Rome Opera Ballet director Eleonora Abbagnato will star in an extraordinary voyage through the history of ballet that will kick off on Friday at the Italian capital's Opera Theater through March 2.
The 37-year-old Palermo-born star will be performing for
the first time since being appointed director of the city's
ballet company in April last year.
She will be dancing as the protagonist of Closer,
choreographed by Benjamin Millepied with music by Philip Glass,
one of the four ballets that are part of a program on Grand
Choreographers to be performed through next Tuesday.
The performance will include George Balanchine's Serenade
with music by Pyotr Ilic Tchaikovsky, The Vertiginous Thrill of
Exactitude by William Forsythe (music by Franz Peter Schubert)
and the third act of Raymonda by Rudolf Nureyev with music by
Alexander Glazunov.
It is not surprising that Abbagnato has decided to dance
alongside the ballet company she directs.
It was almost a natural choice, not just because she has
strongly sponsored and worked for this complex program, but also
because each one of these choreographers has played an important
role in her career as a dancer.
"There is a strong bond between myself and all these
choreographers, although perhaps I have a more special
relationship with Forsythe because he chose me and created so
many roles for me. He is a maestro who takes classical ballet to
the extreme," the dancer said.
After her success with the Nutcracker, she is moving
forward with the objective of "offering a new education, for the
public as well as for dancers, something different from what has
been shown so far at this theater''.
"I feel so touched when I am on stage, though the truth is
that I stress out more for my dancers than for myself," she
said.
"I feel a great responsibility and I hope such a difficult
repertory from a technical standpoint will have the success it
deserves," she continued.
"I know it is difficult to schedule four choreographers
together but I have been educated in this way and I want to make
my dancers grow. We are trying to create a new company, worthy
of such a complex repertory. I chose very young and good dancers
for this reason, and I am promoting new talents like Rebecca
Bianchi, whom I have appointed Prima ballerina".
The Roman public will have a unique opportunity to get to
know a more unusual yet very high-level repertoire mixing
tradition and modernity, classical and contemporary, legends
like Balanchine and Nureyev and great revolutionaries like
Forsythe and Millepied.
The music, with the exception of Schubert, will be
performed live under the direction of David Garforth.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
