5196106051

I<i

>h sk^ii;kk a

i\urcvcv's "Romeo and . Juliet" licads the bill 'lacqiiclinc >Iaskcv

f

fi

\

c

-

t

/

ir

X.

x

ł

*

i.

Savignano & Moretto in Mandarin: the dank atmosphere was welcome

jNurevev & Fracci in Romeo

4

July 1 776 is a significant datc not only for Ameri-cans; it was in that month and ycar that Maria Thcresa, Empress of Austria and Duchcss of Milan. approvcd plans to build a new theater on the fonner sitc of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala. It was not until 1812, however, that a ballet school was established by ballet master and choreographer Sakatore \igano, followed by the illustrious Carlo Blasis, who becamc dircctor of the school in 1837.

It is to Blasis that we owe the codification of ballet training, set down in two textbooks published in the 1820s, An Elementary Treatise l pon ihe Theory and Prac lice of the Art of Dancing and Ihe Codę of Terpsichore. In-flucntial in the development of all major schools of ballet, it is gcnerally agreed that, as Ihe I)ance Encyclopedia notes, Blasis' . . method of teaching ballet remains the backbone of the purest traditions of the classic dance." Blasis helped put Italian dancers of the Romantic period at the top of the heap (both Carlotta

Grisis. the First Gisellc, and Fannv

*

Cerrito were his pupils), and Italian tutelage as well. I his tradition was carried on into the twentieth century by Enrico Gecchetti, a student of Blasis' pupil Giovanni Lepri, who after service at the St. Petersburg Maryinsky, became Pavlova's privatc instructor and company teacher to Diaghilev's Ballcts Russes.

In pedagogy and in performing. La Scala’s contribution was sub-stantial; in choreography the record was less impressive. The Paris Opera, for instancc, saw the first perform-ances of, atnong other classics-to-be. La Sylphide, Ciselle, and Coppelia\ no La Scala premierę managed to estab-lish itself with equal firmness either at home or abroad.

La Scala's significance in ballet history remains a nineteenth-century significance; in the past dccadcs no choreographer of substance has ap-peared and. until Carla Fracci's soli-tary emergence in the late 1950s, few, if any. performers trained in its de-clining school had achieved inter-national prominence.

Lookingovcr the company dur-ing its first Metropolitan Opera I louse season from July 13 to August 1 (a 1976 bicentennial debut was scuttled for lack of financing by the Italian govcrnment), one can t help but feel that things will not change miraculously in the near futurę. Teatro alla Scala Ballet is a big company— exceeding seventv danccrs without the inclusion of guest stars— but si/.e scems to be its distinguishing feature. There it is. neither verv good nor very bad, looking like Cinderella before the Prince [>uts sonie pink into her cheeks.

“Romeo and Juliet"

rn a way, La Scala has found a prince (although in my opinion the