CONFERENZA SPETTACOLO PER GLI STUDENTI

   LILIANA COSI 

Liliana Cosi was born in Milan and studied at the Scala Theatre Dancing-School in Milan, where she got a diploma with a prize by Wally Toscanini as the best student.

She followed some specialization courses at the Bolschoi Theatre for four years. In 1965 she made her debut as the protagonist in the ‘Swan Lake’ at the Kremlin Congress Palace in Moscow;  in the following years she danced in ‘Giselle’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at the Bolschoi getting very good criticism from Soviet newspapers.

In 1968 she became the ‘Prima ballerina etoile’ (the leading female ballet dancer) at the Scala where she interpreted the most challenging roles of the whole classic repertory. In 1970 she made her debut with Nureyev for the first performance of the ‘Nutcrackers’. Her career reached the highest international standards.

In the same year 1970 she opened the ballet season in  Moscow and danced at the Coliseum in London. In 1971 she was on a tour in Europe with  Nureyev and in London with the London Festival  Ballet. In 1972 she was in the United States where she returned more than once.

In 1973 she was in Brussels to interpret Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Béjart. The following year she was in Berlin, Bucarest, St. Francisco, and every year she  was repeatedly touring all over The Soviet Union. In 1976 she participated to the Avana Festival in Cuba and danced in Cape Town.

She was often a member of the jury at the Ballet International Competitions in Moscow, durning which she was invited to dance the ‘Don Quixote’ at the Kremlin. While keeping up her career as ‘Prima Ballerina’ in 1977 she founded the Classic Ballet Association together with Marinel Stefanescu and his wife Louise Ann Smith. She is the president of the Association the aims of wich are not making money but art, culture, spreading the ballet art, beyond the limits of lyric associations, to theatres squares, sports centres, arenas for  people of different social classes and giving life to new performances which may contribute to gratify the thirst for beauty the world feels.

In 1978 she opened a site, in Reggio Emilia, wich became a large Production Centre, and the seat of ‘the Classic Ballet Company’ and ‘the Ballet School’ at professional, residential level. With the New Company Liliana Cosi enriched her repertory with more than 20 new titles created for her by Marinel Stefanescu totalizing more than 1700 performances in Italy and in the world. Her activity has always turned particolarly to young people by teaching them  classical dance, repertory and organizing performances suitable for each age standard.

On 7th december 1985 she was given the golden medal of the town council of Milan, her native town; in 1989 she was conferred an honour as a ‘Commendatore’. Many are the prizes and the national, international appreciations she has received for her artistic career. Her popular activity of the ballet art is more and more intense and purely cultural at the highest levels.

She is always invited to University Forums, Congresses concerning Education, refresher Courses, meetings as to art at international level and in the most different fields in order to present the results of her rich experience. A video-cassette, the title of which is ‘A life for dance’, has recently been produced.

It regards all her artistic activity witht unpublisited films. As to other pieces of news yon can visit the website: www.ballettoclassicocosistefanescu.it.