23 year-old Petra Conti is a dancer at La Scala in Milan, who is being slowly brought before the public by director (ex-director of the Mariinsky) Makhar Vaziev.
He first saw her when she spent a year in St Petersburg at the Mariinsky to polish her technique. After the 2008-2009 season with the Bavarian State Ballet she decided to return to her homeland:
I preferred to return to Italy, in Munich I never really fitted in.
Her Polish mother, a former dancer herself, passed on the passion for dance to her daughter,
I breathed in dance since I was little thanks to my mother.
Her first big break with La Scala ballet was with Giselle,
Idols? Carla Fracci is Giselle, my favourite role. But I don't have any particular role model, each ballet has its own top interpreter.”
Among the roles that Vaziev has already given her are Giselle, Juliet and Tatjana, as well as the closing performance of the recent Raymonda reconstruction at the Teatro alla Scala. Next year he is upping the pace, hoping to create a new Italian star, with roles in the repertoire and new creations.
Since Alessandra Ferri, Italy has lacked home-grown talent of international standing. Fingers-crossed for Sig.na Conti.
via Valeria Crippa in the Corriere della Sera
Video: Petra Conti with boyfriend Eris Nezha in “L'altro Casanova” – Photo: as Tatjana in Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala © Marco Brescia
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
