![]() ![]() ‘It wasn’t something that I planned or expected,’ she says of her comeback. Last year, she returned to London to perform Woolf Works, a three-act ballet by Wayne McGregor based on the writings of Virginia Woolf Alessandra recently won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her performances in Chéri and Woolf Works. In 2013, she choreographed and performed in The Piano Upstairs at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, before taking on the role of Léa in Chéri – the story of an older woman who separates from a younger lover, played by Herman Cornejo, now 35 – in London and New York. ‘I think what is unusual in my case is that I did stop for almost seven years I did nothing, and then I came back to it,’ says Alessandra, twisting her mane of wavy black hair on top of her head, before releasing it again to swish past her shoulders. ‘Margot did,’ she nods the legendary ballerina celebrated her 60th birthday by performing at the Royal Opera House.Īnd Mikhail Baryshnikov – the Russian superstar of the 1970s and 80s, who, as artistic director, recruited Alessandra to join the ABT at 21 – still makes occasional guest appearances on stage at 68. Probably not when I was 21, but certainly for the past 20 years,' she says Alessandra is not the first high-profile dancer to continue into her 50s.Īlessandra with dancers from the London Festival Ballet in 1986. ‘There is pain, but there has been pain all my life. Instead, the ‘fondling and spoiling’ involves regular physiotherapy and massage, and daily pilates. I can’t do so many hours of rehearsal that I can’t move the next day.’ ![]() ‘I need to keep myself strong and supple,’ says Alessandra, in her rich, rolling Italian accent. I don’t think any dancer enters their 30s pain-free.’ĭaily company class is a way of life for a ballet dancer. ‘Probably not when I was 21, but certainly for the past 20 years. ‘There is pain, but there has been pain all my life,’ she shrugs and smiles. Even without a stitch of make-up, she is a glowing picture of health. On a spring morning in Manhattan, I head to the labyrinthine offices and rehearsal rooms of the ABT, a modest and unremarkable headquarters for a company of worldwide repute – reflective, in many ways, of the dedication, grit and lack of glamour that is the backstage reality of ballet.Īlessandra arrives swathed in a large, belted cardigan, her tiny, toned legs clad in black leggings. My body takes a bit more…’ she searches for the correct verbs ‘…fondling and spoiling.’ 'The result that came bursting out of me naturally then doesn’t burst out that easily now. It’s not like it was when I was 19, obviously. ‘I’ve never taken it for granted, and I particularly don’t now. ‘Of course, there are physical limitations,’ concedes Alessandra. Her one-off performance, on 23 June, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, will be almost nine years to the day since she took her last bow with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she had been a principal dancer for 22 years. I’ve never taken it for granted, and I particularly don’t now,' says Alessandra ‘Of course, there are physical limitations. The most celebrated ballerina of her generation, she became a principal at the Royal Ballet – the highest position one can reach in a company – aged just 19.Īt the other end of her career, after a six-year retirement, the mother of two returned to dancing in 2013, and now, aged 53, is preparing to reprise the role with which she is probably most closely associated: the teenage Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. Italian-born Alessandra is vibrant, dynamic proof that some limitations are, perhaps, entirely arbitrary, and that age truly is but a number. #MATILDE FERRI FREE#'And if we can somehow dare to be a little more free of them, and try not to limit ourselves, who knows what we can do?’ ‘We are so used to limitations that are not even our own, limitations that have been imposed on us by education and society and history. 'Once you realise it’s never really over until it’s over, every chapter of life can be exciting,’ says ballet superstar Alessandra Ferri. ![]() And after a while I felt depressed,' says Alessandra ![]() 'When I stopped, I realised that I’d switched off the light inside me. ![]()
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