Petra Conti

Petra Conti was born on April 30, 1988, in Anagni but she lived in Frosinone, Italy.[1] Her father is Italian and her mother is Polish. Her mother and sister trained at the National Academy of Ballet in Poland.[2] In 2006 she graduated with honors from the National Academy of Dance in Rome.[3]

When Conti was seventeen years old, she was invited to dance as a guest star in the Arena di Verona Ballet's Cinderella. In 2008 she was a company member of the Bavarian State Ballet and a trainee at the Marinski ballet.[4] In 2009 she joined La Scala Theatre Ballet and was promoted to the rank of principal dancer in 2011.[5] In 2013 Conti was invited by Mikko Nissinen to join the Boston Ballet as a principal dancer.[3][6] She danced as a principal dancer with the company until 2017. Later that year she joined the Los Angeles Ballet as a resident principal guest dancer.[7]

From 2009 until 2011 Conti studied dramatic arts with Kuniaki Ida at the Arsenale Theater in Milan.[3]

In 2017 and 2018, Conti danced the slave variation in the Arena di Verona's production of Aida.[3][8] She performed the variation in blackface and was criticized by African-American ballet dancer Sydney Magruder Washington, who took to social media to voice her objection to Conti's performance.[9][8] An article criticizing her for performing in blackface was published by BroadwayWorld in 2019.[8]

She was the subject of a 2010 Sky Italia documentary titled Dancers of Tomorrow which focused on her performances in Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Don Quixote.[3]

Conti is married to Eris Nezha, former La Scala and Boston Ballet Principal Dancer and now a Principal Dancer with the Los Angeles Ballet.[10] She is also currently earning her bachelor's degree in Science of Leadership at Northeastern University.[3]

In 2016 Conti underwent surgery for kidney cancer.[2]