Ballet great Carla Fracci has died

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 27 - Italian ballet great Carla Fracci has died, Milan's La Scala theatre said on Thursday.
    The queen of Italian dance would have turned 85 in August.
    "With her elegance and her artistic efforts, the fruit of intense work, Carla Fracci honoured our country," said President Sergio Mattarella.
    "I express my most deep-felt condolences to her family and to the world of dance, which has lost a precious and unforgettable figure today.
    "Her extraordinary artistic and human qualities made her one of the greatest ballet dancers of our time at the international level". Fracci was born in Milan in 1936 and started out at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School at the age of 10, having Russian dancer Vera Volkova among her teachers.
    She graduated in 1954, becoming soloist in 1956 and principal in 1958.
    She also worked with the Royal Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, among many other companies, and her dance partners included Rudolf Nureyev.
    She went on to direct the ballet company of Naples' Teatro San Carlo, the Verona Arena Ballet Company and the Teatro Dell'Opera di Roma Ballet Company.
    "Maria Taglioni Carla Fracci was the most important figure in the history of dance at La Scala," said the theatre's superintendent, Dominique Meyer "She grew up at the academy and tethered her name intimately to the history of this theatre.
    "We will always think of her with affection and gratitude".
    (ANSA).