Unseen photos: Carla Fracci with her younger sister, Marisa

Those who don't live in Italy probably don't know that ballerina Carla Fracci has a younger sister, Marisa, who was also a dancer.

No Giselles for Marisa however, as she was a show dancer specialising in television studio work. This was in the '60s and '70s when there was real choreography to be seen on the box, often by the likes of Hermes Pan – Fred Astaire's right-hand-man – and American jazz choreographer, Don Lurio.

Her face is easy to spot in these largely black and white tv clips because, like her sister, she has two searing eyes which sparkle with life as she dances around Mina or Raffaella Carrà. If she was not in the studio, she would be working in the theatre in Italian revues and musicals.

In later years she did some cameo appearances playing the mother of her five-year-older sister in Romeo and Juliet.

This is a rare photo of the two sisters together, taken for an Italian magazine in the 1970s.

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.