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| Teatro alla Scala Ballet | |
|---|---|
| Name | Teatro alla Scala Ballet |
| Native name | Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala |
| Caption | Teatro alla Scala, Milan |
| Founded | 1778 (company roots), 1813 (theatre opening) |
| Venue | La Scala |
| Location | Milan, Lombardy, Italy |
| Artistic director | [see Organization and Leadership] |
| Ballet master | [see Organization and Leadership] |
Teatro alla Scala Ballet is the resident ballet company of La Scala in Milan, Italy, renowned for its central role in Italian and European ballet tradition. The company has maintained an extensive performing, pedagogical, and production presence in opera-ballet seasons at La Scala while engaging with choreographers, composers, and institutions across Europe, North America, and Asia. Its repertoire and touring activity link the company to major works and figures associated with Romantic ballet, neoclassical ballet, and contemporary dance.
The company's roots trace to early court and civic dance ensembles that served the La Scala stage near Piazza della Scala, alongside collaborations with composers such as Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini again for ballets within operas. During the 19th century the corps worked with choreographers influenced by Filippo Taglioni, Carlo Blasis, and Marius Petipa while participating in premieres connected to the rise of Romanticism and productions at houses like Royal Opera House, Opéra Garnier, and the Mariinsky Theatre. The 20th century brought reform and modernization through figures who had links with Serge Diaghilev, Vaslav Nijinsky, Leonide Massine, and pedagogues from the Imperial Ballet School and Paris Opera Ballet, leading to exchanges with choreographers such as George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit, and John Cranko. Postwar directors cultivated a repertory that embraced works by Alicia Alonso, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, and Galina Ulanova while commissioning contemporary pieces from creators associated with Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, and Alessandra Ferri’s contemporaries.
Administrative and artistic structures interlink with La Scala management, the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala board, and Milanese cultural agencies. Artistic leadership has included directors and maestros who previously served at institutions such as the Ballets Russes, Bayerisches Staatsballett, American Ballet Theatre, and the Royal Ballet. Notable artistic directors and ballet masters have connections to Antonella Borghi, Aureliano Santoro, Luca Ronconi (theatre direction), as well as international figures who trained at the Vaganova Academy, The Royal Ballet School, and School of American Ballet. The company’s structure comprises principals, soloists, coryphées, and the corps drawn from national auditions, collaborating with stage directors from Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Regio di Torino, and visiting rehearsal directors from Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet.
The repertoire spans full-length classics—works associated with Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov such as productions derived from the legacy of Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and reconstructions by historians of the Imperial Russian Ballet—and 19th-century Italian choreographies influenced by Carlo Blasis and Filippo Taglioni. The company regularly stages neoclassical works by creators tied to George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, and Frederick Ashton, and contemporary pieces by William Forsythe, Maurice Béjart, Pina Bausch, Alonzo King, Ohad Naharin, and Cristiana Morganti. Collaborations with conductors from the La Scala Theatre Orchestra have integrated scores by Ludwig van Beethoven, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, Dmitri Shostakovich, Gustav Mahler, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. Productions frequently involve designers and directors who have worked for Teatro alla Scala, Arena di Verona, Metropolitan Opera, and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
The corps de ballet is regularly replenished through auditions and scouting from schools such as the La Scala Theatre Ballet School (Accademia Teatro alla Scala), the Vaganova Academy, Paris Opera Ballet School, The Royal Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and the John Cranko School. Alumni have included dancers who joined companies like Dutch National Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Stuttgart Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. The academy provides curricula combining technical training rooted in the Italian school and international methods from Enrico Cecchetti, Agrippina Vaganova, and Catherine Littlefield-influenced pedagogy, preparing students for competitions such as the Varna International Ballet Competition, Prix de Lausanne, and Benois de la Danse.
Teatro alla Scala Ballet regularly invites guest principals and choreographers from the American Ballet Theatre, Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, and companies formed from Ballets Russes legacies. Guest artists have included names associated with Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sylvie Guillem, Roberto Bolle, Martha Graham-affiliated choreographers, and contemporary artists linked to Crystal Pite and Wayne McGregor. Co-productions involve institutions such as the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, La Fenice, and major festivals including the Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Lucerne Festival, and Biennale di Venezia.
The company has toured extensively, performing at venues and festivals like the Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Bolshoi Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Teatro Colón, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and in cities including New York City, London, Paris, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and Beijing. Tours have been organized in cooperation with cultural diplomacy entities and ministries from Italy, collaborating with cultural foundations linked to UNESCO events and biennials. Touring repertory often adapts full-length ballets, mixed bills, and premieres commissioned for festivals such as Spoleto Festival USA and the Festival dei Due Mondi.
Members and productions of the company have received distinctions connected to awards like the Benois de la Danse, Prix Benois de la Danse, and nominations linked to national honors conferred by the President of the Italian Republic and cultural prizes administered by entities including the Ministero della Cultura and private foundations. The company’s legacy informs scholarship at institutions such as Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Conservatorio di Milano, and archival projects involving the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Archivio Storico Ricordi, sustaining research on 19th- and 20th-century European ballet, production design, and performance history.
Category:Ballet companies in Italy Category:Performing groups established in 1778