#TBT: Carla Fracci Dancing the Rose Adagio at Age 51

The Fountain of Youth might be in Italy. Alessandra Ferri may be defying all preconceived notions about the length of ballet careers, but she isn’t the first Italian to do so. Carla Fracci, a former prima ballerina at La Scala Ballet and international guest artist, who started her career in the 1950s, didn’t stop when convention might have told her to.

This clip, from a 1987 television series called the “The Ballerinas,” proves it. At 51 years old, Fracci isn’t doing an easy skip of a variation. Here she tackles one of the hardest dances in the classical canon: the Rose Adagio. Aurora’s iconic dance with four suitors is a challenge in stamina, a test in technique and definitely a trial in composure, particularly during the promenade balance section. When this sequence repeats at the end, the music crescendoing as high as the expectations, Fracci is unflappable. With rock-solid strength and softness rivaling that plush pink tutu, she finishes with an ebullient smile.

Best known for her Giselle portrayal, Fracci has (we think) retired from the stage and taken on humanitarian work later in life. In 2004, she was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Association, a United Nations agency dedicated to fighting hunger around the world. Happy #ThrowbackThursday!