Alina at Sadler’s Wells 

Posted on January 21, 2020

Alina Cojocaru, lead principal dancer with English National Ballet and resident guest artist with Hamburg Ballet, curates and performs in a new programme of classical and contemporary works at Sadler’s Wells from February 20 to 23.

The celebrated Romanian ballerina is joined on stage by special guests, including Danish ballet star Johan Kobborg. The programme features both newly created pieces and existing classics, including Sir Frederick Ashton’s iconic Marguerite and Armand and Les Lutins with choreography by Kobborg.

New work includes Reminiscence with choreography by Tim Rushton and music by Arvo Pärt and a world premiere, Journey with choreography, by Juliano Nunes and music by Luke Howard. The programme will also include a specially commissioned film by Kim Brandstrup, as well as an excerpt from his 2018 film Faces.

Cojocaru was born in Bucharest and joined the Bucharest Ballet School aged nine. She entered the Romanian State Ballet School and participated in a student exchange programme with the Kiev Ballet School, where she trained until her Prix de Lausanne scholarship took her to The Royal Ballet School in 1997.

Cojocaru’s numerous awards include Outstanding Female Classical Performance at the Critics’ Circle Dance Awards in both 2018 and 2017 for her performances as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and as Giselle in Akram Khan’s production and the Danza&Danza Award for Best Dancer 2019. Her most acclaimed roles include Giselle, Julie in Liliom, Marguerite Gautier in The Lady of the Camellias, Tatiana in Onegin and Manon. She is the Dancing Times cover star next month.

Pictured: Alina Cojocaru. Photograph: Morgan Norman 

Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner was editor of Dance Today from 2010 to 2015. She has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out Buenos Aires, where she cut her teeth as a dance journalist working on the tango section. Today she continues to dance everything from ballroom to breakdance, with varying degrees of success. Her debut novel, The Girl Before You, was published last year in paperback, ebook and audiobook.