The training course for twenty talented students of the Ballet School of the Teatro alla Scala Academy, directed by Frédéric Olivieri, has just ended.
The graduation ceremony marked the culmination of years of intense study and dedication for eleven girls and nine boys, ready to embark on professional careers in major international theaters and dance companies. This year's edition was distinguished by the exceptional level achieved by the students: as many as seven graduates earned top marks (30/thirty) in classical-academic dance, under the guidance of Paola Vismara for the female class and Leonid Nikonov for the male class. Two students also excelled in modern-contemporary dance, achieving the highest score, under the aegis of Emanuela Tagliavia.
Here are the names of the new graduates, future stars of the tersicorean scene: Elisa Alieri, Sienna Bingham, Chiara Cecconi, Constance Colin, Anna Ercoli, Laura Farina, Gisele Odile Ghidoli, Benedetta Giuliano, Zakhlin Gudeva, Daisy Libero, Haruna Nagatake, Alessio Alfonsi, Giovanni Bellucci, Gioele Castagna, Andrea Cipolla, Gabriel Deidenbach Spadaro, Francesco Della Valle, Enrico Farina, Oichiro Hontani and Francesco Mezzoli.
The examining board, chaired by Director Frédéric Olivieri and composed of the School's teaching staff (Grettel Martinez Camacho, Walter Madau, Leonid Nikonov, Tatiana Nikonova, Giulia Rossitto, Sophie Sarrote, Elisa Scala, Emanuela Tagliavia, Paola Vismara), had the valuable participation of two influential external commissioners: Krzysztof Nowogrodzki, Production Director and Maître de Ballet of the Stuttgart Ballet, and Ivan Liška, Director of the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München and the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung.
The graduation represents the culmination of a long journey, which for some began as early as the first course when they were only eleven years old.
The last few years have been particularly challenging, marked by intense artistic activity that has provided the students with high-profile training experiences. Prestigious transfers have taken them to perform in cities such as Dubai, Muscat, Paris, Aix-en-Provence and in several Italian locations (Bari, Bologna, Lucca, Piacenza, Senigallia), enriching their artistic and cultural background. They have also delved into different styles, interpreting choreography by authors they will face in their professional lives, such as Pistoni, Forsythe or Bigonzetti. Not to mention the many opportunities they have been given to tread the stage of La Scala, both for shows in which they have been the absolute protagonists and by participating in numerous productions of the season, alongside the great stars of the ballet world.
Graduation day began with the classical-academic dance class of Paola Vismara's women's class, with Massimo Ciarella at the piano, and the men's eighth grade class led by Leonid Nikonov, accompanied by Tomoko Murakoshi. Afterwards, the young dancers performed variations from famous ballets such as The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Don Quixote, Esmeralda, Paquita, La bayadère, La fille du Pharaon, La Sylphide, and The Nutcracker, with choreography by Bournonville, Chabukiani, Gorsky, Grigorovich, Lacotte, Lander, Perrot, and Petipa.
For Emanuela Tagliavia's contemporary class, in addition to the technical elements, students performed creations by Tagliavia herself (Root of an Unfocus and Prior to and after), as well as pieces by Levaggi and Bigonzetti. Particularly appreciated were the contemporary improvisation, accompanied on piano by Federico Costa and performed by the students of the eighth men's course, and the choreographic composition of the eighth women's course, inspired by the verses of Paul Eluard's Unbroken Poetry.
Before the summer break, another important event awaits some 60 dancers: with Frédéric Olivieri's choreographed version of La fille mal gardée, on Saturday, June 28, the Ballet School will open the Nervi International Ballet Festival 2025 at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, under the artistic direction of Jacopo Bellussi. The new graduates will then face high school exams at the “Liceo Coreutico Convitto Nazionale Longone” and, later, auditions to enter the most coveted companies, from La Scala to the Paris Opéra.
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