[Photo Album] La Scala’s ballet company in docuseries and World Dance Day
Thursday 29 April at 19.00 CET – World Dance Day
La Scala will broadcast a complete class with its corps de ballet on World Dance Day, 29 April. Ballet Director Manuel Legris chose to pre-record the ballet class with the dancers on stage:
I wanted the La Scala Ballet to be present on this special day when we celebrate dance, though we celebrate dance every day, from the moment we put our hand on the barre to begin our class.
The class will be lead by Antonino Sutera, a principal dancer with the company who recently has begun work as a maître de ballet.
Friday 30 April – Corpo di ballo
Corpo di ballet is a docuseries that tells the backstage story of La Scala’s ballet company.
It begins with the reopening of the theatre after the first lockdown and describes the complicated yet exciting journey to mount Giselle.
With a myriad of obstacles due to restrictions and closures, the corps de ballet train hard as Italy slips inexorably into a second wave.
This is the first time that La Scala’s dancers have featured in a fly-on-the-wall documentary series. It premieres on 30 April on RaiPlay, the online service from Italy’s national broadcaster. The cameras follow them into their homes as well as seeing them at work and the dancers are surprisingly relaxed in front of the cameras, seeming to ignore their presence. The 12 episodes cover a period of six months.
Among the protagonists of Corpo di ballet are the ballet masters, the principal dancers and soloists, the former director of the company, Frédéric Olivieri, and the new director Manuel Legris.
During the final episodes there is Carla Fracci who was invited to work with the dancers a couple of days before the curtain up on an empty theatre for a streamed performance of Giselle.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
