La Scala Theatre Ballet

La Scala Theatre Ballet
General Information
Name	La Scala Theatre Ballet
Local Name	Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala
Year Founded	1778 (at La Scala)
Principal venue	La Scala Theatre Via Filodrammatici 2 Milan  Italy
Website	www.teatroallascala.org/en
Senior Staff
Chief Executive	Letizia Moratti
Director	Makhar Vaziev
Coordinator	Marco Berrichillo
Artistic Staff
Ballet Mistress	Laura Contardi
Other
Parent Company	La Scala
Associate Schools	La Scala Theatre Ballet School
Formation	Etoile Guest Artist Principal Soloist Corps de Ballet Reserve Corps de Ballet

The La Scala Theatre Ballet (Italian: Corpo di ballo del Teatro alla Scala) is the resident classical ballet company at La Scala in Milan, Italy. One of the oldest and most renowned ballet companies in the world, the company predates the theatre, but was officially founded at the inauguration of La Scala in 1778. Many leading dancers have performed with the company, including Mara Galeazzi, Alessandra Ferri, Roberto Bolle and Carla Fracci. The official associate school of the company is the La Scala Theatre Ballet School (Italian: Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala), a constituent of the La Scala Theatre Academy (Italian: Accademia Teatro alla Scala).

Overview

It is one of the best known Italian ballet companies, and many of its dancers have achieved international fame, such as Mara Galeazzi, Alessandra Ferri, Roberto Bolle, Massimo Murru, and in the recent past, Carla Fracci.

Other personalities of the history of classical ballet associated with the corpo di ballo have been the teachers and choreographers Carlo Blasis and Enrico Cecchetti, the ballerinas Carlotta Grisi, Caterina Beretta, Carlotta Brianza and the prima ballerina assoluta Pierina Legnani, among many others.

Although the company was only founded officially after the inauguration of the Teatro alla Scala in 1778, its history can be traced back to Renaissance courts of Italy, notably in the Sforza family’s splendid palace in Milan, where the classical ballet itself was born as an art form to be later refined at the French court of Louis XIV. The first nucleus of the company was brought to Milan by the choreographer Gasparo Angiolini between 1779 and 1789, as part of his reform of serious opera. Milan was also home to Salvatore Viganò, who experimented his personal interpretation of ballet d’action (which he called “coreodramma”); this in turn later inspired Carlo Blasis and other choreographers.

Many modern choreographers have collaborated with the corpo di ballo, such as George Balanchine and Roland Petit, often to create unique ballets for the company and its étoiles (equivalent of primi ballerini assoluti).
The company's repertoire includes both classical ballets and more modern pieces; among them: Giselle, the Swan lake, Excelsior, the Taming of the Shrew, Carmen, Onegin, Theme and Variations, and many more.
Many of the company members come from the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala.

Members of the Ballet - 2010-2011 Season

Ballet Company Director

Makhar Vaziev

Ballet Coordinator

Marco Berrichillo

Chief Ballet Mistress

Laura Contardi

Maîtres and Professeurs

Olga Chenchikova - Lienz Chang

Professeur

Biagio Tambone

Guest Teachers

Michael Denard - Vladimir Derevianko - Piötr Nardelli - Azari Plisetsky

Ballet Inspector

Filippo Russo

Assistant teachers

Fabio Ghidotti - Alberto Nanetti - Paolo Piazza - Marcello Spaccarotella

Étoiles

Svetlana Zakharova - Roberto Bolle - Massimo Murru

Guest Artists

Sylvie Guillem - Olesia Novikova - Polina Semionova - Alina Somova - Guillaume Côté - Leonid Sarafanov - Thiago Soares

Principals

Sabrina Brazzo - Gilda Gelati - Marta Romagna - Alessandro Grillo - Antonino Sutera - Mick Zeni

Soloists

Antonella Albano - Laura Caccialanza - Beatrice Carbone - Sabina Galasso - Deborah Gismondi - Emanuela Montanari - Francesca Podini - Sophie Sarrote - Matteo Buongiorno - Gabriele Corrado - Matthew Endicott - Bryan Hewison - Maurizio Licitra - Riccardo Massimi - Eris Nezha

Corps de Ballet

Lara Agnolotti - Stefania Ballone - Alessia Bandiera - Raffaella Benaglia - Catherine Beresford - Chiara Borgia - Brigida Bossoni - Daniela Cavalleri - Christelle Cennerelli - Maddalena Cicogna - Serena Colombi - Sonia De Cillis - Azzurra Esposito - Lorella Ferraro - Licia Ferrigato - Chiara Fiandra - Mariafrancesca Garritano - Antonella Luongo - Patrizia Milani - Lara Montanaro - Katia Pianucci - Jennifer Renaux - Serena Sarnataro - Luana Saullo - Giulia Schembri - Daniela Siegrist - Adeline Souletie - Monica Vaglietti - Alessandra Vassallo - Caroline Westcombe - Corinna Zambon - Giuseppina Zeverino - Marco Agostino - Giuseppe Conte - Massimo Dalla Mora - Christian Fagetti - Federico Fresi - Daniele Lucchetti - Salvatore Perdichizzi - Andrea Piermattei - Andrea Pujatti - Antonio Ruggiero - Fabio Saglibene - Luigi Saruggia - Gianluca Schiavoni - Danilo Tapiletti - Massimiliano Volpini - Andrea Volpintesta

Supplementary Corps de Ballet

Petra Conti - Emilie Fouilloux - Alessia Passaro - Sofia Rosolini - Claudio Coviello - Antonio De Rosa - Dario Elia - Massimo Garon - Matteo Gavazzi - Andreas Lochmann - Valerio Lunadei - Marco Messina - Mattia Vitelli

References

Official Website Balletto.net, Italian web-based ballet magazine

Piotr Nardelli