Nicoletta Manni

Principal Dancer, La Scala

Dance Open: 2017

Nicoletta inherited the passion to ballet from her mother, dancer Anna de Matteis who also gave her first ballet lessons. At 12 she was admitted to the Ballet School of Teatro alla Scala Academy and she graduated from it at 17.

In 2009 she joined the Berlin Staatsballett where she stayed for three seasons. In 2013 she joins the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala where she gets promoted to the principal dancer already in 2014.

Nicoletta believes that passion and sympathy are those qualities that allow one to peak the highest summits. And it is exactly how she — passionately, with absolute devotion and professionalism — dances in all the parties of her repertoire. Mirta and Giselle in Giselle, Odette/Odile in Nureyev’s Swan Lake, Juliet in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Kitri in Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Clara in Duato’s Nutcracker — Nicoletta approaches each of her roles differently while maintaining her brilliant technique. Among her latest works are the parties in Le Jeune Homme et la Mort by R. Petit, Jewels by Balanchine (Brilliants and Rubies) Cinderella by M. Bigonzetti and many others.

She is the winner of the Danza&Danza Award as the Best Female Dancer (2014). She was nominated on the Ballet Dancer of the Year Award by Giornale della danza (2014).