While nothing was new for dance goers, all the eight performances, plus a charity one, were sold out, with an audience proved enthusiastic about works that opened their eyes to contemporary dance, engaging them as well in a way that rarely happens in a traditional opera house. 

The director selected three choreographers, partly based on their biographical trajectories: very different choreographers who have certainly left their mark on the style of recent years, in one way or another; it is interesting to understand how. 

“Chroma” has revived the link between La Scala and Wayne McGregor, who the first time appeared here as an almost unknown choreographer and director of Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas.” A revelation, as we well remember, for its sharp style and luminous aesthetic: a novelty in 2006, with ideal performers of that time such as guest Robert Tewsley and La Scala’s principal Sabrina Brazzo. Years later il was the turn of “Woolf Works” and “After Rite/Lore” (both with Alessandra Ferri as guest artist): examples of the choreographer’s evolution as he has changed significantly over time, exploring countless directions, not always maintaining the brilliance of the early works but tireless in his research and collaborations, so much to gain, among other things, the role of resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet and artistic director of Venice Biennale Danza. “Chroma” remains the epitome of his finest hour, when the boundless extension of the dancing body, the plasticity of the arms, the lashing precision of the legs—all within an austere and elegant dynamic—inspired an entire generation. It is upon this vocabulary that the language of most of today’s European choreographers has been built, someone taking it to far more extreme limits. Yet it still works in its original form, as do the sets and costumes—both luminous and yet sharp—driven by Joby Talbot’s original score. Merit for this enduring success also goes to today’s La Scala dancers: Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko, so beautiful, embody the ideal image of McGregor’s dancers, Claudio Coviello and Agnese Di Clemente play his dynamic languor, Mattia Semperboni and Gioacchino Starace his raw sensuality.