Carla With Love: ballet tribute to Carla Fracci reaches Turin’s Palazzo Reale
Martina Arduino dances Carla Fracci tomorrow in the Salone delle Guardie Svizzere in Turin, days after the ballet’s debut at the Reggia di Venaria, with the étoile’s own costumes on stage.
Carla Fracci, who died in 2021 and would have turned 90 last August, is the subject of a new ballet in Turin tomorrow. Carla With Love, devoted to the life and career of the Italian étoile, is performed at 9pm on Wednesday 21 October in the Salone delle Guardie Svizzere at the Palazzo Reale, five days after it debuted at the Reggia di Venaria.
A promise kept
The idea came from Francesco Borelli, a dancer from Novara who is now a journalist and event manager. Years ago he promised Fracci that he would one day make a show in tribute to the woman as well as the artist, and the project took shape through Regione Piemonte and its wish to create a production for the Savoy Royal Residences. It was presented on 2 September in the Sala Trasparenza of the Grattacielo Piemonte, Turin.
I knew Signora Fracci well and had the enormous privilege of sharing countless extraordinary moments with her. What always struck me was the person beyond the myth, the woman beyond the legend. Today that promise has been kept.
Choreography and cast
Stefania Ballone, a dancer with the Teatro alla Scala, is both choreographer and director, building the work from the artistic and human legacy Fracci left. She describes that legacy as a living asset that needs care, study and attention, and that must be handed on to new generations.
Carla Fracci entrusted us with a treasure. The deepest meaning of this show is to keep it alive.
The ballet follows the encounters, affections and great roles of Fracci’s career. She is danced by Martina Arduino, prima ballerina of La Scala, who was born in Moncalieri and grew up artistically in Turin before joining the Scala ballet school. Arduino called it an honour and a responsibility, and a source of pride to “dance at home”, in two such magnificent settings.
Jacopo Bellussi (former principal dancer at Hamburg Ballett and now with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo), dances Beppe Menegatti, Fracci’s husband, and takes on all the male figures in her artistic and personal life. His own family has Piedmontese roots, and he hopes to convey the qualities that defined Fracci: elegance, sensitivity and discipline. The corps de ballet comprises Giulia Gemma Manfrotto, Martina Scaglione, Cristian Prebibaj and Raffaele Sibilio.
The creative team and costumes
The dramaturgy is by Serge Honegger, the lighting by Valerio Tiberi and Alessandro Manni, and the original score by Mirko Matera. Costumes are by Dellàlò and Ada Del Conte, with repertory pieces from the Teatro alla Scala and the Balletto di Siena. Some of Fracci’s own original costumes, lent by the Fondazione Cerratelli in Pisa, link the staging directly to her history.
Palazzo Reale opens its doors to ballet
The Salone delle Guardie Svizzere sits beside the Sala dei gran balli di Corte, the Savoy court’s ballroom. Paola D’Agostino, director general of the Musei Reali di Torino said:
The doors of Palazzo Reale, epicentre of the Savoy residences, open for the first time to contemporary classical dance.
The ballet is part of Reale Femminile, the first thematic programme spread across the Savoy Royal Residences.
Tickets and information
Tickets for the Turin performance cost €28, or €25 for holders of the Abbonamento Musei, disabled visitors and their companions, and under-26s; children under six go free. The ticket also includes free access to the first floor of the Palazzo Reale from 7pm to 9pm.
Tickets are available at museireali.midaticket.com.
