On the occasion of the 19th Week of the Italian Language in the World, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Sydney and Cecchetti Ballet Australia will host on Ocrober 24 a conference dedicated to Commedia dell'Arte and its influence on ballet through the Cecchetti ballet method.
The conference will be presented by Elisabetta Peruzzi, PhD candidate at the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies of Sydney University.
This Commedia dell'Arte theatre genre was born around the 16th century. Until 1800, Commedia artists were mainly performing on squares. It was when ballet became the art form that we know today that this theatre genre started attracting the interest of choreographers. Also, mimic traits, movements and some acrobatic tricks influenced ballet routines movements, especially in the case of the Cecchetti method.
Enrico Cecchetti and Anna Pavlova in Paris, circa 1920. Source: WikiCommons
The method was created by Italian former dancer Enrico Cecchetti at the beginning of the 20th century who later became the coach of the great Russian dancers of his time such as Olga Preobrajenska, Tamara Karsavina e Vaslav Nijinsky.
And the Cecchetti ballet method is still popular today, especially in Australia.
The conference 'Commedia dell'Arte in Ballet and the Cecchetti Ballet Method' by Elisabetta Peruzzi will take place at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Sydney on Thursday October 24 at 6pm.
