Being a ballerina is a full-time job. It is even harder to be considered a prima ballerina assoluta. We see on YouTube ballerinas sharing their day-to-day routine, what they eat in a day, and we can’t help but feel envious of their bodies.
Of course, we realise that they work so much. Sometimes, the dancers are proud of their lifestyle, but some of them resent this life with its impossible requests.
Carla Fracci, the unwilling prima ballerina assoluta
Not all ballet dancers’ parents come from the world of ballet, or even from the world of arts. Carla Fracci’s parents led a very modest life in Italy. After the war, her mother took her to the entrance exam for the ballet program sponsored by La Scala Theatre Ballet School.
Carla did not wish to be a ballerina and she almost failed the exam. Ballerinas’ bodies had to look the same, and her body was not suitable for dancing. There were only 35 places and Carla was the 35th child accepted.
At this school, she hated ballet, and only after dancing alongside Margot Fonteyn, she changed her mind and started to try to pay attention to her classes.
Not only, did Carla catch up on the missed classes, but she was also one of the six pupils that were chosen to dance for the farewell performance of the graduates.
Her career did not end here. She became a soloist for La Scala Theatre Ballet quickly rose to the rank of principal dancer. She did not stay in Italy, because she felt that her talent was underpaid. And the other stages from the world craved her and invited Carla to amaze their audiences.
She took the role of director, and to instill the desire of dancing to children she went to schools and danced in public squares.
Anneli Alhanko, the prima ballerina assoluta from the North
Carla Fracci is an exception, though. Anneli loved to dance.
We remember that in Varna an especially important ballet competition was held. Anneli won second place in 1972. A year later she became a soloist for the ballet company from Sweden, a position that she held for three years, being promoted to principal dancer and becoming the youngest principal dancer of the company (at only 13 years old). (Also, Galina Ulanova couched her for some time).
Anneli moved a lot, first to learn, and then to guest appear on the most important stages of the world. She was even invited to appear on the Bolshoi stage, the first Swedish ballerina to have this distinction of dancing for their company.
Maybe, her greatest achievement is dancing for the opening of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Or the numerous movies, and documentaries that she appeared in.
Phyllis Spira, the first African prima ballerina assoluta
We remember the struggles of Alicia Alonso. The fact that she moved to New York so that her talent be recognised in a country (or continent) that had no history of ballet. The importance of history is due to the fact that older ballerinas can couch younger dancers for a role that they had already played, therefore their advice helps them to give the best portrayal of the role.
Phyllis had similar struggles to Alicia Alonso.
She began to dance at four years old and then was enrolled at a school that had ballet as an extracurricular activity. The headmistress observed little Phyllis when she was 15 years old and knew that their country (South Africa) was unfit for the great ballerina that she could have become. So, she found her a school in England. As you can imagine, her parents were reluctant to let their teenage daughter move to a different continent on her own, but caved in.
In England, she was again observed by the critics who saw in her a “baby Markova”. But Phyllis returned to her home country.
She began to dance for one of the newly founded ballet companies in Cape Town, bringing ballet to the hearts of the public. For some time, she moved to Canada and danced for the company from Toronto.
The president of South Africa awarded Phyllis the distinction of prima ballerina assoluta, and no one could deny that the “baby Markova” deserved it.
She never stopped dancing, and she participated in a program that helped non-white, poor people from the borders of Cape Town realise the beauty of dance, should they want to warm people’s hearts like Phyllis did.
