Greed and desire: Gala's ‘Freed from Desire' has gone from 1990s dance hit to global sports anthem, but a contract robbed the singer of her royalties
Gala Rizzatto hadn't yet turned 22 when Freed from Desire, a Euro-dance earworm for the ages, became the biggest radio smash in Europe. Released as the first single from her debut album Come into My Life, Gala's ubiquitous pop banger topped the charts in France and Belgium, peaking at number two in Ireland, and in her native Italy.
With an estimated 1.8 million sales in the UK, Freed from Desire was the 17th best-selling single of 1997. This, as you may recall, was the year when Hanson invented MMMBop; when Aqua unboxed Barbie Girl, and when Natalie Imbruglia sang about heartbreak in Torn.
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The Irish Sun
a day ago
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Mystery as Glastonbury star's performance ‘missing' from iPlayer 24 hours after rave reviews for set
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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
The Irish woman reviving ballet in Venice: ‘As a lawyer, ballet became my escape'
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Photograph: Ula Blocksage At a performance of the opera La Dame Aux Camelias in Venice, Connolly was introduced to Alessio Carbone, 'and we just connected'. A renowned ballet dancer, Carbone had a long career at the Paris Opera from 1997 until his retirement in 2020. From ballet royalty, he began his training at his parents' school in Venice. His father is a renowned ballet director in La Scala and other Italian opera houses, his mother a star dancer, his sister a ballerina and a brother a flamenco dancer. 'Alessio and I then arranged to meet in the Gritti Palace hotel and discussed the idea of starting a ballet company in Venice. It was the beginning of a beautiful collaboration,' Connolly explains. Carbone had already founded a dance company in 2016 in an attempt to breathe some classical dance life back into his native city, as well as directing and organising productions for various festivals and theatres the world over. He was also involved with community projects, teaching dance workshops for underprivileged children in Brazil, performing in hospices for the terminally ill, and organising a ballet to raise funds for the Red Cross efforts in Ukraine . 'He knows all the ballet masters, the dancers and the opera houses and is brilliant in terms of knowledge and artistic integrity,' says Connolly. The dying swan from Swan Lake at the Balletto di Venezia. Photograph: Ula Blocksage They plan to scout directly with renowned schools, offering gifted graduates without employment the opportunity of work. They hope to capitalise on the pure classical technique typical of young graduates, often lost when they enter companies with a heavily modern repertoire. 'We want to create a desirable place for international dance artists to evolve, bring a high-level international audience to Venice and place ballet once again centre stage,' Connolly says describing the ambitious intentions of this not-for-profit company. Her own favourite ballet is Giselle. 'If I can ever put that one on, I will hang up my boots,' Connolly says. 'I am always drawn to the melancholic, and that's what resonates with me. I am also attracted to anything very moralistic – Giselle is very philosophical and so beautiful. Modern dance doesn't resonate for me in the same way. My heart and soul is in classical, and that is where I am transported. I go into a trance watching the death of the swan in Swan Lake.' A ballerina in Il Balletto di Venezia. Photograph: Ula Blocksage Supremely stylish in appearance, she cuts an impressive figure at every level and now travels between Dublin and Venice having stepped back from legal work. 'I went ahead with this not knowing what I was facing,' Connolly says, 'but I knew that whatever it cost, it was going to be fine. I didn't understand the extensive work and responsibility until it was all over, but we got there.' Like another pioneering Irishwoman, Ninette de Valois from Wicklow who founded the Royal Ballet and the Turkish State Ballet, Connolly has set her aims high and obstacles have not dampened her determination to succeed. Sponsorship, both private and public, is now forthcoming including from the Moszkowski Foundation in the US, Temple Recruitment and the Ronan Group, enabling financial security for the company for at least three years, 'but it's a major project and I am still in shock', Connolly adds with a laugh. 'I can see this family getting huge – all the dancers want to come back, so let it balloon now.' Il Balletto di Venezia opens in Venice on July 5th, travels to Moncalvo, Sardinia, Florence and Treviso, closing in Dublin at the RIAM on July 30th. See @ballettodivenezia on Instagram
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Greed and desire: Gala's ‘Freed from Desire' has gone from 1990s dance hit to global sports anthem, but a contract robbed the singer of her royalties
Twenty-eight years after it was first released 'Freed from Desire' is still ringing out at stadiums across the world, and its singer is still fighting to be paid Gala Rizzatto hadn't yet turned 22 when Freed from Desire, a Euro-dance earworm for the ages, became the biggest radio smash in Europe. Released as the first single from her debut album Come into My Life, Gala's ubiquitous pop banger topped the charts in France and Belgium, peaking at number two in Ireland, and in her native Italy. With an estimated 1.8 million sales in the UK, Freed from Desire was the 17th best-selling single of 1997. This, as you may recall, was the year when Hanson invented MMMBop; when Aqua unboxed Barbie Girl, and when Natalie Imbruglia sang about heartbreak in Torn.
