Abbagnato: “Farewell to the Opéra with homage to Petit, fate was waiting for me at the gate”

It will be his last time on the stage of the Palais Garnier. Eleonora Abbagnato leaves the Paris Opera due to age limits with a tribute to her mentor and pygmalion, Roland Petit. On 11 June between the golden vaults of the temple of ballet he will dance in ‘Le jeune homme et la mort’ (music by Bach and libretto by Cocteau), one of the literary masterpieces of the ‘900 and’ Le rendez-vous’ (from a idea of ​​Prèvert on pieces by Kosma) alongside Matthieu Ganio and Stephane Buillon. “I have always been linked to Roland Petit and his wife Zizi Jeanmaire, finding him today in Paris for my ‘farewell’ at the Opéra is a wonderful gift – Eleonora Abbagnato told Adnkronos – He forged my career and my rise. She wanted me in the role of Aurora as a child in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ with her Ballet National de Marseille, I was only 13. I was consecrated étoile, on May 27, 2013, after a performance of her ‘Carmen’. closes, a dutiful homage to Roland, almost a destiny waiting for me at the gate “.” I never gave up, dance is everyone’s dream, but it’s not for everyone “A painful farewell and repeatedly postponed that of Eleonora Abbagnato to the ‘Paris Opera. In December 2019, France was experiencing the nightmare of the Gilets Jaunes, riots, demonstrations and cities in check, then in May 2020 the crisis of the pandemic, closed theaters and lockdowns. Now the great étoile, married to the former Roma player and now sports manager Federico Balzaretti and mother of Julia and Gabriel, is preparing to greet her audience. “Because this theater will always be the temple of dance – he wrote on his social profile. What an indescribable emotion to dance on that stage with the adrenaline rising to a thousand … I have missed it in all these months. audience and its applause “. “I arrived in Paris at 14 – she continued in the interview – I never gave up, I never stopped believing in my dreams, I always worked with passion. Because it’s true, dance is everyone’s dream, but not it’s for everyone “. After her farewell to the Paris Opera, Eleonora Abbagnato will return to Rome at the helm of Costanzi’s corps de ballet. Next appointment at the Circus Maximus with ‘Swan Lake’ in the choreographic reinterpretation of Benjamin Pech on the bill from 22 June to 2 July.