Final Performance Scheduled for June 23, 2007 with Guest Artist Roberto Bolle

Principal Dancer Alessandra Ferri has announced she will retire from American Ballet Theatre following a 22-year career with the Company. She will dance her final performance in the role of Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet on Saturday evening, June 23, 2007 at the Metropolitan Opera House. In her final bow as Juliet, Ferri will dance opposite Guest Artist Roberto Bolle as Romeo.

Ferri was born in Milan, Italy and studied at Teatro alla Scala until the age of 15 when she joined The Royal Ballet School. Ferri joined The Royal Ballet in 1980 and danced leading roles in The Sleeping Beauty, The Two Pigeons, Swan Lake, Mayerling, the title role in Manon and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. She created roles in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Valley of Shadows and A Different Drummer, as well as Anna in Seven Deadly Sins. She danced Odette in Franco Zeffirelli’s Swan Lake in Milan, and the title role in Roland Petit’s Carmen with the London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet).

Ferri joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer in 1985. Her roles with the Company include the title role in Anastasia, Nikiya in La Bayadère, the pas de deux from Roland Petit’s Carmen, Titania in The Dream, Katherine in Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, The Accused in Fall River Legend, the Glove Seller in Gaƒ´té Parisienne, the title roles in Giselle and Manon, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, Tatiana in Onegin, the pas de deux Other Dances, the Youngest Sister in Pillar of Fire, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, a featured role in Sinfonietta, Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, the leading role in Some Assembly Required, the Sylph in La Sylphide, the leading role in Les Sylphides and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.

A permanent guest artist with La Scala in Milan, Ferri has also appeared with the Ballet National de Marseille in Roland Petit’s Le Diable Amoreux, which Petit created especially for her. Other guest appearances have included the role of Juliet in John
Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet with National Ballet of Canada, Manon with Kirov Ballet, Blanche Du Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Tatiana in Onegin and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew with Stuttgart Ballet, and the title role in Roland Petit’s Carmen and Esmeralda in Notre Dame de Paris with Paris Opera Ballet. She has also appeared with the National Theatre of Tokyo, the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Ferri won the Prix de Lausanne in 1980 and the Sir Laurence Olivier Award in 1982 (for her role in Valley of Shadows). In 2005, Ferri celebrated her 20th year with ABT. In the same year, she received the honor of Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana by the President of the Italian Republic.

Guest artist Roberto Bolle, Ferri’s partner for her final performances with American Ballet Theatre, has been a Resident Guest Artist at La Scala since 1998. Bolle trained at Teatro alla Scala and joined La Scala Ballet in 1994. He was promoted to principal dancer with the company in 1996. His repertory at La Scala includes
The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, La Bayadère (Makarova), Giselle (Guillem), Le Spectre de la Rose, Romeo and Juliet, Onegin and Apollon Musagète, among others. The 2007 Metropolitan Opera House season marks Bolle’s first appearance with American Ballet Theatre.

In addition to Ferri’s performance as Juliet on June 23, she is scheduled to dance Desdemona in Othello and the title role in Manon.

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