Internationally renowned ballet superstar Alina Cojocaru OBE takes to the stage in the world premiere of a brand-new two-act ballet inspired by Federico Fellini’s cinematic masterpiece La Strada. Choreographed by Natália Horečná, La Strada comes to Sadler’s Wells for five performances only from 25 – 28 January 2024. Tickets are now on sale.
La Strada tells the story of Gelsomina, sold by her mother to strongman Zampanò and forced to follow him into a life of hardship and suffering living on the road with a travelling circus. What follows is a deeply moving and touching story that explores the essence of humanity and what it means to love and be loved in return.
Set to Nino Rota’s haunting scores, including the ballet suite from La Strada, and the soundtracks from Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Il Casanova, Horečná fuses classical ballet with contemporary dance to bring this powerful story to life, with set and costume designs by Otto Bubeníček.
Performing alongside Cojocaru in the lead role of Gelsomina is former star of The Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and acclaimed freelance artist Johan Kobborg as Il Matto, and former Principal of La Scala Ballet, Mick Zeni as Zampanò. They will be joined by a further eight dancers to be announced shortly.
Cojocaru is a former principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. She is currently Guest Principal dancer with Hamburg Ballet and a prominent freelance dancer performing a variety of lead roles with some of the world’s leading ballet companies. In 2023, she was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 special honours, for services to ballet.
In 2019, Cojocaru founded Acworkroom Ltd, an independent ballet and dance production company. With a focus dedicated to live performances, the company strives to develop and commission ambitious new original ballet and contemporary dance works for audiences in the UK and internationally as well as offering opportunities for freelance artists. The company’s inaugural performances were Alina at Sadler’s Wells in March 2020. La Strada is the first full-length ballet to be commissioned by Cojocaru.
Horečná is a former dancer with Hamburg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Since 2012, she has worked as a freelance choreographer creating over 40 works for companies including Vienna State Ballet, La Scala Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.
Bubeníček joined Hamburg Ballet in 1993, and quickly advanced to principal dancer. Having retired from the stage in 2015, he has gone on to compose music, create short films, graphics, and stage and costume designs for opera houses including War Memorial Opera House San Francisco, David H. Koch Theater New York, Zürich Opera House, Royal Swedish Opera and more.
Of La Strada, Cojocaru said, “I am incredibly excited to bring La Strada to the stage and honoured and grateful to be joined by such world class artists for this unique project. I have dreamt of creating a ballet based on La Strada ever since I first saw the film, which at its heart is a touching, universal story of love and loss. The power our artform has to portray emotions is truly transformational. I hope our audiences are swept away and feel inspired when La Strada premieres on stage at Sadler’s Wells in January.”
Alina Cojocaru will present La Strada at Sadler’s Wells from 25 – 28 January 2024. For tickets and more information, visit www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/la-strada.
