Q&A

When did you start dancing?
At the age of 14. It had been hard to convince my dad to take me to my first ballet class!

Why did you start dancing?
I always wanted to dance since I was little. Dance has always been a part of me.

Which dancer inspired you most as a child?
I don't exactly remember, but Roberto Bolle has always been an ispiration for me.

Which dancer do you most admire?
Svetlana Zakharova. She is my idol!

What's your favourite role?
Giselle and Aurora.

What role have you never played but would like to?
I'd love to play Odette in the Trock's version of Swan Lake one day!

What's your favourite ballet to watch?
Sleeping Beauty. I love everything about it: the music, the steps, the story with all those fairies and different characters…it's amazing!

Who is your favourite choreographer?
I love Forsythe and Kylián.

Who is your favourite writer?
I would say Oscar Wilde.

Who is your favourite director?
Ferzan Ozpetek.

Who is your favourite actor?
With no doubts Marilyn Monroe!

Who is your favourite singer?
Pop singer Christina Aguilera. Italian singers Elisa, Anna Tatangelo and Arisa.

What is your favourite book?
Madame Bovary by Flaubert. I read it at 16 and it was such a revelation! It was thrilling because I could relate to the character so much.

What is your favourite film?
“Le fate ignoranti” by Ozpetek. But I am fond of old movies: “Bus Stop” with Marilyn Monroe, “A streetcar Named Desire” with Vivien Leigh and “Rebecca” by Hitchcock.

Which is your favourite city?
New York, although I like Paris a lot.

What do you like most about yourself?
I like my creative side. Being creative makes me feel I am doing something good and worthy!

What do you dislike about yourself?
I wish I was better with all the pratical things in life such as money and paperwork! Sometimes I wish I wasn't this shy when I have to impose myself in important situations

What was your proudest moment?
When I graduated from the Ballet Academy in Montecarlo I had to perform on stage the variation of the Prince from the ballet Sleeping Beauty. When I finished, there was a huge applause in the theatre. It wasn't expected, and it felt like a reward for me and my parents that were in the house.

When and where were you happiest?
When they told me I had been selected to attend the Acadèmie de Danse Princesse Grace. And a few years later when I joined the Trocks!

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My sister. We are so close, I just can't imagine what my life would be without her.

What is your greatest fear?
Not being able to do what I live for.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would have my chin done.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My career. If I got where I am now it's thanks to all the sacrifices that me and my family have done and keep doing.

What is your most treasured possession?
My collection of heels.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Well…you don't want to go there!

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Prudence.

On what occasion do you lie?
I usually lie when I don't want to hurt the people I love.

If you hadn't been a dancer what would you have liked to do?
A fashion designer. I still dream about becoming one in the future.

What is your most marked characteristic?
Being oversensitive and touchy.

What quality do you most value in a friend?
Being able to listen.

What quality do you most value in a colleague?
I love easy-going people.

Which historical figure do you most admire?
Marie Antoinette, a fragile soul involved in something too big for her young age. And Marilyn Monroe, the most insecure woman living the dream of being the biggest star in the planet.

Which living person do you most admire?
My mum. She is one of the strongest and most simple people I know.

What do you most dislike?
Vulgarity and roughness.

What gift would you most like to have?
Patience. I always want things too fast.

What's your idea of perfect happiness?
A beautiful place full of art where I could paint and dance, surrounded by the people I love.

How would you like to die?
In a very artistic way… something tragic and extremely romantic.

What is your motto?
Aiutati che il ciel t'aiuta! [“God helps those who help themselves”]

Alberto Pretto – a biography

Alberto Pretto began formal dance training when he was 14, in his home town, Vicenza, Italy. In 2004 he was admitted to the Acadèmie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace de Monte Carlo, run by Marika Besobrasova.

After graduating in 2008 he worked with the English National Ballet for the company's production Strictly Gershwin at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with choreography by Derek Deane. He danced in Aida for the Fondazione Arena of Verona during that summer, and then for eighteen months he worked with the Ballet company of the Stadttheater Koblenz in Germany, directed by the choreographer Anthony Taylor.

In 2010 he danced with Les Ballets Grandiva, a male comedy ballet troupe, in a tour of Japan, before joining Les Ballets Trockadero de Montecarlo in January 2011.

Alberto has designed many costumes for dance performances, such as The Firebird and Aimez-Vous Bach? for the Academy Princess Grace and Words Unspoken for a Gala in La Spezia, Italy.

Gramilano( Editor )

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.