Rosanna Serravalli was born in Florence, Italy where she started ballet classes at the school of Darie Collin. As a young girl she moved to New York to join the Joffrey Ballet. She then moved to the American Ballet Theatre, where she attained the rank of Soloist. After 11 years at ABT, she joined the Dance Faculty at Purchase College. She has received a SUNY Research Foundation Grant as well as a Fulbright Fellowship and has travelled with her work throughout the world, giving seminars and master classes. Serravalli returns to Florence once a year to give master classes at Centro Danza e Movimento, which was founded by the late Lilia Bertelli.
Tell me about your connection to Florence.
I was born here. This is my home, though I haven’t lived here except for a few months at a time since I left to go dance in New York many, many years ago. My family is here, my home is here, my heart is here.
Why did you leave Florence?
I was “discovered” while I was dancing on an Italian television show. A woman saw me dance and gave me the opportunity to go to New York and dance for the Joffrey Ballet. I was very young, and it took great courage for a young Florentine girl to leave home alone to go to the States. And I realised when I boarded the plane that I was not coming home, that somehow this was my destiny.
How did your parents feel about you going so far away? Many Florentines never move far from their parents. Wasn’t that very unusual, especially for a young, unmarried girl?
It was very, very unusual, and my parents of course were distraught but I think they knew too, that somehow I was “chosen” to follow this path. I was a kind of difficult child, with an electric energy, and I think they knew I could not be held down.
How do they feel now about you and your success?
Of course they’re very proud of me, and a little in awe of what I have accomplished.
How have you changed, and how have you stayed the same, by living in the States?
I feel in many ways I’ve become Americanised, and in a way that I am proud of. Regarding work, I am very fierce, I work hard, and long hours. I don’t like to stop for a long lunch, and I work very late. I work a very tight and strict schedule: when I have class, I start on time and finish on time, and I think this is very American, and I like to work this way. I think I still have an Italian sense of humour, an Italian joie de vivre, an Italian heart. I think my appreciation of beauty comes from being a Fiorentina.
How would you describe your identity as a Florentine?
RS: I have travelled all over the world, I have lived in places like China, Russia, and all over the United States, and I still think this city is the most beautiful city in the world. I am very proud to be Florentine. My parents were proud to be Florentine, and they were so very intelligent to always have me appreciate what it meant to live here. They always took me to the museums, to listen to music; they taught me to appreciate the architecture, to know that I lived in the heart of all the great art of the Renaissance.
Tell us about “your Florence.” What do you love about Florence?
The beauty, the buildings, the gardens, the food. I love everything about Florence.To me Florence is like a piece of jewelry made up of the most precious, clearest, flawless diamond.
What don’t you like, or what is difficult for you to appreciate?
Something that is difficult for me, even though it is something that I also like, is that Florence is a small community. Everyone knows everything about each other and sometimes this is bothersome, especially after being in New York where I can walk down the street practically anonymously.
When you are away from Florence, what do you miss most?
My family and the beauty, the beauty of everything, the food, the flowers, the buildings.
What is your favourite piazza in Florence? If you wanted to have an aperitif with a friend, where would you go?
Piazza Signoria or Santa Croce
for coffee or a drink?
Piazzale Michelangelomy father used to take me there and I still love the view of being in the city yet overlooking it.
On a Sunday afternoon where do you like to go for a drive?
Monte SenarioCertosa.
What is your favourite church?
I like to go to a little church in Fiesole, or Santo Spirito. I used to like the Duomo but now it doesn’t have the same feeling for me, being full of tourists all the time.
What do you think is the greatest misunderstanding that Americans have about Italians?
The stereotype of the Latin lover. That all Italians do is eat, drink, and make love. They think that Italians are not hard workers, that they just want to enjoy life, so they don’t take their intelligence seriously.
What do you think is the greatest misunderstanding that Italians have about Americans?
I think many Italians think Americans are stupid, unsophisticated. I think Americans are incredible, incredible. Of course, I hate stereotyping anyone. But I live in New York, and people are sophisticated, well-read, creative, innovative. Some Italians think there is no great art in the US, and I just don’t agree. For example, Broadway has produced and continues to produce great masterpieces that can be compared to the greatness of Bach or Mozartof course a very different art form, but as incredible. There’s the freedom to change, to create, to innovate in America that is truly amazing and exhilarating for me.
If you were going to describe Florence like a personality, how would you describe him/her?
Formosa (the Italian word for voluptuous). Like a big bosomed, tiny waisted, full bottomed woman: sexy, loving, with a huge heart bursting out, overflowing as the great bosomed cleavage. A bella donna.
What advice would you give to people who are visiting or living here?
To get up every day and let it happen. Florence is always giving you what you need. You need music, there is music. You need art, there is art. You need a relaxing café, you have it. You need a quiet garden, it’s there.
I also want to give advice to young people, American, English, Italian, whatever: you have to have the courage to step out from whatever you are used to. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing when I first got on the plane to go to NYC, and yet I knew that the courage I had to do it was the most important thing for me. I wasn’t the most talented dancer as a child, but maybe I was the most courageous.
We have been having some discussions in The Florentine about Italian men. What is your “take”?
I love Italian men; they are fun, they are gentlemen, they are “belli,” and they are more romantic. However I can also see through them, and no matter how great the package is on the outside, I can see past it to who is really there. I think many foreign women don’t have that ability and get mesmerised by the charm and are often disappointed.
