Carla fracci giselle
- •
Carla Fracci dies at 84.
The Milan-born ballerina faced her fatal disease with great reserve. She has always been the brightest Italian ballet star. Italy’s president Mattarella says “she has honoured our country with her elegance and her artistic commitment”
It is told that once Charlie Chaplin said to her, “You are wonderful” after seeing her dancing.
Italy’s most famous and celebrated ballet dancer, Carla Fracci, has died today at the age of 84. She had been suffering from cancer, but faced the disease with great reserve.
She has always been, indisputably, the true queen of Italian dance.
She was born in Milan in August 1936 and, in some ways, always remained true to her Milan origins, in spite of having become one of the world’s most renowned ballet stars. A tram driver’s daughter, Fracci has always remembered that her father used to ring the tram bell three times while crossing Piazza della Scala in order to make her know that he was around and was thinking of her, while she was at the barre.
She entered the ballet school of La Scala in 1946 before joining
- •
Backstage Notes: Conversations With Carla Fracci
Last month, the legendary Italian ballerina Carla Fracci passed away at the age of 84. A star whose name was eponymous for La Scala Ballet in Milan, she went on to have an international career with companies including The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Over her five-decade career she developed partnerships with the greatest male stars of the age, including Rudolf Nureyev and Erik Bruhn. She also acted on television and in films, playing Tamara Karsavina in the 1980 movie Nijinsky, and would go on to direct ballet companies in Naples, Verona and Rome. Often called the “Duse of the dance” (referencing the great Italian actress Eleanora Duse), Fracci became famous for her bringing vivid spontaneity and depth to her roles, from her signature Giselle to The Accused (Lizzie Borden) in Agnes DeMille’s Fall River Legend.
In October 2006, I had the pleasure of conducting a series of interviews with Fracci for my book, First Position: A Century of Ballet Artists (ABC-CLIO). After the interviews ended, she
- •
Carla Fracci
Italian ballet dancer and actress (1936–2021)
Carolina "Carla" Fracci (Italian:[ˈkarlaˈfrattʃi]; 20 August 1936 – 27 May 2021)[1] was an Italian prima ballerina, actress and ballet director. Considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century,[2] she was a leading dancer of La Scala Theatre Ballet in Milan, then worked freelance with international companies including the Royal Ballet, London, Stuttgart Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Fracci is known for her interpretation of leading characters in several Romantic ballets, such as La Sylphide, Giselle, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet. She also performed in ballets such as Nijinsky and Complete Bell Telephone Hour Performances: Erik Bruhn 1961–1967. She danced with partners including Erik Bruhn, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Later, she directed several ballet companies in Italy, including at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Rome.
According to Bruhn, she "gave the world a new idea of the ba
Copyright ©mudmind.pages.dev 2025