Meet Cristiano Principato of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Cristiano Principato

Photo Robin DePuy (c) 2024 Dutch National Ballet all rights
reserved. Reproduced courtesy HNB

Cristiano comes from Novara in Northern Italy. When I asked him how he came to study ballet he replied:

“Since I was a child I couldn't say still and I always moved and danced, especially when I heard music or saw dancers on television. I starred attending dance classes a the age of 9 and thus fell in love with ballet.”

Cristiano studied for 2 years in Novara. Then at the age of 11, he auditioned for La Scala Ballet School in Milan, He was accepted and stayed there for 8 years. At school, he was inspired by Massimo Murru of La Scala Ballet and by the choreographer George Balanchine.

His greatest achievements to date have been his graduation last June, working experience as a professional dancer in the corps at La Scala Ballet and getting into the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company. He has already danced the Prince in The Nutcracker, the pas de trois from Paquita, the Waltz Boy in Balanchine's Serenade, one of the soloists in Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Bim's friend in Gaîté Parisienne as well as in works by Angelin Preljocaj and Jiří Kylián. His most important role in Milan was the matador in Nureyev's Don Quixote.

Cristiano’s favourite roles in the classical repertoire are Albrecht, Siegfried, Romeo and Onegin. In contemporary dance he would love to dance Forsythe's Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Dawson's A Million Kisses to My Skin and Kyliàn's Petit Mort.

His favourite dancers are Polina Semionova, Marianela Nunez, Roberto Bolle and Leonid Sarafanov and his favourite choreographers are George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, William Forsythe and Christopher Wheeldon. He is also very interested in Ernst Meisner's work.

Cristiano's immediate ambitions are to work hard this year, to learn what he can from his teachers, to enjoy every performance and generally to become a very good dancer. He hopes to make a career with the Dutch National Ballet. In the long term, his dream is to direct a major company where he can create new ballets. He has loved choreography ever since he was a child.

His passions outside ballet are travelling, reading (especially contemporary fiction), cinema, pop music, good food and the company of good friends.

Here is another young man who knows where he is going and I shall follow his career with interest.