La desire to go on stage despite it all. How many feelings, how many sacrifices behind those smiles that must show on stage. This is a journey filmed behind the scenes of the La Scala ballet troupe during the most difficult season in its history. The peaks of contagion, closures, restrictions, personal crises. And a group of artists who, together with the two directors who have alternated, Frédéric Olivieri and Manuel Legris, and the workers, have never given up. Until the unexpected arrival, in the rehearsal room, of Carla Fracci, her last public appearance. This tells the docu-film Giselle, written and directed by Riccardo Brun, Annalisa Mutariello, Paolo Rossetti and Francesco Siciliano. We have chosen to reveal it with a voice for everyone, that of Nicoletta Manni, prima ballerina of La Scala.
Hopes and errors
It must have been a very hard experience …
It was the most troubled production imaginable. Here we find the hopes, the mistakes, the quarrels, the talent, the dedication, the sacrifices, the technical gestures, the expectations, the disappointments … Giselle we had to postpone it twice. Three days before the debut, scheduled for October 2020, the theaters in Italy closed again. We dancers trained as best we could. The film documents that complicated moment, not easy to psychologically accept, our daily life. It was a thorough job, the directors were with us, in our homes, even in moments of relaxation, in those hard days. La Scala was one of the first theaters to close, in Lombardy the situation was particularly critical.
What happened then?
When it was possible to return in November for rehearsals, the four directors of the film resumed the return to the theater. The director thought: Since we streamed with only one play, we’re sharing the roles of Giselle and Albrecht. A cast for the first act, Martina Arduino and Claudio Coviello, and another for the second act, me and Timofej Andrijashenko, my boyfriend.
Nicoletta Manni with Carla Fracci (photo Sara Busiol).
At a certain point in the rehearsal room Carla Fracci reveals herself.
We were told that sooner or later it would arrive but we did not know when, it was a sinking heart, we were very agitated. We called her “her” and Carla called “you”. It was a very welcome idea. A few months later she died. She was kind, serene, gentle with her humble ways. It had never happened that he passed on his knowledge about the role of Giselle, who made her known in the world, his workhorse. It was a great gift.
Coarse betrayal
And what had he told you?
It was not technical advice but it went on the essence of Giselle, the spirituality of the second act (the one that committed me), so ethereal and surreal. It is known as a white act, in which the protagonist is something non-earthly, she returns to earth after killing herself. Giselle is light as a breath, there is nothing human about her.
Who is Giselle for her?
She is a naive girl, vulgarly betrayed by an arrogant nobleman who thought he could get away with it and go back to his promised girlfriend. It is a story of betrayal, of rebirth, of self-conquest, of a great sacrifice, of forgiveness.
The lockdown for a dancer?
It turned our lives upside down, a tremendous experience. When then last December we had to relive the precariousness and postpone The bayadère, after fourteen of us have been found positive, I don’t tell her the sorrow and the anger. As for the lockdown, we need a suitable floor, a pianist, a teacher and a stage. We share emotions, a story. We have lacked all of this.
Nicoletta Manni’s training (photo Sara Busiol).
“Stay positive”
How did you manage at home?
I put on a CD and to get the bar back we made do by using the windowsill, the refrigerator, the ironing board, a table …
But how did you organize the training?
Keeping busy and experimenting with new things was key to staying positive and have some stimuli. Shaping a routine, a discipline were the priorities. I did not have precise timetables, I attended online lessons with colleagues, or I put on a DVD for dance lessons.
Aside from dancing, how did you spend your days in domestic constraint?
I like to cook, in that period I was able to try recipes that take a long time, such as Apulian tarallini, fresh pasta and above all I learned how to make bread. I still do it today, I don’t buy it anymore.
Timofej Andrijashenko, her boyfriend, is meditating.
Not me, my meditation is dance. Fortunately, during the time at home there were so many things to look at on the internet. I took the opportunity to update myself on what the theaters were offering, usually I don’t have the time.
And when the mood went down …
Eh … The worst thing is that none of us knew when this was all going to end. I live with Timofej, we understand each other, we strengthened each other.
Nicoletta Manni and Carla Fracci (photo Sara Busiol).
“I started for fun”
What does having a title in such an important theater mean?
You have to live up to it, to know that you represent that reality. And you have to be sure of yourself technically: it is the only thing that allows you to be free on an interpretative level.
Tell us about yourself, Nicoletta. What does it mean to move as a young girl from a country to a metropolis, for the love of dance.
I was born in the province of Lecce. I entered the Scala school when I was 12. Initially I went to live in a boarding school for nuns. On the one hand it was the realization of a dream, it was what I wanted to do as a child; on the other hand, I suffered from being far away from my family, to which I am very attached.
Where is she born?
In a hamlet of Galatina, a village of one hundred inhabitants with two streets. It’s called Santa Barbara … (smiles). It’s not the one with the palm trees in California.
How did you start dancing?
Mom has a dance school, I used to visit her in the afternoon. I started a bit for fun. Later I realized that it was what I enjoyed doing in life. To be admitted to the Scala school, technical and physical skills are assessed. There is a month of tests and then the final exam. I learned that I had passed it from a sheet hanging on the bulletin board. It was 2004.
Nicoletta Manni with Timofej Andrijashenko and Massimo Murru (photo Sara Busiol).
A son?
What happened then?
When I graduated from La Scala I was a minor. In Italy if you are not 18 you cannot audition to enter a dance troupe. I was a year ahead. I went in Berlin. It was a forced choice. In 2013, after almost four years, I returned to La Scala and the following year I became a prima ballerina.
Roberto Bolle?
We work together, I am his partner, we dance on his tours and on TV shows. He is generous, humble. A friend. I admire his dedication to work.
Sons?
Svetlana Zakharova had them and so did Polina Semionova. I don’t know how to do it now. The dancers are crazy, there are those who train until the last giving birth on the same day.
And now?
I am now 30, the peak of my career, which is short for a dancer. You retire at 46. But it depends on the physique.
What are you dreaming of?
My dream is every day. What I live and what I have always wanted in life.
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