Erik Aschengreen

Leonetta Bentivoglio

Leonetta Bentivoglio graduated in philosophy from the University of Rome, the city where she lives and works as a writer and journalist. She has been a consultant for various festivals and theatre and music events, both in Italy and abroad, and has has been a cultural reporter for daily newspaper La Repubblica since 1992. Mainly writing about dance, music, opera and movie, Leonetta Bentivoglio also published many interviews with art and cultural celebrities. She is the author of La danza moderna (1977) and La danza contemporanea (1985, with numerous subsequent re-printings, published by Longanesi), Il teatro di Pina Bausch (1991, translated into three different languages, published by Ubulibri) and of an essay on Verdi’s operas, Il mio Verdi (published by Socrates). In 2007 another book of hers on Pina Bausch was published in France and in Germany, by Franco-German publisher L’Arche; it was later also published in Italy (2008, Ed. Barbès) under the title Vieni, balla con me. Her book Corpi senza menzogna, on the actor/director Pippo Delbono, was published in 2009 (Barbès).

Donatella Bertozzi

Donatella Bertozzi studied modern dance in Rome and dance and ballet theory and history in London. She has contributed to numerous publications and worked on radio and television. For many years, her principal activity has been that of dance critic for Rome’s daily newspaper Il Messaggero.

Clement Crisp

Educated at the Universities of Oxford and Bordeaux (France), Clement Crisp has been ballet critic for The Spectator (1966-70) and The Financial Times (since 1970) and is one of Britain's most renowned critics. He has been librarian and archivist of the Royal Academy of Dancing since 1985 and taught at the University of Notre Dame in London. Crisp is the author of Ballet for All (with P. Brinson, London, 1970, 1980) and of the following (written with Mary Clarke): Ballet:An Illustrated History (London, 1973, revised edition, 1992); Making a Ballet (London, 1974); Ballet in Art (1976); Design for Ballet (London, 1978); Introducing Ballet (1978); History of Dance (London, 1981); The Balletgoer's Guide (1981); Dancer (1984); and Ballerina (1987). He has received the following awards: Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award, Royal Academy of Dancing, 1992; Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, Denmark, 1992.

Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino

graduated in philosophy from Turin University and has been writing on ballet and contemporary dance for daily newspapers (at present Il Giorno – La Nazione – Il Resto del Carlino), international magazines (Tanz International, Classic Voice) and theatre programmes (Milan La Scala and others) for over thirty years. She is the author of books on Maurice Béjart, Jirí Kylián, Pina Bausch, Futurist dance and today’s globalised dance (Altre scene, altre danze, 1991), as well as on the subject of which she is considered an expert, i.e. dance on video and multimedia (La musa dello schermo freddo, 1996). She has been on radio, especially Rai 3, directed TV programmes for cultural channels (Tele+3, Rai Sat Show, Rai 5) and curated exhibitions, such as La Danza delle Avanguardie at the MART, Rovereto-Trento (Italy). She has many devoted pupils as a consequence of her teaching Dance History at Bologna University – Music and Performing Arts Department (DAMS), at professional dance schools, such as the Ballet School of La Scala, Milan, and at the Music and Performing Arts School (MAS) where she is now director of the Contemporary Dance section. She has inspired debates and held conferences, but – most importantly – she continues to dance for her own pleasure: Argentinian tango, of which she is also a teacher.

Marc Haegeman

lives in Ghent, Belgium and, apart from being a critic, is also a dance photographer. He travels extensively, out of love for the Art of Terpsichore and, especially, to follow the Russian ballet. He has been writing for BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi since 2002 but also contributes to magazines such as Dance View and Danceviewtimes, Ballet Alert (Washington DC), The Dancing Times (London), Dance Now (London), Dance International (Vancouver), Dance Magazine (USA), Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Moscow), and Brolga (Australia). His photographs are published in those magazines, in theatres programmes and in many other publications about dance. Some of Marc Haegeman’s photographs and articles are available on his website: www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com

Anna Kisselgoff

was Chief Dance Critic of the New York Times from 1977 to 2005, leaving the staff in 2006. She continues to contribute to the paper while freelancing elsewhere and lecturing. Over the years she has reviewed ballet, modern dance, folk dance, ethnic dance, tap dance, Michael Jackson, ice dancing etc. She began studying dance as a child in New York, first with Valentina Belova and, later, with Jean Yazvinsky (a former dancer with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes). After graduating from the Bryn Mawr College, she studied in France: History at La Sorbonne and Russian at the School of Oriental Languages, both in Paris. She worked on the English desk of Agence France Presse in Paris. In the USA, she received a M.A. in European History from Columbia University and a M.S. from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Anna Kisselgoff co-authored several publications (such as Bronislava Nijinska: Early Memoirs) and taught at Yale University and Barnard College of New York. She was made a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government, and awarded the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland.

Kevin Ng

Dance critic Kevin Ng lives between Hong Kong and London. He writes about dance for many newspapers, such as Hong Kong Economic Journal, The Financial Times, St. Petersburg Times, BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi, Dance Expression (UK), Dance Now (UK), Ballet Review (USA), and Shinshokan Dance Magazine (Japan).

Vittoria Ottolenghi

Vittoria Ottolenghi is undoubtedly the most famous dance critic in Italy, but is much more than "just" a critic: she also appears on television and has an intense activity as a dance organizer and director. She says that, besides her private life, certain places and persons have had a great influence on her: Rome (where she lives), the Visconti High School, the Italian Resistance, the great Anglicist Mario Praz who was her university professor, her cousin Piero Sraffa (an economist), newspaper Paese Sera for which she wrote about dance for decades, the Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo (of which she was the dance section’s editor in the 1960’s), RaiUno (the Italian national broadcaster’s flagship channel, for which she devised and directed important TV programmes), and Rudolf Nureyev, her friend and source of inspiration. Vittorio Ottolenghi was the first person in Italy to receive the "Premio ai Benemeriti della Cultura" for dance-linked activities. She has been contributing to BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi since its first issue, December 1980.

Jean-Pierre Pastori

He says he is a writer of "dance-related stuff" and, in addition to this, a critic and journalist. After contributing to many newspapers and magazines he now contributes solely to BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi, and to Swiss daily newspaper 24 Heures. He is the autor of about fifteen books, including: La Danse (a dance history manual, Gallimard 1996-97), L’Homme et la danse (1980), A Corps perdu (1983), Soleil de nuit - La Renaissance des Ballets Russes (1993), Serge Lifar, la beauté du diable (2009). Jean-Pierre Pastori is the founder and president of the Swiss Dance Archives. He lives between Lausanne, his home-city, and Berlin.

Freda Pitt

After music and drama, Freda Pitt felt in love with ballet while watching The Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden, London, in 1946. She has written about dance for several English, Italian and American magazines and has also contributed to dance dictionaries and encyclopaedias. After spending almost thirty years in Rome she returned to London, her home-city. She has been a contributor to BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi since 1980.

Olga Rozanova

Born in Leningrad, Olga Rozanova now lives in… St Petersburg. She studied at the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy and graduated as dancer and teacher of dance, while continuing her studies at the National Theater Academy. Now she teaches Dance History and Theory at the Academy of Saint Petersburg. Olga Rozanova has written many essays, above all on the history of Russian ballet and Marius Petipa’s work, but also about Soviet avant-garde choregraphy. She contributes to many dance magazines, Russian and international.

Emmanuèle Rüegger

is Swiss but considers herself half French and in fact used to live between Zurich and Paris. She studied music at the Conservatory and dance at the School of the Zurich Opera, furthering her studies at Rosella Hightower’s ballet school at Cannes (France). Back in Switzerland, she graduated in Musicology and Literature, without however giving up her history and dance theory studies. A contributor to several newspapers and magazines, such as Pour la Danse and, later, BALLET2000 and BallettoOggi, Emmanuèle Rüegger is also a music critic for Scènes Magazine.

Roger Salas

was born in Cuba and lived in Milan before moving to Madrid, where he has been dance critic for the famous daily newspaper El País since 1985. So he is in fact the pre-eminent Spanish-writing dance journalist in the world. Professor of Dance History at Madrid University, he has penned numerous essays and contributed to encyclopaedias (including Enciclopedia Treccani in Italy and Enciclopedía de la Transición in Spain), organized cultural events (including – of fundamental importance to Spanish dance studies – the World Congress of the Bolero School, Madrid, 1992). He is the editor and founder of the Periodico del Arte (Spanish edition) and has been the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s dance consultant and co-director of the "Madrid en danza" festival; Besides his work as a dance critic, Roger Salas is also noted for his theatrical activity, as a scenery and costume designer: in that capacity he has worked for (among others) the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Víctor Ullate’s Ballet in Madrid and Dutch company Introdans. As an author, he written several books of short stories and a novel (Florinda y los boleros de cristal).

Sonia Schoonejans

was born in Flanders and lived and studied dance in Brussels, during the golden years of the Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle, with whom she also occasionally collaborated. She lived in Italy where she dedicated herself to literature and cinema: she was a pupil of Alberto Moravia and worked with Federico Fellini (later writing a book about this experience entitled Une année avec Fellini). She subsequently moved to Paris, where she still lives today. Sonia Schoonejans writes about dance for several publications, has been editor-in-chief of the "L’Art de la Danse" series (published by Actes Sud) and of "Territoires de la Danse" (Éditions Complexe), and is also the author of Le geste de Lacan (2008). She has made films, videos and television programmes on dance; her travelling exhibition La Danse du siècle, presented in many European cities, has been highly successful.

René Sirvin

René Sirvin has been the dance critic for French newspaper L’Aurore since 1959 and for daily Le Figaro since 1979 and also writes about dance on the Internet (www.imagidanse.com). He has contributed to many periodicals and books on dance, appeared on TV programmes and held conferences, etc. He also writes about opera and edits theatre scripts, while continuing his various dance critic activities. He lives between Paris and his home in Britanny (France).

Isis Wirth

was born in Havana, Cuba. She graduated in history of art from the University of Havana, she has collaborated on the texts for the National Ballet of Cuba for several years. She worked for Ballet, a programme on the Cuban national broadcaster, and contributed articles and essays on dance and ballet to several Cuban publications. She subsequently became a dance critic for daily newspapers ABC (Spain), Listín Diario (Dominican Republic), El Nuevo Herald (Miami, USA), for the Latin-American review Tiempos del Mundo and contributes to various cultural reviews in Spanish. Her book Después de Giselle (2008) is an anthology of her articles and essays, written over a period of thirty years. She has lived and followed dance in many countries – Swtizerland, Syria, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Germany – and is at present living in Paris.