China, Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala concludes tour

Five years after its last performance in China, the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala in Milan has finally returned to China for a long-awaited tour. On three different evenings (15, 16 and 17 March) it performed in Hong Kong with Le Corsaire, a ballet in three acts based on the poem The Corsair by Lord Byron (1814) and set to music by Adolphe Adam, as part of the 52nd Hong Kong Arts Festival. The Company then went on stage from 21 to 24 March at the Shanghai Grand Theatre with Giselle, a romantic ballet in two acts from 1841, created by Théophile Gautier from the opera Del'Allemagne by Heinrich Heine and set to music by Adolphe Adam himself. The Ambassador of Italy in Beijing, Massimo Ambrosetti, attended the two performances respectively accompanied by the Consul General of Italy in Hong Kong, Carmelo Ficarra, and the Consul General of Italy in Shanghai, Tiziana D'Angelo.

The Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company is one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world, with almost 250 years of history behind it. The company is also one of Italy's flagships in the artistic and cultural field, as it is an art form of excellence that has its roots in the courts of the Italian Renaissance, equal in importance to painting, music and poetry. The tour was also an opportunity to further promote dialogue between Italy and China, using the non-verbal language of dance, whose inherent expressivity makes it universal and, therefore, able to bridge all cultural gaps. "The performing arts are an ideal tool for intercultural dialogue and, therefore, an excellent instrument of diplomacy", said Ambrosetti, adding that "I believe that this tour may help to consolidate and renew a dialogue between Italy and China, two very different yet complementary counties".