The Italian dancer and choreographer Carla Fracci, who performed with Rudolf Nureyev and Vladimir Vasíliev, among other dancers, died at the age of 84 at her home in Milan, the city where she began her career at the Teatro de la Scala.
“The La Scala Theater announces the death of Carla Fracci in her home in Milan with shock. The theater, the city and the dance lose a historical and legendary figure, who has left a very strong mark on our identity and who made a fundamental contribution to the prestige of Italian culture in the world ”, announced the Milanese theater.
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Born in Milan, on August 20, 1936, Fracci studied at the La Scala Theater dance school in Milan, becoming its main dancer since 1958. Famous for his roles in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet and Leonid Massine’s Don Giovanni , he performed with the most important classical dance companies, including the London Festival Ballet, Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet and American Ballet Theater, among others.
Slender, delicate, always dressed in white, Carla Fracci was described as “the eternal dancing girl” by the Italian poet and Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. Charles Chaplin once confessed to her: “You are splendid”, as she herself told several times.
In the course of his long career, he stepped on the most prestigious stages in the world, traveled tirelessly, and received awards and ovations everywhere. He also danced with dancers of the stature of Nureyev, Vasíliev and Baryshnikov, even with the young Roberto Bolle. Among the shows that will remain in the collective memory is her interpretation of Giselle , with which she went down in dance history because of the strength that she gave to female roles.
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“I grew up among peasants, close to Cremona, free, among a lot of affection and concrete needs. And that is why I have my feet firmly planted on the ground, because of my roots ”, he confessed in one of his interviews with Italian television.
A myth of dance
“A national monument has left, a dance myth,” wrote the daily La Repubblica when breaking the news. “The biggest. Divine and eternal. Full of love for dance, new projects, ideas for a lifetime, with the illusion of a twenty-year-old. The world of culture in Italy will be forever grateful to you ”, the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, reacted in a tweet.
The dancer died of a long-diagnosed tumor. The La Scala Theater arranged the burning chamber and on Saturday his funeral will be held in the Church of San Marcos in Milan.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google NewsFracci maintained a close relationship with the Milanese theater that formed it, despite some ups and downs. Among his latest appearances before the public is the master class given on January 28 and 29 with dancers from La Scala, which can be accessed through the internet.
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Married since 1964 to the theater director Beppe Menegatti, with whom she had a son, Francesco, something unusual for a dancer, she was chosen in 1981 “Prima ballerina assoluta” by the New York Times . “She demystified the figure of the classical dancer thanks to her forays into film, television, and advertising. Before her, this was an art for very few: she deserves the enormous merit of having broadened the dance audience, experiencing and not caring about criticism from purists, “Bolle, who debuted very young with her, told RaiNews.
Fracci was also the director of the Verona Arena ballet from 1995 to 1997, and then the Rome Opera Ballet in 2002. Due to her fame, in October 2004, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of the Organization of Nations. United Food and Agriculture Organization for its campaigns against hunger in the world.