Carlotta Brianza

Carlotta Brianza as Esmeralda (c. 1890)

Carlotta Brianza (1867–1930) was an Italian prima ballerina, dancing with La Scala in Milan and later with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.

Biography

Carlotta Brianza and Pavel Gerdt as Princess Aurora and Prince Desire in the 1890 premiere of the Sleeping Beauty.

Born in Milan, Brianza studied at the ballet school of La Scala under Carlo Blasis. She went on to dance as the company's prima ballerina in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior. She toured the United States with the ballet in 1883 and danced it in Saint Petersburg in 1887. Thanks to her popularity there, in 1889 she was hired by the Mariinsky Theatre where she danced with Enrico Cecchetti in Lev Ivanov's The Tulip of Haarlem in 1889. On 15 January 1890, she danced Aurora in the premiere of Marius Petipa's Sleeping Beauty. She continued her dancing career in Vienna, Italy, Paris and London before returning to Paris where she taught until she retired. In 1921, Sergei Diaghilev brought her out of retirement to dance in The Sleeping Beauty. She died in Paris in 1930.

Notable performances

Among Brianza's notable appearances are:

• c. 1883: debut in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior at La Scala, Milan
• 1883: one of five Star Premiere Danseuses in the Kiralfy Brothers Excelsior in New York
• 1886: as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty staged by Giorgio Saracco, La Scala
• 1887: as the Spirit of Light in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior, Arcadia Theatre, Saint Petersburg
• 1892: as Sylvia in Sylvia, Arcadia Theatre, St Petersburg
• 1895: Sylvia, La Scala
• 1896: Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, La Scala
• 1921: Carabosse in the Ballets Russes production of The Sleeping Beauty, London

See also

• Women in dance