Elisabetta Terabust (5 August 1946 – 5 February 2018) was an Italian ballerina and company director. She trained at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and worked for the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet) and the Ballet National de Marseille. Terabust served as director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, La Scala, MaggioDanza of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and of the Corps de ballet at the Teatro di San Carlo at various points between 1990 and 2009. The primary ballet rehearsal room at the Teatro dell'Opera Di Roma Dancing School was renamed for her.
Terabust returned to Italy in the 1980s and was a guest performer at Aterballetto in works by Alvin Ailey, Amedeo Amodio, Balanchine and William Forsythe.[10] She also performed for the National Ballet of Canada and with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma as well as Teatro Comunale, Florence, the Verona Arena and Naples' Teatro di San Carlo.[3] In 1983, Terabust appeared on the BBC television programme Dancer.[1] Following her retirement from dancing, she was appointed director of the Teatro dell'Opera Di Roma in 1990, remaining at the company until 1992.[6] Between 1993 and 1997, Terabust served as director of Ballet at the La Scala opera house in Milan,[2][5] where she taught Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru.[6]
She went on to direct the MaggioDanza that is a permanent company of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino lasting from 2000 until 2002.[2][5] Between late 2002 and 2006,[9] Terabust was director of the Corps de ballet at the Teatro di San Carlo.[2][5] She returned as director of the Teatro dell'Opera Di Roma in September 2007,[9] before stepping down from the role in January 2009 and was replaced by Makhar Vaziev.[5] A biography on Terabust, Elisabetta Terabust l'assillo della perfezione, was published in 2013.[10] She was honorary director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in her later years.[12] Terabust received the International Dance Award City of Rieti from the Rieti municipality in 2013; she was invited twice between 2011 from 2014 by the Piero Prize Fasciolo patron to be a juror in choosing the award winner.[8]
Terabust died at her home close to the Campo de' Fiori in Rome on the morning of 5 February 2018 following a long illness. On 7 February, a chapel of rest was opened at the Teatro dell'Opera Di Roma's Dancing School between late morning and early afternoon. A funeral was held for Terabust on the same day at Rome's Artists' Church.[6]
Roberta Bignardi of Campadidanza magazine wrote that Terabust was "A great dancer and more: a combative and tenacious woman, an attentive, cultured, extravagant artist with an acute critical intelligence. She was an interpreter of quality and high – sometimes very high – level".[5]La Repubblica's Anna Bandettini described Terabust as "Beautiful, with a strong face, raven hair, pronounced temperament",[10] and Brendan Fitzgerald of The New York Times described her as having "Huge eyes, dark hair, harmonious proportions and a radiant presence which illuminates the stage".[4] In October 2019, the primary ballet rehearsal room of the Teatro dell'Opera Di Roma Dancing School was renamed from Sala Ballo A to Sala Elisabetta Terabust after Terabust.[13]
^ abCraine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith, eds. (2010). "Terabust, Elisabetta". The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199563449. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
^ abcOttolenghi, Vittoria (1998). "Terabust, Elisabetta". In Cohen, Selma Jeanne (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Dance. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195173697. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
