Ferri, Alessandra
Alessandra Ferri Photos
Alessandra Ferri Biography
Notable: Born 1963; American Ballet Theatre, La Scala Ballet
Alessandra Ferri was born in Milan, Italy, in 1963. She studied at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, until the age of 15, and then attended the Royal Ballet School. She won one of the three Prix de Lausanne for 1980, which enabled her to continue her studies at the Royal Ballet School on scholarship before joining The Royal Ballet later that year.
With The Royal Ballet, she has created roles in L’Invitation au voyage, Valley of Shadows (for which she won the 1982 Laurence Olivier Award), Isadora, Consort Lessons, Different Drummer and the pas de deux Chanson.
Her Royal Ballet repertory includes Napoli divertissements, Illuminations, Return to the Strange Land, The Sleeping Beauty, Afternoon of a Faun, The Two Pigeons, Swan Lake, Mayerling, the title role in Manon and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, as well as roles in Voluntaries, Konservatoriet, Cinderella, La Bayadère and Les Biches.
She was cast in the dancing role of Anna in Kenneth MacMillan’s Seven Deadly Sins for Granada Television, danced Odette in Franco Zeffirelli’s Swan Lake in Milan and the title role in Roland Petit’s Carmen with the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet).
In 1985 she joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer. Her roles with ABT include the title role in Anastasia, Nikiya in La Bayadère, The Accused in Fall River Legend, the Glove Seller in Gaîté Parisienne, Giselle in Giselle, the title roles in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, the pas de deux Other Dances, Taglioni in Pas des Déesses, the Youngest Sister in Pillar of Fire, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, a featured role in Sinfonietta, Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, the leading role in Some Assembly Required, the Sylph in La Sylphide, the leading role in Les Sylphides and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. She created a leading role in In Volo.
In the summer 1989 she appeared with the Ballet National de Marseille where she danced in Roland Petit’s Le Diable Amoreux, which Petit created especially for her. Her guest appearances have also included dancing the role of Juliet in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet with the National Ballet of Canada and the title role in Roland Petit’s Carmen with the Paris Opera Ballet. Alessandra Ferri is now a permanent Guest Artist with La Scala, Milan.
