer, blew up into a national media storm. After what the media called a 'dazzling 12-year career' as one of the British ballet's major stars, Durante left the company soon after.

Subsequent career

After leaving the Royal Ballet, Durante joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer for the 1999 spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City. She has subsequently appeared as a Principal Guest Artist with major international ballet companies including La Scala Milan, Tokyo Ballet, Dresden SemperOper Ballet and, since 2003, K-Ballet, founded by fellow Royal Ballet alumnus Tetsuya Kumakawa.

Durante has appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine and has been the subject of profiles in Vogue, Harpers and Queen, Elle and many other publications. She has modelled for photographic shoots for Karl Lagerfeld and for catwalk shows by Maison Gattinoni.

She has also appeared in several plays and films.

Critical opinion

Critics have focussed on Durante's combination of outstanding technical skill, striking acting ability and Latin passion. Her Manon has been labelled the definitive interpretation of her generation (with Russian dancer Irek Mukhamedov as Des Grieux, in particular), and she has been called 'the most dramatic of dancers.' On her return to the London stage in 2008, critics called her a 'legendary communicator' who 'showed she is still a smouldering magnet of a performer on stage.'

Personal life

Durante is married to the British author and journalist Nigel Cliff and after a number of years living in Italy and Japan now lives in London.

Awards (selected)

• 2007 Premio Apulia
• 2006 Premio Bucchi
• 2003 Premio Vignale danza
• 2002 Premio Positano
• 1997 Premio Internazionale “Gino Tani” per le Arti dello Spettacolo, Rome
• 1997 Laurence Olivier Award (nominated for Anastasia)
• 1991 Premio Positano
• 1989 Evening Standard Award
• 1989 Time Out Award
• 1984 Prix de Lausanne
• Awarded Dancer of the Year in the UK, Japan, Italy, Chile.

Film and Theatre

• 2009 Lullaby Burn (monologue with dance written by Simon Stephens, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London)
• 2008 Fram (new play written by Tony Harrison, Royal National Theatre, London)
• 2007 Escaping Hamlet (play at Edinburgh Festival dir. Gianpiero Borgia)
• 2002 Ogni 27 Agosto (film dir. Antonio Serrano)

Filmography

• 2003 Swan Lake (K-Ballet)
• 2003 The Sleeping Beauty (K-Ballet)
• 2002 Giselle (K-Ballet)
• 2000 Carmen (K-Ballet)
• 1994 Mayerling (Royal Ballet)
• 1994 Winter Dreams (Royal Ballet)
• 1994 The Sleeping Beauty (Royal Ballet)
• 1990 Die Fledermaus (Royal Opera House)

External links

• Viviana Durante Official Website