Italian ballet is a term used to describe the training methods and aesthetic qualities seen in classical ballet in Italy. Italy has a long history with ballet, and it is widely believed that the earliest predecessor of the modern dance form originated in the Italian courts of the Renaissance, before becoming popularised in France. Today, Italian ballet is recognised for two leading methods, the Cecchetti method, devised by Enrico Cecchetti and the training system of the La Scala Theatre Ballet School, the country's most prestigious professional ballet school.

Ballet began during the Italian Renaissance court as an outgrowth of court pageantry, where aristocratic weddings were lavish celebrations. Court musicians and dancers collaborated to provide elaborate entertainment for them. Ballet was further shaped by the French ballet de cour, which consisted of social dances performed by the nobility in tandem with music, speech, verse, song, pageant, decor and costume. When Catherine de' Medici, an Italian aristocrat with an interest in the arts, married the French crown heir Henry II, she brought her enthusiasm for dance to France and provided financial support. These glittering entertainments supported the aims of court politics and usually were organized around mythological themes.

Gerald Arpino (January 14, 1923 – October 29, 2008) was an American dancer and choreographer. He was co-founder of the The Joffrey Ballet and succeeded Robert Joffrey as its artistic director in 1988.

Born in Staten Island, New York, Gerald Arpino studied ballet with Mary Ann Wells, while stationed with the Coast Guard in Seattle, Washington. Arpino first met Robert Joffrey at Wells's school. He studied modern dance with May O'Donnell in whose company he appeared in the 1950s.

In 1956, Arpino was a founding member of the Robert Joffrey Theatre Ballet with Robert Joffrey. He served as co-director of the company's school, the American Ballet Center, and was the leading dancer until an injury forced him to stop in 1963. By 1965 he had choreographed five works for the company, and became the Joffrey's co-director and resident choreographer. In the first twenty-five years of the company's existence, Arpino had created more than a third of all its commissioned ballets.

After the death of Robert Joffrey in 1988, Arpino became the Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet and in 1995 moved the company to Chicago. In July 2007, he was named "Artistic Director Emeritus" as a search for a successor began. Arpino suffered from prostate cancer for seven months and eventually died on October 29, 2008.

Carla Fracci (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarla ˈfrattʃi]; born 20 August 1936 in Milan, Italy) is a ballet dancer and actress. Her career highlights include Nijinsky, Giselle (American Ballet Theatre), Complete Bell Telephone Hour Performances: Erik Bruhn 1961-1967.

Fracci studied at La Scala Theatre Ballet School starting in 1946. She graduated to La Scala Theatre Ballet in 1954, where she was promoted to soloist in 1956, and to principal in 1958. Other ballet companies she appeared with include: the London Festival Ballet (1959 & 1962), the Royal Ballet (1963), the Stuttgart Ballet (1965), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1969). She was a principal guest artist with American Ballet Theatre from 1967.

She was known for her performances in Giselle, dancing in with partners such as Rudolf Nureyev, Vladimir Vasiliev, Henning Kronstam, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Erik Bruhn.

On 16 October 2004, Carla Fracci was named Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəniː dʒʌrməˈnɑːtə/ STE-fə-nee jurr-mə-NAH-tə; born March 28, 1986), known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album Born This Way (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Besides her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Roberto Bolle (born March 3, 1975) is an Italian ballet dancer. He is currently a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and also holds guest artist status with The Royal Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet, making regular appearances with both companies.

Bolle was born in Casale Monferrato in the Piemont Region of Italy. He began ballet studies at age seven at a local school, and was accepted at the La Scala theatre ballet school in Milan at the age of eleven. Rudolf Nureyev chose Roberto to interpret Tadzio in the ballet Death in Venice.

In 1996, following an appearance in Romeo and Juliet, twenty year old Bolle was promoted to Principal Dancer at La Scala. He left that position when he was 21 to pursue a freelance career. Since then he has starred in many ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Notre-Dame de Paris, and In the middle somewhat elevated.

Bolle has danced for the Royal Ballet, the Tokyo Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Finnish National Ballet, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper in Dresden, the Bavarian State Opera, the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden, the 8th and 9th International Ballet Festivals in Tokyo, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and the City Theatre in Florence.