From Bolshoi to Scala, standing ovation for Tissi in Giselle

The performance of Giselle on 12 July at La Scala ended with a standing ovation, marking the return as guest artist of Jacopo Tissi to the theater where he grew up before moving to Moscow and becoming principal dancer of the Bolshoi.

An 'anticipation' of next year when Tissi, returned to Italy after the outbreak of the war, will perform at La Scala as the first guest dancer in some ballets starting with the Nutcracker which will inaugurate the dance season.

And it is a welcome back what the audience gave him from the initial applause, when he appeared on stage in the part of Albrecht, applause received at the entrance by Nicoletta Manni who played Giselle.

The most classic of ballets is back in front of the Milanese public after being broadcast in streaming during the pandemic and having marked the return to the tour last April at the Comunale of Bologna.

The story is that of the beautiful peasant Giselle who falls in love with Albrecht, without knowing that he is a prince, and who dies upon discovering that he is betrothed to Bauthilde (Francesca Podini) and then is welcomed among the Willi, ghosts of girls who died before of marriage who take their revenge by making young men dance to death.

Thus dies Hilarion (Christian Fagetti), the jealous gamekeeper who had revealed Albrecht's identity to Giselle, and so the prince too risks dying.

But Giselle first tries to convince the queen of the Willi (Maria Celeste Losa) to let him live and then she supports him by dancing with him all night.

In the morning he is safe, and she, no longer Willi, can find eternal peace.

Ballet allows artists to show off all their technical and interpretative skills (it is no coincidence that in the history of La Scala it was danced by greats such as Carla Fracci, Rudolf Nureyev, Alessandra Ferri and Roberto Bolle) and so they did yesterday receiving in return ten minutes of applause from the audience and a final standing ovation.