Rosina Galli (1892 – April 30, 1940) was an Italian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet mistress, and dance teacher. After early years in Italy, she moved to the US, where she was associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Prima ballerina at La Scala Theatre Ballet, and the

Chicago Ballet Chicago Opera Ballet was a Chicago dance company located in downtown Chicago. History Founded in 1956, it is a Chicago dance company located in downtown Chicago. Chicago Grand Opera Company's first ballet master was Luigi Albertieri (protégé of ...

, she was also the ''première danseuse'' at the Teatro di San Carlo and the Metropolitan Opera.

Biography

Galli was born in Naples, where her father was a lawyer. She studied dance at the Teatro di San Carlo's ballet school, becoming the company's ''première danseuse'' at the age of 14. When she was offered the première danseuse position at La Scala Theatre Ballet, the family moved to Milan. She debuted in 1910, at the age of eighteen, dancing in ''Pietro Micca'' and ''Ballo Excelsior'' of

Luigi Manzotti Luigi Manzotti (2 February 1835 – 15 March 1905) was an Italian mime dancer and choreographer.''Oxford Dictionary of Dance'' (2004) Oxford University Press Born in Milan, Manzotti created his first ballet in 1858 and his subsequent productions ...

. In 1911, her father and two brothers escorted Galli to Genoa, from where Galli and her mother proceeded to Chicago, US. Galli performed first as soloist, and then as prima ballerina of the Chicago Ballet. In 1913, she was hired by the Metropolitan Opera House. Though she sported a petite figure, characterized as elfish, Galli demonstrated a rigorous technique and performed powerful pirouettes, continuing to dance there until 1931. Her partner at the Met was Giuseppe Bonfiglio. Her studies in America were under Luigi Albertieri. In 1919, she began teaching dance at the Met, also serving as ballet mistress until 1935. As a teacher, she applied the strict program from her days at La Scala, teaching the Cecchetti method.

Helen Tamiris Helen Tamiris (born Helen Becker; April 24, 1905 – August 4, 1966) was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher. Biography Tamiris was born in New York City on April 23, 1902. She adopted Tamiris, her stage name, from a fragment ...

, who formed the School of American Dance in 1930, was a pupil under Galli. Her expanded responsibilities included choreography, and in that respect, Galli is credited for over 100 offerings at the Met, such as ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' (1924), ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' (1925), and '' Merry Mount'' (1934). It was at the Met where Galli met her future husband, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, former superintendent at La Scala and director of the Met since 1908. Initially she was his mistress; they married in 1930 at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Lake Maggiore. She died in Milan on April 30, 1940. Gatti, 23 years older, died the following September. File:Rosina Galli 3 - Dec 1919 Shadowland.jpg, Galli (1919) Image:Rosina Galli.jpg, Italian dancer and choreographer Rosina Galli File:Rosina Galli4.jpg, Giuseppe Bonfiglio and Rosina Galli in costume for the Polovtsian Dances in Borodin's "Prince Igor " 1915 File:Rosina Galli3.jpg

References

Sources

* Tullia Bohen Limarzi, ''She Trills with Her Toes. The Metropolitan Ballet Career of Rosina Galli'', in: ''Proceedings of the 9th Annual Conference of the Dance History Scholars'', pp. 80–90, 1986 * "Galli Rosina", in: Felice Cappa, Piero Gelli, Marco Mattarozzi, ''Dizionario dello spettacolo del '900'',

Baldini & Castoldi Baldini Castoldi Dalai Editore is an Italian publishing house, founded in 1897 and located under the arcades of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. Baldini & Castoldi changed its name to Dalai Editore in 2011, and "Baldini & Castoldi" became a se ...

, 1998 (p. 442) * "Galli Rosina in Gatti Casazza", in: Rachele Farina (a cura di), ''Dizionario biografico delle donne lombarde: 568–1968'',

, 1995 (pp. 499–500) * Ennio Speranza, '' Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' – Volume 52 (1999),

Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian language, Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an I ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galli, Rosina 1892 births 1940 deaths 19th-century Neapolitan people Italian female dancers La Scala Theatre Ballet dancers Metropolitan Opera people Prima ballerinas