News: Italian Ballerina fired by La Scala

Italian ballerina, Mariafrancesca Garritano, has been fired by Milan’s La Scala for giving an interview in which she said that while she was training at La Scala’s dance school, students were pressurised into losing weight. She went on to say that this has led to health problems for herself and her colleagues claiming that “I talk to people coming through the system and it seems nothing has changed,”

Carlo Maria Cella, a spokesman for La Scala refutes the claims, “Saying that La Scala is similar to what Garritano says she experienced 15 years ago is false,” he said. “Educational methods used then are not used today and the school now has a course on nutrition”.

For the full article visit, Tom Kington, Guardian, 4 Feb 2012

Judith Mackrell takes a look at the wider issues surrounding the story, “the issue of female dancers and their body weight is an issue we can’t seem to let go of. But why?” Guardian, 6 Feb 2012