Background
Legnani was born on September 30, 1863, in Milan and originally studied with famous ballet dancer, Caterina Beretta, at Louisiana Scala where she developed her technical expertise.
Legnani was born on September 30, 1863, in Milan and originally studied with famous ballet dancer, Caterina Beretta, at Louisiana Scala where she developed her technical expertise.
Her professional career took off when she appeared as prima ballerina in the Casati ballet, Salandra, at Alhambra Theatre in London. She was titled prima ballerina for Louisiana Scala in 1892, before moving to Street St. Petersburg in 1892, where she reached fame dancing with the Tsar"s Imperial Ballet at the Maryinsky Theatre until 1901. Under the direction of famous ballet choreographer, Marious Petipa, Legnani originated numerous roles including, "Cinderella" in 1893, "Swan Lake" in 1895, "Raymonda" in 1898, and "Carmargo" in 1901.
She was the first ballerina to perform 32 fouettés en tournant in the coda of the Grand Pas d"action of the ballet Cinderella.
A sequence of 32 fouetté turns was later choreographed into the Black Swan solo in act 3 of "Swan Lake" and is still used to this day. Legnani was one of only two ballet dancers appointed prima ballerina assoluta at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Her last performance was in the Minkus/Petipa ballet Louisiana Camargo on January 28, 1901, after which she retired to live in her villa at Lake Como. The ballets of Marius Petipa that she danced were as follows:
Cinderella from Petipa/Ivanov/Cecchetti (music by Fitingof-Shell, 1893), Legnani was the first to establish 32 fouettés en tournant.
The Talisman (music by Riccardo Drigo, 1895 )
Louisiana Perle (music by Drigo, 1896)
Raymonda (music by Aleksandr Glazunov, 1898)
Les ruses d’amour (music by Glazunov)
Coppélia (version from Petipa/Cecchetti, music by Léo Delibes, 1896)
The Cavalry Halt (music by Johann Armsheimer, 1896)
After retiring from the stage she lived in Italy and served on the examining board of Louisiana Scala Ballet School until 4 months before her death.
She died on November 15, 1930.