Excellence Magazine enters the world of ballet with an interview with two young, but already well-established talents from the Teatro alla Scala: Martina Arduino and Marco Agostino.

In the magnificent setting of the Hotel Principe Leopoldo in Lugano, we meet Martina Arduino, prima ballerina, and Marco Agostino, solo dancer, both from the Teatro alla Scala. Their career is already full of important achievements in some of the world’s most important theaters.

How did your passion for ballet start?
Martina: For me it happened by chance: I was scouted during an audition for a dance school. I was only three years old, I was actually there with my older sister, but the teacher noticed my natural inclination for dance. When I was 10, I joined the Academy of the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, and that was where my passion truly started.

Marco: In my case, it was my mother: tired of watching me dance whenever I heard music, she took me to a dance school when I was 12, but it was my father who made me realize that dance would be my life, when he gave me a DVD of Nureyev’s performance in 1964. I was struck by his strength, by his virility – since then, I started studying and, at the age of 16, I entered the Teatro alla Scala Academy.

In 2019, you have both achieved several important international results, what are your new projects?

Martina: The year was very intense, it was our first time performing at the Moscow Kremlin Theater with La Bayadère; I also made my debut as Aurora in Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty, one of the most beloved ballet roles, a great achievement. In the future, I wish to have a great season at La Scala, with classical and contemporary ballets. In early December, we will be Principal Guests of the Kremlin Company, with whom we have a program lasting until July 2020; we will both be in Swan Lake, in Russia.

Marco: It was important for us to dance with different companies around the world: last June we were guests at the Georgian National Ballet in Tbilisi with Corsaro; at the end of June 2020, we are planning a Nureyev gala. The main part of our season is at La Scala, but having the chance to dance as a guest is very important, and being able to do it with Martina is even better.

When did your relationship begin?
Marco: A year and a half ago. We met at the Academy, but we fell in love during the first ballet we performed in together, and the beginning was not exactly idyllic. To me, Martina is a role model: she knows very well how much strength and determination this job requires. I was immediately impressed by her maturity, despite her being only 23 years old.

How important is to develop an emotional connection, when you prepare a new ballet?

Martina: It is very important, according to each different character. I made my debut in Romeo and Juliet a few years ago and it required an immense preparatory work: just like any actor, we need an introspective exploration before we even start working on the steps. During this phase, our maître is in charge of preparing and supporting us.

Marco: Teaching is a very fascinating part of ballet: there is passion in passing down knowledge from person to person; nothing is written, because most of the time teachers have already performed that ballet, they lived it firsthand, so they can share everything that they have learned.
We learn the history of the ballet, but we also absorb the personal vision of our teachers, and therefore of their teachers; then, we must be able to develop our own interpretation.

Do you have the same maître?

Marco: Inside the Teatro alla Scala there are several permanent maîtres, but every ballet has its own choreographer. When it comes of the great classical repertoire, such as Nureyev, John Cranko, Balanchine, Macmillan and others, there are foundations that assign masters to teach a specific ballet, to reproduce the choreographer’s style perfectly, in order to protect the copyright.
Most of the times, the foundations’ maîtres have worked and lived with the respective choreographers, they know their work in depth; they know how to teach it and pass it on.
Many ballets are inspired by great novels; in that case we start from the literary source. Now, at La Scala, we are preparing Onegin, a novel by Pushkin choreographed by John Cranko, so we start with Pushkin’s history and thought, then we study the personal story of the choreographer and the music. In the classical repertoire, there is a limited number of dance steps: everything else comes down to your interpretative ability.

Martina: This is one of the most beautiful aspects of our work; you discover it as you progress. The eight years we spend in the Academy are for us to work on our body, on our legs, on our athletic preparation – afterwards, you discover that each role is different and you have to think like the character. This is what differentiates us from artistic gymnastics: we train like athletes, but this makes our art different from gymnastics.

Is ballet dynamic? Does it evolve from generation to generation?

Marco: Yes, the dancers who graduate today are more technically advanced compared to the previous generations, it is a natural evolution. The real work begins when you start working in a company, when you need to go beyond the technique.

Classic and modern repertoire, which one do you prefer?

Martina: My dream was always to perform as the Black Swan and, after doing it, I still consider it my favorite role. However, it is nice to find yourself capable of interpreting new and very different styles. I made my debut in Béjart’s Bolero, with music by Ravel: I had never imagined I could be able to interpret it, being so young, but it was wonderful. I have always had a strong preference for the classic repertoire but, for example, it was extraordinary to work with Marco in Petite Mort, a crazy, contemporary ballet by Kilián, barefoot.

Marco: Petite Mort in French means the moment after orgasm – this piece offers 25 minutes of absolute delight, without any sexual allusion whatsoever, it is all very soft, ethereal, a masterpiece. The music was written by Mozart and the choreographer, Jiri Kilián, is one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century.
I also worked with choreographer Angelin Preljocaj in Schubert’s Winterreise: in three months’ time, I saw the creation of a ballet in a totally spontaneous way, a living work in progress: this is the charm of the modern repertoire.