In 2026 Voices of British Ballet is celebrating the life of Ninette de Valois, to mark the centenary of the Royal Ballet School, with a series of interviews and special episodes that illuminate her life and artistic practice.
In this episode, Dr Anna Meadmore, Manager of Special Collections at the Royal Ballet School, introduces an interview with the writer and ballet historian Giannandrea Poesio. The interview was recorded in 2011 at a conference dedicated to Ninette de Valois where Giannandrea Poesio was one of the delegates. He talks with Patricia Linton about two meetings he had with de Valois and how she gave him the nickname “Cecchetti Boy”. He discusses Ninette de Valois’ reservations about the Cecchetti method and explores the use of historical mime in present day performance.
Anna Meadmore was one of the organisers of that conference in 2011 and reflects on the importance of dance history to the education and training of new dancers and choreographers. She also talks about Giannandrea’s talk at the conference about mime in ballet and the influence of Giuseppina Cecchetti and Francesca Zanfretta.
Giannadrea Poesio died in 2017.
","author_name":"Voices of British Ballet"}