A new ballet company for Italy? Rome’s mayor announces a project for the Italian National Ballet

The Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, has announced,

We are working on a project with Carla Fracci to create a National Ballet Company which can bring the Rome experience to a national level.

The ‘Rome experience' was the period of ten years that Fracci spent at the helm of the capital's ballet company.

Alemanno, who is by default the president of the board of directors of the Fondazione del Teatro dell'Opera, the governing body of the Rome Opera and Ballet companies, was famously harangued by Fracci in a public outburst by the étoile in the stalls of the Rome Opera Theatre. That was two years ago during a meeting of  the various trade unions opposing economic reforms. Nerves were raw, and Fracci prodded the Mayor in the chest accusing him of refusing her requests for a meeting during the previous two years.

They're back on speaking terms now, and Carla Fracci's long-held dream of forming a national ballet company is close to being realised. Yesterday she declared,

I am happy that the Mayor has declared that he is in agreement with the project to form an independent national company, which would have Rome as its base. This is a glorious day for Italian dance.

Beppe Menegatti, the director and husband of the dancer, said,

For Carla and me it is a great commitment artistically and morally, which will give satisfaction to many young people who were obliged to go and dance abroad, but can now return and work in Italy. There will be a new meeting with the Mayor on Monday when the theatre reopens its doors.

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.