Ballerina Natalia Osipova and the legacy of Amy Winehouse By Mary Brennan

Photo Credit: Nikolai Gulakov

FOR THOUSANDS of ballet fans worldwide, the name Natalia Osipova is linked, indelibly, in their hearts and minds with one talismanic, classic role: Giselle. Choreographer Arthur Pita had another haunted persona in mind, however, when Osipova tasked him with creating a new work for the triple bill of contemporary pieces she’ll be performing as part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s dance programme. His inspiration? “Amy Winehouse – and then, because of her album Back to Black, the 60’s girl group The Shangri-Las.” Pita cites those charismatic singers as the starting point for Run Mary Run, his one-act duet for Osipova and her partner (off-stage as well as on) Sergei Polunin. If this sounds like left-field thinking with a retro hair style, Pita provides persuasive reasons for putting one of the ballet world’s most luminous stars in a garishly red beehive wig and the other, Polunin, in the archetypal “rebel boy” uniform of white t-shirt, blue jeans, black leather jacket. “Natalia wanted a piece with narrative and character,” he explains. “And that is quite a challenge when you only have two people on-stage – there are no other characters for them to react to. So you have to find a structure that is really all about their relationship. And make it interesting for audiences to watch, as well as for them to dance. I decided that maybe we should go backwards – start with the end of their lives, with death, and then travel back, bit by bit, to the moment when they met as teenagers, and it was absolutely love at first sight.” Mutual attraction doesn’t necessarily produce happy endings. Pita had seen a documentary about Amy Winehouse, and had been struck by aspects of her relationship with (her then husband) Blake Fielder-Civil. “I’d always loved her as a singer, I had all her music, I loved her persona,” he says, “but I’d come to feel there was something disturbing about her intensity towards him and about how she’d come off-stage, see him in the wings and just immediately latch onto his arm, as if glued there. And how he would guide her away, take charge almost. I thought that could translate into a choreography tinged with ownership and obsession. Then, thinking about how the Shangri-Las had inspired Amy’s album Back to Black – and listening to their music, and to the lyrics especially – I realised just how dramatic their songs were. People used to refer to them as ‘splatter platters’ because they were full of death and teenage heart-break. It all seemed very Amy...” Would it turn out to be very Natalia? By the time Osipova and Polunin walked into the rehearsal studio, Pita had a scenario in mind – and a sheaf of translations in his hand so that Osipova could understand exactly what the Shangri-Las were describing in the lyrics of Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand) or Dressed in Black or Past, Present and Future, songs he wanted woven into the soundtrack for his choreography. There’s a smile in his voice as recalls how Osipova “completely bought into the rhythms of the music, the dramas in it – and I think, too, that she really connected with the sad voice of Mary Weiss. It was as if she could already feel the character I was looking for. She knows these stories of love, loss, death, the after-life from the great classic roles she has made her own – Giselle, most especially. So give her a story like that, with all the little packages of emotion in it – she will just open them up and devour them, connect with them, then act them so beautifully and with such honesty.” Off-stage there is no pretence whatsoever: Osipova and Polunin are a real-life couple, their romance and relationship a source of fascination and curiosity for press and ballet fans alike. So who played Cupid? You could say Giselle did. In March 2015, Osipova was preparing to dance the role in Milan when, for various reasons, she found herself without an Albrecht. It was her mother, miles away in Moscow, who suggested that Polunin might be a suitable partner – yes, there was his “bad boy” reputation, but his talent as a dancer was never in question. An e-mail exchange later, the pair were behind closed doors, rehearsing the most romantic ballet in the classical repertoire and falling in love themselves – though not going public about their private partnership until later that year. They are now dancing together in two of the three pieces in the EIF hot ticket, Natalia Osipova and Guests – the other guests include the choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Russell Maliphant. Osipova, determined to explore new dance directions, had requested their works to be off-pointe and contemporary in technique and movement vocabulary. For Cherkaoui, this translated into a trio, Qutb (Arabic for axis or pivot) where Osipova is flanked by two male dancers in what often looks like a ritual exploration of stamina, strength and inter-dependent physicality. Sufi chants rise like incense, Osipova’s curving back-bends are breath-taking while the men – James O’Hara and Jason Kittlberger – bring a supportive muscularity to Cherkaoui’s sculptural shapes. Maliphant – unlike Cherkaoui and Pita – had never worked with Osipova before, but in Silent Echo he surely acknowledges the balletic training that informs her body as he sets up crossover points between classical and contemporary lines. Nor can he ignore Polunin’s fabulous, soaring jump. So even as Scanner’s multi-layered, technology-infused soundscape is insisting on modernity, there is still a sense of traditional pas-de-deux structure in the interactions that emerge within the moods and spaces defined by Michael Hulls’s lighting design. Run Mary Run is the end piece that catapults dance-drama into another dimension and yet, as Pita fully intended, the dark twists and quirky absurdities in his girl-meets-boy, girl-loses-boy story-line allow Osipova and Polunin to break out – be characters who walk, jive, smooch and rock on an 1960’s wild side, regardless of the risks and consequences. “Natalia has done so many Giselles, Swan Lakes, Don Q’s – all the big classic roles – over and over, and now she wants to push towards something new,” says Pita. “When we were talking about her doing contemporary dance, she said she wants to do it while her body can explore it quite freely.” Osipova at 30 is surely in her artistic prime, both technically and in expressive interpretation. Isn’t it too early for her to come off pointe, get grounded in contemporary? “It’s about adding knowledge and experience,” says Pita who has done something similar by working across genres, creating work for children, choreographing abstract contemporary pieces and classical ballet narratives for companies on both sides of the Atlantic. “Natalia wanted new challenges. Run Mary Run asked her to explore a completely different character from the one in Facada, an earlier piece we did together, where she was a vengeful bride who kills her faithless fiancé and dances on his grave. This narrative is about a love that exists even in the grave, but I don’t want to give too much away!” He clearly enjoys working with Osipova, and now Polunin, but admits there are challenges for him too. “You can never forget that these ballet dancers are already stars – and that audiences have come to see them and the moment when Sergei jumps, when Natalia jumps. And to see them expressing romance and tenderness, because the audience knows they are a real-life couple. I don’t think you can ignore that, but at the same time you have to bring your own ideas, your own voice to the choreography.” Not just his voice, but that of the Shangri-Las and the teenage angst they captured on 60’s vinyl. Natalia Osipova and Guests is at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh from today to Sunday. [August 12-14] www.eif.co.uk Herald Scotland Edinburgh International Festival

PEN/Nabokov award relaunched to promote 'global voices' in US By Alison Flood

The $50,000 prize will honour a living international author whose work is ‘of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship’. A new $50,000 (£38,500) literary prize for international authors, intended to recognise the “spirit of Vladimir Nabokov” and described as “a welcome counterbalance to rampant xenophobia and increasingly jingoistic provincialism”, is being launched in the US. The PEN/Nabokov award, supported by the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, replaces another award with the same name but a different remit. It will go to a writer born or residing outside the US, either writing in or translated into English to honour “an outstanding body of work over a sustained career”. PEN America said on Thursday that the prize’s judges would be looking for a writer in the field of nonfiction, poetry, drama or fiction whose body of work “evoke[s] to some measure Nabokov’s brilliant versatility and commitment to literature as a search for the deepest truth and the highest pleasure”. The PEN/Nabokov prize was previously worth $20,000, and took a less international focus, looking for a “living author whose body of work, either written in or translated into English, is of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship”. Its winners included Philip Roth, Mario Vargas Llosa and Cynthia Ozick, but it has not been awarded since 2008. The new version of the award is the first PEN America prize to specifically focus on international writers, said PEN America president Andrew Solomon. “At a time when there is too little dialogue between nations, it will draw attention to outstanding global voices that may be unknown to most US readers,” said Solomon. “It is a welcome counterbalance to rampant xenophobia and increasingly jingoistic provincialism. In renewing our close collaboration with the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, PEN America pays tribute to the cross-cultural legacy of one of the most revered multinational PEN members, a master of storytelling: Vladimir Nabokov.” Andrew Wylie, the literary agent who heads the Nabokov foundation, said of the prize’s new focus: “We wanted to differentiate the PEN/Nabokov award from other PEN awards, and in doing so fill a need. The international influence of Nabokov’s writings seemed to justify it.” Five international writers will select the winner of the annual prize, with the award not open to public nominations. The first winner will be announced in February next year, at the PEN America literary awards ceremony in New York. The Guardian Encyclopaedia Britannica PEN America

France calls on ex-EU chief Barroso to drop Goldman Sachs job

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org

The French government called on former European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday to drop plans to take a senior job at U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, part of a growing outcry against the move.

The bank said last week it had hired Barroso, a conservative Portuguese ex-premier who headed the European Union’s executive arm from 2004-2014, to be an adviser and non-executive chairman of its international business. French European Affairs Minister Harlem Desir said the “scandalous” move raised questions about the EU’s conflict of interest rules and said they needed to be tightened. “It’s a mistake on the part of Mr. Barroso and the worst disservice that a former Commission president could do to the European project at a moment in history when it needs to be supported and strengthened,” Desir said during a question and answer session in the lower house of France’s parliament. Barroso was hired 20 months after stepping down, shortly after an 18-month “cooling off” period when ex-commissioners must seek clearance for new jobs to avoid conflicts of interest. “The European Commission president should be above the pressures of private interest. The restriction on being hired by a private company should be extended,” Desir said. In reaction to news of Barroso’s move, the European Ombudsman called on Tuesday for the EU to tighten rules on commissioners taking appointments on leaving office. EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici criticised the appointment as bad for the Commission’s image at a time when it is under attack as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. “When a public person leaves public life and goes to the private sector, he also has to think about the image it projects,” Moscovici said on France’s Europe 1 radio. “I can assure you I won’t go to Goldman Sachs,” he added. Barroso has said he aims to bring his experience in EU affairs to help the bank prepare for Britain’s departure from the bloc. He was president of the Commission, which polices EU countries’ public finances, when it came to light that Goldman had helped Greece in the past to reduce its debt burden with cross currency derivatives, worsening its debt crisis. (REUTERS) France 24 Photo

Young Lions looking for space for reflection and debate

Ljubljana, [Slovenia] 10 August - The 19th Young Lions international festival of performing arts, to be launched on 19 August, will be somewhat different from the previous editions as it provides more space for reflection, debate and research, the organisers announced on Wednesday. Each year, the Young Lions (Mladi levi) international festival brings together performing groups and solo artists whose work is characterised by original approaches to theatre and dance. The festival is part of the Junge Hunde international network, whose mission is to bring together young artists from across Europe, present their work to international audiences, and review innovative practices in European theatre. STA

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19th consecutive edition of the Mladi levi international festival of contemporary arts is bringing to Ljubljana leading-edge stage artists from all over the world. An allegorical performance by the French director Philippe Quesne, Night of the Moles, will open the festival, where gigantic magical creatures lead spectators into the cavity of the world in the search for shelter. The festival this year also proudly presents Penny Arcade, the legend of the New York underground scene, and last year’s festival highlight, the Brazilian artist Christiane Jatahy, contemporary Belgian avant-garde Benjamin Verdonck, joining forces with a young Portuguese artist Maria Lucia Cruz Correia to orchestrate poetic surprises across the city and many more. The festival programme is available at its website. Visit Ljubljana

Spain & Portugal avoid budget fines

The Council of the European Union has decided not to fine Spain and Portugal for failing to reach budget deficit cutting goals and has set “new fiscal paths” for each country.“The EU finance ministers decided to cancel financial fines for Spain and Portugal. They also confirmed the new budgetary adjustment paths for both countries. Effective action by Spain and Portugal will be a necessary condition to lift the suspension of commitments under the European Structural and Investment Funds,” said EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Economic & Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that by giving more time to Spain and Portugal to bring their public deficits below the prescribed three percent, the “Council sets new credible fiscal trajectories, which will contribute to strengthening both their economies and the euro area.” “I trust that Spain and Portugal will respond accordingly to the collective decisions by the Commission and the Council,” said Moscovici. Portugal now has to end its excessive deficit by 2016, and Spain by 2018 at the latest. The measures taken by the two countries will be assessed in the coming months. The Council called on Spain to reduce its deficit to 4.6 percent of GDP in 2016, 3.1 percent in 2017, and to 2.2 percent in 2018. Portugal should reduce the deficit to 2.5 percent in 2016. Last month, the eurozone finance ministers decided to start sanctions procedures against Madrid and Lisbon for breaching EU spending rules. This could have included a fine of up to 0.2 percent of a country's GDP and the suspension of commitments or payments from EU structural funds of up to 0.5 percent. According to EU fiscal rules, budget deficits should be no more than three percent of the country’s GDP. The criterion was introduced ahead of the euro launch in 1999 and so far no country has been penalized for breaking them. RT

We grant Irish passports to British citizens at our peril By Ronan McCrea

Photo Credit: bunow.com

Citizenship rules were not designed to cope with a deluge of applications following Brexit 

The rush of UK citizens seeking Irish nationality in the wake of the Brexit referendum has caused concern to many. Writing in this paper, Christopher Kissane and David Kenny note that many may bristle at the use of Irish citizenship as a badge of convenience for those merely wishing to maintain the status of EU citizens. However, they move to dismiss these concerns as a “misunderstanding of the expansive nature and history of Irish nationhood”. Citizenship is fundamental to the collective self-government involved in democracy. The welfare state is also very dependent on the idea of citizenship. Social welfare systems involve taxpayers undertaking to economically support people they do not know. Such an undertaking is impossible without the sense of shared identity and solidarity that citizenship provides. The value and sustainability of this sense of solidarity risks being undermined if citizenship is granted to large numbers of people with little real connection to the State. The limited degree of connection to Ireland required by our citizenship laws has been in place for some time. However, there are many instances where legal rights are granted on the expectation that they would not be widely taken up. EU free movement rights are a good example of a situation where political and legal problems have been caused by large-scale take up of rights that had previously been used on a smaller scale.

Free movement

Relatively few EU citizens took advantage of the right to live in any EU state until the accession of the post-communist countries in 2004. As the UK’s decision to leave the EU shows, the large-scale use by citizens of these states of free movement rights made those more controversial than before. It has also put pressure on the rights that go with free movement. The European Court of Justice has, for example, since late 2014, strengthened restrictions on the ability of EU citizens to access the welfare state in other EU states. Kissane and Kenny argue that voting rights for the Irish abroad must be strengthened. However, the fact that so many people born abroad are entitled to Irish citizenship is one of the key reasons why the voting rights of the Irish abroad have to remain limited. Following the approach of countries that allow all citizens to vote by post from abroad would risk subjecting those living in Ireland to the political decisions of those overseas. The core of Kissane and Kenny’s argument is that extending citizenship to those with limited connection to Ireland would represent a welcome “openness” and “embrace an expansive and inclusive Irish citizenship”. This does not do justice to the reality that, as with most choices between worthy goals, there is a trade-off.

Balance

A highly restrictive, closed approach to citizenship would be ungenerous and would cut Ireland off from valuable connections. At the same time, one that is too expansive could devalue a concept that is at the core of our democracy and the solidarity that sustains the welfare state, as well as leading the State into making promises it may struggle to keep. The Constitution’s provisions on citizenship stress a “special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage”, not with anyone who happens to have an Irish grandparent. There are many ways short of citizenship that the State can nurture this “special affinity”. The UK has a programme allowing those with ancestral connections to Britain to live and work in the UK for up to five years with a chance to apply for permanent residency thereafter. Indeed, marrying an Irish person may involve a much more significant connection to the State than having an Irish grandparent but the law as it stands requires the non-Irish spouse to live in Ireland in order to obtain citizenship. A generous citizenship system is a sign of a healthy, welcoming approach to the world. However, Irish citizenship rules were almost certainly designed on the assumption that there would never be a need for large numbers of descendants of Irish emigrants to obtain Irish nationality. It is important to honour and nourish links with those who have a genuine link and commitment to Ireland. Current rules do not achieve this goal. They allow large numbers of people from wealthy countries, who may have very limited links to Ireland, to use Irish citizenship as a flag of convenience. If the law treats citizenship in this cavalier way it becomes more difficult to expect those citizens resident in Ireland to treat citizenship seriously as a source of solidarity and duty to society.
Ronan McCrea is a senior lecturer in law at University College London The Irish Times Photo

Laura Pausini and Tiziano Ferro

Photo Credit: www.stylosophy.it

Vivimi Photo