The ballet company of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was born in 1967 and since its early years imposed itself to international attention thanks to Aurelio M. Milloss. Evgheni Polyakov’s arrival in 1978 marked the beginning of an incredible rise, culminated in the new version of “Lo Schiaccianoci” ideated by Polyakov itself, and in a series of performances featuring the most prestigious dancers of the time, such as Fonteyn, Plisetskaja, Makarova, Fracci, Maximova, Terabust, Nureyev, Vassiliev, Baryshnikov, Bortoluzzi, Godunov.
In 1988 the company was named MaggioDanza. Since then, toghether with several creations by Polyakov and by other famous coreographers, this company presented some of the greatest classical and XXth century’s titles. From 1996 to 1998 Karole Armitage was appointed director of the company, and MaggioDanza interpreted some of her creations: The Predator’s Ball – then reproposed in New York – Apollo and Daphne – with a set design by James Ivory – and Pinocchio - with Jean Paul Gaultier’s costumes.
From 1998 to 2003 several acclaimed directors followed one another: Davide Bombana, Frédéric Olivieri, Elisabetta Terabust, Florence Clerc, Giorgio Mancini e Vladimir Derevianko.
MaggioDanza’s repertory includes some of the most famous coreographers’ works , such as Cunningham, Forsythe, Petronio, Cranko, van Manen, van Danzig, Taylor, Bombana, Neumeier, Balanchine, Uotinen, Limón, Parsons, Miller, Duato, Childs and Montero. In June 2009 the Company was awarded the prize “Danza&Danza 2008” for The Sleeping Beauty by Goyo Montero, as “best italian production of the year”.
In October 2010 Francesco Ventriglia was appointed director of Maggio Danza, and thanks to him the company’s repetoire was enriched with new works by important international authors such as Angelin Preljocaj and Andonis Foniadakis, in addition to original performances ideated by Ventriglia himself, such as a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stabat Mater, Pinocchio and The Genesis Tribute, acclaimed both from critics and audience. Ventriglia believes in his dancers’ excellence and he plans to present, through collaborations with artists of the highest level, performances destined both to a beginners’ audience and to the demanding public of ballet experts and lovers.