Dance company Varna International Ballet is starting 2025 with a national tour across the UK, including dates in Ipswich and Norwich.
The tour features three classical ballets: Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.
We caught up with the company’s Giacomo Ammazzini ahead of the tour.
Giacomo has been with Varna since 2022, having started dancing at the age of four. When he turned twelve, he joined L’École de Danse de l’Opéra national de Paris where he graduated in 2021. He continued his professional studies at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in 2022 and obtained his second graduation.
What roles are you dancing in the current tour?
On this tour I will dance Mercutio and the comedians (Mercutio’s friends) in Romeo and Juliet, the soldier doll and the Chinese doll in The Nutcracker and Benno in Swan Lake.
The tour is quite intense, how do you balance dance with rest?
Yes, the tour is intense and we have few free moments to visit the city or relax. Rest is very important to be energetic and ready for the show, but at the same time it is important to have moments in which we can have fun and be emotionally charged to always be at the top.
Are there any places or venues on the tour you are particularly forward to visiting?
We are lucky enough to dance in many big cities in the UK such as Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool or Ipswich. I hope to have the opportunity to visit these cities.
Is there a difference dancing in Bulgaria to dancing in the UK?
The feeling is different because in Bulgaria we are at home so we know our theatre, whereas in the UK, since it is a tour we are always discovering new places, spaces and it is also interesting to see how the public reacts to our performances because we are artists and it is important to convey our emotions to as many people as possible.
What is your favourite piece to dance?
I am lucky enough to dance roles that I like and with which I am able to convey the joy of dancing. Of all of them, I believe that Mercutio is a very interesting role both on a technical and interpretative level which reflects me a lot and I also manage to express my personality.
Varna is increasingly unusual in touring with a full orchestra. As a dancer, how much difference does live music make compared to a recording?
It is fortunate to be able to have the orchestra on tour because dancing to live music is more interesting for us dancers because it creates a magical and realistic atmosphere of what our world really is.
The tour features three classic ballets. What do you think makes each one so popular, after hundreds of years?
They are three ballets with a very important story that captivates every person from the youngest to the oldest. They are accompanied by wonderful melodic music by composers who have marked history. The ballet is equally well looked after down to the smallest details: from the pantomime gestures, to the wonderful costumes and every movement that makes the ballet special.
- Varna International Ballet is touring nationally from January to March 2025, including 23-25 January at Ipswich Regent, and 17-19 February at Norwich Theatre Royal.
