Well it's an ill wind... Natalia Osipova's last minute cancellation as Kitri at La Scala left the way open for Nicoletta Manni, newly appointed principal dancer with the company, to show the Osipova fans what she could do. And what she did she did very well, very well indeed.
Manni is a strong dancer with a solid technique and quite regal in her bearing. Her interpretation was cooler than Tamara Rojo's more impish Kitri, which was seen last week, and maybe she doesn't yet have the experience to be more playful within the choreography, but wow, can she dance. It's all there: high jetés, balances, turns, fine control of her body with legs that go high, yes, but are perfectly controlled when they descend, giving a playful arrogance to some of her movements. Her last act variation with the fan was superb with extremely slow and precise retirés gradually accelerating with the music, and her fouéttes are splendid. The first sixteen were interspersed with double turns during which she opened and closed her fan above her head; for the second group of sixteen she did the same thing at waist level... and she didn't move a jot. She hasn't yet mastered that knack of communicating with the whole theatre and could be more expansive in such a big house, but give her a few more performances and I'm sure she'll bloom.
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