Alessandra Ferri

Alessandra Ferri was born in Milan in 1963 and began her ballet training at the school of Teatro alla Scala. At fifteen she moved to London to study at The Royal Ballet School, where she represented the school at the 1980 Prix de Lausanne, won a prize, and entered The Royal Ballet that year.

Ferri advanced swiftly through the company's ranks, promoted to Principal in the early 1980s. Kenneth MacMillan entrusted her with demanding dramatic roles in *Romeo and Juliet*, *Manon*, *Mayerling* and works created for her, including *Valley of Shadows*, which brought her an early Laurence Olivier Award. In 1985, Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer, where she remained for twenty-two years. At ABT, she performed the classical repertory and worked with choreographers including Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor and Jiří Kylián, forming notable partnerships especially with Julio Bocca. MacMillan created *Requiem* for her and Baryshnikov during this period.

Parallel to her ABT career, Ferri sustained an international presence. She began collaborating with Roland Petit in 1989 and became a permanent guest at Teatro alla Scala in 1992, where La Scala appointed her Prima Ballerina Assoluta. Choreographers including William Forsythe created roles for her. She performed with the Paris Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Stuttgart Ballet and Hamburg Ballet.

Ferri left ABT in 2007 but did not retire from dance. She directed programming at the Spoleto Festival from 2008 to 2014 and returned to substantial stage work in Martha Clarke's *Chéri* in 2013. In 2015, Wayne McGregor created the Virginia Woolf role in *Woolf Works* for her at The Royal Ballet. Her performances in *Chéri* and *Woolf Works* earned the 2016 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. She continued performing, teaching and coaching at The Royal Ballet, La Scala and ABT. The Prix de Lausanne presented her the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, and in September 2025 she joined the Vienna State Ballet as director.