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By:
Besarte Elshani
- December 28, 2024 16:30
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"The best role where a good ballerina can show her skills is the ballet 'Swan Lake'. When I started discovering many of the roles, I realized that there was the ideal image of a ballerina", said Martina Arduino, prima ballerina of the prestigious "Teatro alla Scala". As Odette of "Swan Lake" she also made her debut in Kosovo, at the gala concert of the Kosovo Philharmonic. Arduino talks about her feeling in Pristina, about the fast journey to the prestigious scene. "Ballet is my life," she confesses. "With ballet I express myself, I am myself on stage, I express emotions and I move myself", she says
In the "lake" of the Kosovo ballet scene, the Italian "swan" sailed only once. With what is considered a symbol of eternity - "The Dying Swan" from the ballet "Carnival of Venice", Martina Arduino, prima ballerina of "Teatro alla Scala" - one of the most prestigious houses in the operatic world - landed with the battle against death. Like a swan that fights hard in the ballet role and in life.
As fascinating, seductive, fabulous, as melancholic, touching and tragic is the performance of the ballerina Martina Arduino in a private hall on the outskirts of Pristina. One far from the image of the magnificent neoclassical theater hall whose foundations date back to 1776 in Milan, Italy.
With the symbolic role of the battle for life
From the backstage where the chills of the first winter day in Pristina touch the stage, he aims at the stage. She bows as she does with the ballerina's greeting, to pass the only entrance-exit from the stage, like a "den" located on her left side. It seems that from there to her position at the center of the stage, her eyes collide with the faces of people who are barely noticed in the dark hall.
When the melancholic sounds of the cello and the harmonics of the piano begin to color the circumstances of her swan situation, the battle with herself begins. In the fragment of the work of the Frenchman Camille Saint-Saens the battle against mortality is the theme. She fights to the end. It represents the eternal struggle of death and all that is mortal. Both the swan and the man. Her balance is constantly swaying, until she finally falls to the ground on the stage where the sound of the boards becomes the "sound" of the music that accompanies her.
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Even he himself says that he is not used to performing in such scenes. But he considers it a magical and beautiful experience when he bases it on the cooperation with the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra.
"I felt the power of the orchestra, the close cooperation. 'La Scala' is a magnificent theatre, but sometimes you feel a gap with the music part as there is a lot of space, the stage is very big. The orchestra is always in front of me. Here, the orchestra was behind me and the music carried me through the performance. It was unique. Magical. The work has been the one with which you can express the soul from beginning to end. A short story. With such an orchestra, it was a story in itself", said the famous Italian ballerina, in the conversation for "TIME" one day after the gala concert of the Kosovo Philharmonic, on Saturday, December 21.
"Teatro alla Scala" with 987 seats and a fabulous interior has been her home since 2015 when she became part of the institution's resident troupe. The contrast is with the scene in Pristina. But for him, the audience is primary. He considers that the best way to educate the public is when the institution attracts them to see performances, without thinking in which space the narrative unfolds.
"Prishtina may not have a theater, but it has a wonderful audience..."
"The idea is to educate the public to go to the theater and see ballets. For me, this is much more important than having the space to perform. It is definitely necessary to work in this direction, but it is much more important to educate the public to love ballet. Pristina may not have a theater, but it has a wonderful audience. There were many people, very enthusiastic, they did not come for the theater, for the space, but to see art on stage. The audience gives soul to the space", said the 28-year-old ballerina.
The minimalist music in terms of instruments - with cello by Antonio Gashi and piano by Andi Duraku - was not what made the ballerina highlight the absolute concentration of the public on her game. She was used to her subtle movements being rewarded with applause, even if they distracted the flow of the piece.
"I felt their attention. I saw from the stage that the audience is really with you in that confession. The lights in the audience were not so dark and I could see that everyone was focused on me. This created a magical atmosphere because everyone followed my every move. When they realized that the piece was ending, they burst into applause. But until the last note, they were silent, because they didn't want to interrupt that maximum calmness. There was a person playing the swan who was dying. This was my ideal moment to tell the story to the end, without getting in the way", said Arduino.
The character she displays on stage in Pristina expands to full of features that also reflect in her successful career as a dancer. Her solo play is a kind of poetic narration of the last moment of a swan's life. An ace seen as a symbol of wisdom and which inwardly represents self-power, balance, inner beauty, innocence, self-esteem, spiritual understanding, evolution and commitment.
She was one of the soloists at the New Year's concert of the Kosovo Philharmonic. The spirit of classical ballet was also brought by the dancer Toni Candeloro, one of the most popular Italian figures in the world of dance. After the "monologue" with "The Dying Swan", together they performed "Valse de Jardinieres" from the ballet "Giselle".
Ballerina of the protagonists of world works
Martina Arduino has shown that from her repertoire, the role of Giselle from this ballet is one of which touches her deeply. This was also her professional role.
"I was in the last year of the Academy when I played the role of Giselle. I remember being very stressed because I had to hold the lines, be in line with other characters. The movements had to be done at the same time, in an even line. You don't have to deviate at all. But I was very happy when my mentor told me: 'It was very nice, good luck, keep going'", she said, remembering the moment of her debut on stage as a professional dancer.
Odette from "Swan Lake" and Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet" are other roles that give her the same feeling. He says they touch him deeply. He also appreciates that of Tatiana from "Onegin". For this role, with which she debuted in 2022, the critics appreciated her as "very natural and spontaneous" and that "with her simple and naive beauty, she looked like a classic Russian heroine".
She says that for a ballerina it is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to perform them.
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"The best role where a good ballerina can show her skills is the ballet 'Swan Lake'. When I started to discover many of the roles, I realized that there was the ideal image of a ballerina. In Juliet, it's not just the steps, but you also have to tell the story at the same time on stage. I had a lot of such roles. For me, Juliet was a very easy role, because I was very close to the character's age. It was easy to tell the story. Then I discovered the role of Tatyana in 'Onegin'. It was a beautiful role and very easy to become this character. These are two special roles for me, which I would like to play as much as possible over the years and advance my experience with them", said Arduino in the conversation, a few hours before taking the flight to return in Milan.
From the first steps to the peak of the career
Born in the city of Turin, it was there that she took her first lessons in classical dance at a private school. Wanting to get out of the comfort zone she had created there, she aimed to challenge herself and work harder to develop her skills. He says there were fewer rules in this school. In 2007, Martina Arduino was admitted to the Ballet Academy of "Teatro alla Scala", from which she graduated in 2015.
"I started when I was four years old. My mother, along with my sister, sent me to ballet school where I started practicing and never stopped dancing. At first it was the desire to stay with the other children in the studio, to listen to music. I liked this kind of discipline. After about ten years I started it professionally. My teacher said that I was talented and that we could try to enter the academy of 'Teatro alla Scala'. To do that required an audition, so I taught him. There I realized that I wanted to have ballet as my life journey", she said.
In the academy of "Teatro alla Scala" she would train as a ballerina and perfect the techniques of ballet. In April 2018, she became a prima ballerina at the age of 21, one of the youngest principal ballerinas in the theater's history.
She considers this the peak of her career.
"An important moment was when I was appointed the main dancer. I was 21 years old. I was very grateful and felt that my work has been rewarded. I had more responsibilities, but it was a very important moment in my career to continue towards new challenges, other roles", she said.
"Ballet is my life"
Besides some of the roles in the long list of her repertoire are Medora and Gulnare in "Le Corsaire", Lescaut's girlfriend in "Manon" and Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty".
After winning the award as dancer of the year at the 48th edition of "Premio Positano Léonide Massine" in 2020, she expanded her repertoire with the roles of Olga in "Madina", played as Nikiya in "La Bayadère" and as Smeralds in "Jewels". ". A year later, in 2021, he received the "Sfera D'Oro" national award for dance. Her debut as Giselle took place the following year. In 2022, Arduino debuted as Tatjana in "Onegin" and danced the role of Clara in "The Nutcracker". In 2023, she made her debut as Odette and Odile in Swan Lake.
The achievements of the ballerina Martina Arduino are the result of dedication to the profession throughout her entire journey.
"You have to work with passion, spend a lot of time practicing, because there are many steps that need to be learned technically, every day. For example, I start around ten in the morning and continue until five in the afternoon. It can be less or more, but you definitely have to exercise five hours a day", she said, while she considers ballet as an artistic way to enjoy working. To enter the world of characters that were written hundreds of years ago. But always, for him, the key to success is work, dedication.
"Talent is necessary, but you have to work, grow and express your talent, otherwise you won't be able to be a good dancer with talent alone. Dedication is the key," said ballerina Martina Arduino.
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"Ballet is my life," she confesses. "With ballet I express myself, I am myself on stage, I express emotions and I move myself".
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