Teatro alla Scala revives 19th-century ballet Paquita after 25 years

The Teatro alla Scala in Milan has staged the complete version of the 19th-century ballet Paquita for the first time in modern history, marking a major triumph for its dance company under director Frédéric Olivieri. The production, featuring sets and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli, premiered in June 2025 and is based on Pierre Lacotte's reconstruction, which originally premiered at the Paris Opera in 2001. Lacotte, who died in 2023, revived the ballet using archival research and oral transmission from his teachers Ljubov Egorova and Carlotta Zambelli, both of whom performed Paquita under Marius Petipa in early 20th-century Russia. The ballet originated in 1846 at the Paris Opera with choreography by Joseph Mazilier and music by Edmé-Marie-Ernest Deldevez, set in Spanish Saragossa during the Napoleonic occupation. After disappearing from France, it was revived in Russia by Marius Petipa, whose 1881 St. Petersburg version added a Grand Pas to music by Ludwig Minkus. The Scala production features Alice Mariani as Paquita and Navrin Turnbull as Lucien d'Hervilly. Choreographer William Forsythe has called the Grand Pas "obsessive," noting it contains "the entire history of the 19th century and its future."