Alen Bottaini

Principal dancer

Alen Bottaini, born in Viaraggio, Italy, was trained at Massacarrara Ballet School and received his diploma from the Vaganova Institute, St. Petersburg. He had his first experiences as professional dancer in Monte Carlo and London. He was engaged in Munich in 1993, and promoted to principal in 1999.

He dances Siegfried in Swanlake, Puck in John Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, Albrecht in Giselle, Colas in Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, Armand Duval in Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias, the Prince in Neumeier´s A Cinderella Story, Lenski in John Cranko’s Onegin, Mercutio as well as Romeo in Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Solor and Golden Idol in La Bayadère, Basilio in Don Quijote, Des Grieux as well as Lescaut in Kenneth MacMillans Manon, Abderakhman in Raymonda and Petrucchio in Crankos The Taming Of The Shrew. Since the beginning of the season 2003/04 he also plays Günther in Neumeier´s The Nutcracker as well as Prince Désiré and the Blue Bird in The Sleeping Beauty (M. Petipa/I. Liška).

Roles in modern ballets include Fearful Symmetries, Zakouski by Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp`s Brief Fling, Jiří Kylián’s Sinfonietta and Svadebka, Hans van Manen`s Concertante, Sarcasms and Solo, A Sort of... and Apartment by Mats Ek, Tarantella, The Four Temperaments and Brahms-Schönberg Quartet of G. Balanchine, Portrait Jiří Kylián and Portrait John Neumeier. In 1999 he created the Man of the sea in Jean Grand-Maître’s Emma. He distinguished himself in this field in Forsythe´s Limb´s Theorem (season 2004/2005), in Portrait Hans van Manen, where he assumed the male solo in Five Tangos as well as in the first Pas de deux in Black Cake. Furthermore he was brilliant at his creation in Century Rolls of Davide Bombana.

In 1996 Alen Bottaini won the Positano Prize for the best Italian dancer in foreign countries, in addition the gold medal of men and the special prize at the International Ballet Competition in Varna. Alen Bottaini is guesting constantly with various Italian companies, in Japan, Russia, Australian and in Cuba, often together with Munich principal Lisa-Maree Cullum.
In 2008, he was awarded the honorary title Kammertänzer" by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture. With the ending of season 2009/2010 Alen Bottaini brought his carreer to a termination.

Debuts 2004/2005
Limb's Theorem (W. Forsythe) Five Tangos and Solo (H. van Manen)

Debuts 2005/2006
Coiffeur in The Silver Rose (G. Murphy), creation
Century Rolls (D.Bombana), creation
My Way (S. Thoss)

2006/2007
Birbanto, Ali and Konrad in Le Corsaire (M. Petipa, I. Liska)

2007/2008
Prospero in The tempest (Mannes), creation
Red Couple in Katalyse (J. Cranko)

Debuts 2008/2009
Albrecht in Once Upon An Ever After (T. Kohler), creation
Center Man in Les Biches (B. Nijinska)
Zugvögel (J. Kylián), creation"