SUSANNA SALVI

I am less of a rebel today

An Interview by Alessandro BIZZOTTO

The principal dancer of the Rome Opera House used to be more rebellious at the very beginning of her professional life, when she left Rome and flew to the United States. Now, after reaching the top rank in the company and working a lot on her personality, she feels happier and stronger, doesn’t take things too personally and loves working with female coaches who are on the side of women. A straightforward chat with the Italian ballerina who opens up about personal sensibilities, new company dynamics and even a darker side of her own nature

She is the third Italian ballerina to have danced Giselle in Cuba. It happened just over a year ago, on the occasion of the International Ballet Festival of Havana. Considering the first Italian to grapple with such an honour was Carla Fracci, “it seems incredible”, Susanna Salvi said. Less than one year prior to that Cuban Giselle, her performance in the ballet had been filmed in Rome and broadcast by the national public broadcasting company of Italy. A role that seems to suit her. “It is the ballet I have always dreamt to dance” Salvi tells me. “When I took part in the 2006 Premio Roma competition as a student, I studied Giselle Act one variation with my teacher Ofelia Gonzalez, and one day she spontaneously exclaimed, ‘You really are Giselle!’. Since then, I have been wanting to explore this role. And the role has never disappointed me”.

The international audience loves her. In 2022 she was invited to Tokyo and danced Roland Petit’s Notre–Dame de Paris alongside Paris Opera Ballet’s Principal Stéphane Bullion to rave reviews, and she was a guest of the Slovenian Ballet and of the Granada Festival among others.