Valentino Zucchetti in Conversation

Valentino Zucchetti ‘In Conversation’ with Graham Watts

June 9th, 2025

Susan Dalgetty-Ezra, chair of the London Ballet Circle, welcomed dancer and choreographer Valentino Zucchetti to the evening’s conversation. Born in Italy, Valentino initially trained at La Scala Ballet School in Milan. At 16 he was offered a scholarship to the Royal Ballet Upper School (RBS) where in his final year he created a piece for the school’s annual show. On graduation he joined the Zurich Ballet, moving to the Royal Ballet (RB) in 2010 and being promoted to First Soloist in 2014. Susan also welcomed writer and critic Graham Watts – fresh from chairing the National Dance Awards at the Barbican – who would lead the evening’s conversation.

To start the conversation Graham wanted to explore with Valentino the impact of winning, in 2022, the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography. This had been achieved with Anemoi, a ballet based on an earlier piece, Scherzo, which had in fact also won him an award (South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance). Valentino responded that it had been fantastic, and completely unexpected because he had been in competition with much more established choreographers – such that by the time he appeared on national television to talk about the award he found that he may have consumed rather too much alcohol at lunch….

And did that open doors for you, inquired Graham. To some extent, was the reply. Valentino is particularly passionate about classical dance, which today is becoming something of a niche discipline. Companies seeking new works are inevitably very bound up with the economics of the ballet world, and when they are considering a new classical work will tend to play safe and go with a well-known and long-established choreographer, Dawson, Wheeldon, Marston, Ratmansky…. And, of course, many companies wish to diversify, to explore fresh fields of dance and listen to new choreographic voices. That’s the feedback which he has received – not that he is complaining, because he has managed to work at least on a semi regular basis.

These awards had not been the first recognition of Valentino’s choreography, noted Graham, because while still at the RBS he had won the Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award and in his final year gone on to create a role in Christopher Hampson’s Three Dialogues for the school’s annual matinee.

Valentino has recently created a piece for the National Ballet of Spain and also for the Polish National Ballet. Yes, the last time we met was in Warsaw, said Graham, then asking how these commissions had come about. Through personal relationships, replied Valentino. For instance, the Director of the Polish Ballet’s junior company is Dawid Trzensimiech, with whom he had danced both at school and in the RB. Valentino is involved in education and works a lot with ballet schools, and that was why Trzensimiech had called him, saying that he wanted a new classical piece to challenge his dancers.

The Spanish commission had also come about through personal friendships. In Valentino’s opinion it may have been the best piece he’s ever choreographed. Was it an abstract piece, inquired Graham, or had there been a narrative behind it? It’s a short work, replied Valentino, and essentially abstract although there is a theme with some story elements. It remains, however, in the archive of the National Ballet of Spain. The leadership of the company changed and the piece has not been picked up again, there or anywhere else.

Valentino tries to ensure that his name is widely known; regularly emailing colleagues about his progress, building and constantly renewing interpersonal relationships. In the past year he has done quite a bit of choreography, including a big project with New English Ballet Theatre in collaboration with the London Handel Festival. The double bill featured two dramatic tales set to Handel cantatas. Both were combinations of song and dance but, unlike ‘normal’ opera, where any ballet that’s included plays a decidedly secondary role, focussed heavily on the dance component. The first piece – Apollo e Dafne – was played by six dancers and just two singers, while the second – The Choice of Hercules – again had six dancers with ballet forming about half of the piece.

One way to judge the success of a new piece is to see how often it is repeated and whether it remains in the company repertoire. Anemoi does indeed remain in the RB’s repertoire, and a pas de deux from it will be performed in South Korea during the company’s coming tour. However, Valentino said that over the last 20 years or so he had made many smaller, one act works which have been performed once, never to be seen again. Chris Wheeldon had once said something to Valentino which he believed to be correct – you’ll not be taken seriously as a choreographer until you’ve made a proper full length or big story ballet. And that’s what Valentino is striving for. It’s not easy; in a sense Valentino, with his emphasis on classical dance, is a choreographer out of his time. Nevertheless, he has managed to choreograph regularly, which is relatively unusual for a ’mid-level’ creator such as himself.

Graham then asked him about the role of agents, and whether Valentino had one. Tobias Round, from The Round Company, replied Valentino. He represents the majority of major choreographers and was extremely helpful.

What also may be affecting you is that you still dance at a high level with the RB, said Graham. So how do you find the time to create choreography? While still thoroughly enjoying his performance on stage, Valentino responded that, as the third oldest male dancer in the company, he was edging towards the end of his active dancing career and starting to ‘wind down’. In the main he was dancing roles which he had performed many times before and which accordingly require less rehearsal time. He acknowledged that Kevin O’Hare, Artistic Director of the RB, is generous in allowing him time off for choreography – 5 weeks here, 2 weeks there, etc – and was facilitating this transition.

Valentino now works part time as Creative Producer for New English Ballet Theatre, helping them with anything artistic, whether its picking dancers or finding touring dates. For their coming season he is choreographing a new, small touring version of Nutcracker. It’s a stepping stone to what he would like to do in the future – a stepping stone towards an artistic director role, added Graham, to which Valentino agreed. What he would love to be in a position to do is to facilitate talented but often underused dancers, who may have been slightly ‘forgotten’. He would like to enable them to shine again, to change the course of their careers. Valentino believes that in any big company there is a mass of talent which seems to go to waste, leaving individuals feeling unfulfilled.

Something which interests me about choreographers, said Graham, is the wealth of material which they must want to transform into ballet. So many ideas, inspirations, get absorbed like a sponge, responded Valentino, and producing short works seems to involve no more than squeezing the tip of the sponge. It’s frustrating! He revealed that he had now set up his own company, Collision Unknown. He and his two collaborators aim to meld technology with dance and design, to innovate and explore ideas he would be unable to pursue on his own. It’s at the service of, and currently working with, much bigger players in the industry.

An interesting little fact, said Graham, is that I believe you are the only Italian-born choreographer to make a work for the RB on the main stage. True, replied Valentino, and the Italian media went crazy for it. They may not care much about you in your own country but if you create something abroad….it actually helped me to get on the map, and I then created a piece for La Scala Ballet School – in La Scala Theatre with a live orchestra, which is a big deal in Italy.

Before we leave the choreographic side I’d be keen to know where your ideas spring from, asked Graham, stories, music, what? It used to be predominantly music, replied Valentino. Symphonic poems, for instance, are usually developed around a story. And there‘s so much emotion already built in. Change the key of a piece and you can create a completely different emotion. Now it is often the subject which comes first. I don’t really want to be conventional but as a classical choreographer you’re standing on the shoulders of giants and inevitably influenced by them. Sometimes the circumstances dictate choices; where and with what other pieces will your new one be presented?

There are, however, some stories I wouldn’t touch; no more mythical female fairies! But how about a piece charting the psychological development of a male character – Hamlet perhaps, or Othello – that seems to be a realm so far little explored. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – there could be enormous scope there for a ballet. And dystopian stories haven’t really been touched in ballet.

All of that, said Graham, immediately brings to mind Liam Scarlett, a contemporary of Valentino at RBS. He made Frankenstein, Sweet Violets; he could easily have taken Jekyll and Hyde as a theme. In response to a later question about inspirational choreographers Liam’s talent was again cited by Valentino. Also Jiří Kylián, and Balanchine, and John Cranko….and obviously Ashton and MacMillan. And if there were ever to be a sci-fi ballet, what part might he himself wish to play? Valentino has apparently always been drawn to villains, to individuals on the dark side, so in, say, Star Wars he might see himself as Darth Vader….

An audience member sought information on his involvement in the movie The White Crow, the 2018 biographical drama about Rudolf Nureyev. Valentino had met the film’s producer, Gabrielle Tana, on a previous movie about Sergei Polunin and had been asked to co-operate in finding suitable dancers and ballet teachers for her film. He noted with interest that Ralph Fiennes, the director, had regularly attended morning class while working on the film. Valentino also noted that much of the choreography had been cut out by the editors because the film proved to be too long….

So, said Graham, let’s move to the dancing side of your life. You’ve had injury problems but you’re obviously rehearsing at the moment? Valentino responded that his current roles were not particularly ‘dancey’; for instance, he played the March Hare and the Tart Adage in Alice, and an Ugly Sister in Cinderella. He had recently played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (brilliantly, interjected Graham) but the company is full of talented younger male dancers all wanting these roles.

He faced the fact of having suffered quite a few injuries, he was redoing roles he had done over and over again and was no longer able to improve his technique or to significantly raise the standard of his performance. That concerns him, for he always wants to discover something new, to research, to keep developing. And so although he might dance on for a few more years the other threads of his career are assuming more importance. However, the problem with choreography is that, although he has had successes, it doesn’t seem to be taking off in the way he would have liked. Until one hits the big time, it is very difficult to earn sufficient to live on. Another reason why he has become involved Collision Unknown!

He has also been accepted for the Positioning Ballet forum, a sort of ‘finishing school’ facilitating the transition from active dancer to artistic leadership. The next conference for future leaders was scheduled for November in Amsterdam, under the direction of Ted Brandsen. That would probably be the first time he had declared openly where he wanted to take his career.

Finally, said Graham, let’s go back to the very beginning. There’s a story that your interest in ballet was stimulated by seeing Mikhail Baryshnikov on the television at a very early age. It’s true, responded Valentino, at about three years old I saw him, with Cynthia Harvey, in a film on the television and that was it. From that moment there was no question about it; all I wanted to do was be a dancer. It was like a calling, almost religious in intensity. My family had absolutely no connections with dance, didn’t even know what ballet was, but supported and encouraged me every inch of the way. So when I was 11 I said I needed to audition for La Scala Ballet School and they supported me. At 16 I decided that I should audition for the RBS and again they absolutely supported me.

Graduating from the RBS you went to Ballet Zürich rather than joining the RB? That was because Monica (Dame Monica Mason) didn’t want me. I think at that time I was too much an unformed ball of energy for the RB. But in fact that turned out to be the best possible move. In Zurich I learned so much; because it was a smaller company I was able to take part in so many productions. I improved in so many ways. I got my first proper role – in Peer Gynt. The RB, fantastic though it is, because it is such a large company I would have spent much more time in my dressing room waiting my turn.

Valentino still had the RB in mind, however, and every few months sent a DVD to Monica to show how he had progressed. And after two years the RB said that he had improved so much they would love to have him. But – this was 2008 – there was no money to offer a contract, certainly not until the next season. Nothing happened for two years and then, due to a change in the leadership in Zurich, Valentino decided to leave anyway, and went to Oslo, to the Norwegian National Ballet, for a year. That’s where he took his first principal role, as the Prince in Nutcracker. In three seasons he had worked with around half a dozen of the world’s top choreographers, experience he wouldn’t have had in three years at the RB.

In your final year at the RBS was it obvious who would be offered a company contract immediately? Not with Monica in charge, she did not necessarily take the students with the best technique, said Valentino. He thought Kevin O’Hare might be slightly more predictable. And the needs of the company at a particular moment may influence the choice, for instance, boys of a certain height. And in his year the star student had been Sergei Polunin, and he was always going to be chosen…….

Valentino works a lot with RBS students and tells them that it’s not the end of the world if they are not offered a company contract when they graduate – there’s a big world out there and many good opportunities. They should take them!

In concluding the evening, Susan, chair of the London Ballet Circle, responded enthusiastically that it had been yet another fascinating and very candid discussion. She thanked both Valentino and Graham most sincerely for taking part in what seemed to be such an easy ‘fireside’ chat, resulting in a wonderful evening’s conversation.

Trevor Rothwell 11-06-25