Silfidi ‘en pointe’: ballerine italiane nel Nuovo Mondo

Abstract

The nineteenth-century marked the achievement of the highest expressive potential of the coreutic performing experience. From the 1840s onwards, a new route was mapped out, resulting in a substantial migration of European dancers to the shores of the United States. The attraction at the origin of this migration is the romantic ballerina. Some of these extraordinarily adaptable dancers would integrate perfectly; others would become fleeting ambassadors of European culture in the New World, leaving an indelible mark and bringing back an experience that would certainly enrich their reinterpretation of the ballet tradition.