«A cry of pain, a request for help for the world of dance in Italy». This was requested by the étoile of the Scala in Milan, Roberto Bolle, who in the Sala del Mappamondo in Montecitorio, has drawn up an analysis of the dramatic situation in which the dance system finds itself in our country. “What has happened in recent decades in Italy with the impoverishment of dance is a mess,” he denounced. A very harsh speech that concluded the investigation into the Lyric-Symphonic Foundations of the Culture Commission, in which the étoile of the two worlds remarked how «dance has been disheartened and impoverished due to the lack of knowledge of the sector and lack of vision. An impoverishment of which we must be ashamed “he stressed.
Bolle abandoned his calm tones for a day and addressed a precise “j’accuse” against the mismanagement at the institutional level of Terpsichorean art. Beginning the hearing he recalled four important historical figures: “Caterina De Medici, Baldassare da Belgioioso, Giambattista Lulli, Enrico Cecchetti”. Names that have two fundamental things in common: «They created, gave shape and structure to an artistic and cultural genre, the Ballet, which has irreversibly influenced the whole world – said Bolle -. And they were all Italians ». «Classical Dance was born and evolved through the creative minds of Italians who felt the need to raise the expressive level of the representative arts of their time higher. Luminaries who had the courage to change course, to invent a new one, to touch deeper chords “, he recalled.
“It really seems that our glorious past has been forgotten”
Roberto Bolle started from the past “because knowing how to give the right value to history is the first step in building the future” he said. “On the contrary, it seems that our glorious past has been forgotten and left unworthily behind. The situation of dance in Italy is increasingly difficult and arid, made up of increasingly thin theatrical companies, of dance clubs that are closed – he underlined -, of absolute lack of protection for the artistic category, of dancers who have to leave their own Country to live off their passion and try to make their dreams come true ».
“A massacre towards Italian dance”
«In the last decades a real havoc has been made towards the Italian dance, an impoverishment of which one can only be ashamed. Italian dance is constantly disheartened, treated as the Cinderella of the arts, with opera and symphonic music in the role of the privileged sisters, to whom the attention and care of the Foundations are reserved ». “Out of 14 lyric foundations – recalled Bolle -, today there are only 4 corps de ballet, two of which in Naples and Palermo at the end of their lives”. How did it come to this point? «From a lack of knowledge of the sector and a lack of vision of who was responsible for it both at the government level and at the management of the theaters» said the étoile, according to which «many superintendents love opera, love music. On the contrary, they very rarely know and appreciate dance. The most common phrase we hear is “I don’t understand anything about dance”. And there is an answer: Ballet is the victim of the ignorance of those who, due to the role it holds, should protect, promote and enhance it “, he argued.
“We have always chosen to cut the corps de ballet”
“Ballet was the victim of the ignorance of those who had to protect it – he said -, when it had to be cut the choice was always to cut the ballet bodies”. Yet in our country, the dancer pointed out, “there are 17 thousand dance schools with over one million 400 thousand students, more than those who attend football schools, which are 1 million in all. In the face of this, only 4 foundations out of 14, at the Teatro alla Scala, at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, at the San Carlo in Naples and at the Massimo in Palermo, still have a corps de ballet ». “On the other hand, the use of external companies and outsourcing has greatly increased – Bolle pointed out again”. As a result, he said “that most Italian dancers are forced to leave the country”. As for the existing dance groups, if in Rome there are 60 dancers in Naples only 15, 10 in Palermo. “Something has changed with the superintendents LiSsner and Giambrone, but that’s not enough, continued Bolle, then citing” the shameful case of Verona, where the ballet was fired in 2017, since then 44 productions have been made with the use of external “.
“We value our excellence, it’s really time to change”
L’étoile reiterated the need to “put the ballet troupe of Verona back on its feet and also put a hand to the Maggio di Firenze, to have in the Fondo Unico per lo Spettacolo (Fus) facilities for dance equal to those for opera”. And again: “Encourage and support theaters that invest in dance, reduce the Fus to those who resort to external dance bodies”. Bolle then asked to change the words “Symphonic Lyric Foundations” to “Choreutic Lyric Symphonic Foundations” and “a special fund for the safeguarding of dance”. A dance troupe, he stressed, «has an important impact on many sectors connected to it, on different workers and professionals: from pianists, costume designers, tailors, set designers, dance schools. Dance is cultural heritage, excellence, identity, but it also has an economic and social importance, a great impact on our children. We value our excellence, it is really time to change ».
“Art and culture excellence of our country”
«Art and culture are excellences of our country. They are our tradition and our identity, but also our gold and our oil, that is, if on the one hand they are what makes us unique and special, on the other hand, if well managed they could represent a great resource, even economic. So we value the tradition and culture of dance. Let us make it a point of strength and rebirth »concluded Bolle.