Nicoletta Manni Becomes La Scala’s First Étoile Principal Dancer in 40 Years

MILAN (AP) — Still glowing from her role in Onegin, La Scala’s prima ballerina Nicoletta Manni received an unexpected honor last fall. The 32-year-old dancer was named La Scala’s first Etoile, or star principal dancer, from the storied ballet company in nearly 40 years.

Months later, she concluded her first whirlwind season as La Scala Etoile this week in the femme fatale role of Manon, earning the loudest applause during a nearly 9-minute curtain call for her blend of technical precision and emotive performance.

“She is a stupendous ballerina. At the top of her career. Since Onegin, every time she dances, she gets better,’’ remarked Manuel Legris, director of La Scala’s ballet company and a former Paris Ballet Etoile chosen by the legendary Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

“It was the same for me,’’ Legris added. “Once you get the title, not just doors open, but also the vision and the trust. It can make you afraid, but it can also push you to fly.”

Manni joined La Scala’s academy at the age of 13, coming from her small town in Italy’s southern Puglia region where she began dancing in her mother’s ballet school a decade earlier. After completing her training, she spent four years at the Berlin Staatsballet before returning to La Scala in 2013.

Just a year later, she became prima ballerina, the company’s principal dancer. Being the first Etoile chosen from La Scala’s own ranks is significant for Manni, distinguishing her from La Scala’s other Etoile principal dancer, Roberto Bolle, who has held the title as a guest dancer for two decades. Etoile, derived from the French word for “star,” is a ballet honorific awarded to dancers of exceptional prowess.

She had just finished performing with Bolle last November when La Scala’s general manager, Dominique Meyer, announced her promotion, aiming to create “a communion between the audience and the dancer.”

“It was completely unexpected, not just for me, but for everyone, because it had truly been years since anyone from the company was named Etoile,’’ Manni shared following a recent rehearsal for Manon.

Known for her technical skills, Manni believes this is the minimum she can bring to a role.

“When a dancer manages to not show the technical difficulty, then you can play with the interpretation, the expression of an emotion, of something that you want to tell. That is the difference between a dancer and an artist,’’ Manni explained.

“It is important to communicate through the body, through the arms, the fingers, the gaze, the head. Even if sometimes something can go wrong because we are humans, and that is how the show goes.”

With her new title, Manni has been celebrated both on and off stage, attending Giorgio Armani and Tod’s runway shows during Milan Fashion Week and posing on the red carpet for La Scala’s opera gala premiere. She was also recently awarded the highest order of the Italian Republic in June for her contributions to the arts.

Her newfound artistic recognition is opening doors, which she must balance with her commitments at La Scala. Throughout her career, she has performed on stages from Tokyo to Mexico City, Moscow to Toronto. Manni dreams of dancing as a guest with major European companies like the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre.

“Nicoletta is the Etoile of the moment. When we have an Etoile like this, we need to let her be seen and shine on other stages. It is not always easy because we need to prepare the new ballets. She knows that. But I want to let her go, and go with great joy,’’ Legris said.

This season, she traveled with the La Scala ballet to China, where she danced Giselle in Shanghai and Legris’ production of Le Corsaire in Hong Kong. Later this summer, she will travel to Australia for a gala with her Latvian-born husband, La Scala principal Timofej Andrijashenko, who proposed to her on the stage of the Arena di Verona two years ago, earning a roar of approval from the crowd.

At La Scala, Manni is often paired with her husband or Bolle, who served as the best man at their wedding last August. For the role of Manon this week, she danced with Royal Ballet principal Reece Clarke, who stepped in on short notice after Andrijashenko was injured.

This was her first performance of Manon in seven years. During a recent rehearsal, she focused on the second act solo, a delicate moment balancing the seduction of a wealthy suitor and embarrassment before her true love, the Chevalier des Grieux, performed by Clarke. With just 10 days to prepare with Clarke, she traveled to London to start rehearsals while he completed other commitments.

The principal roles in Kenneth MacMillan’s choreography require an intimate pairing to trace a love story’s euphoric inception through worldly temptations leading to disgrace, exile, and death.

If the couple doesn’t work, “it can be a disaster,” Legris stated. However, Manni and Clarke quickly “found unity,’’ he said, noting this as a testament to Manni’s artistic growth.

Clarke said dancing with the new La Scala Etoile “was easy from the beginning.”

“From day one, with Nicoletta, it worked. Proportion-wise, it works physically. And story-wise, we were able to read each other. The trust was there,’’ he said, backstage, after huddling with Manni and Legris to exchange notes on their performance.

Manni’s injured husband stood discreetly nearby, dressed in a suit and tie.

Andrijashenko shared that it was painful to watch his wife dance with Clarke in scenes they had prepared together.

“It’s very emotional,” he commented.