FRACCI TAKES CONTROL IN ROME.

Just months after her failed bid for artistic directorship of Milan's La Scala Ballet, ballerina Carla Fracci signed a three-year contract to serve as artistic director of the Rome Opera House company. She was appointed by theater superintendent Francesco Ernani. Fracci's husband, the director Beppe Menegatti, was named the superintendent's artistic consultant; La Scala principal dancer Bruno Vescovo, Danish ballet master Niels Khelet and the French etoile Ghislaine Thesmar will be Fracci's assistants.

The Rome Opera Ballet, comprised of fifty-eight dancers, has been ruled over the last fifteen years by a parade of directors--Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Elisabetta Terabust, Giuseppe Carbone and Amadeo Amodio--underscoring the difficulties in managing the company. Rome Opera Ballet's progress has been restricted for years not only by a thirty-year financial deficit, but also by the influence of the dancers' union, which is so strong that some dancers have obtained principal status not by artistic credits hut by length of tenure.

"I want to respect the union agreements," Fracci declared, "though I think that for the sake of the company's development, dancers must understand that three lessons a week--as by union agreement--are insufficient to keep high standards. I hope they change their mentality, they find again the pride of being artists, not employees. Another thing to fight is the absenteeism."

Another problem Fracci must face is the company's annual budget: "Opera Superintendent Ernani assured me the board will do everything possible to define the ballet company's own budget," Fracci said. "Ballet productions must have their defined economical schedule. It is impossible to arrange artistic progress just waiting for the opera productions' leftovers!"

Fracci is planning her first season: She will stage two classics and two premieres. "My target is to increase the young dancers' value," she said. "Do not forget Rome Opera Ballet School, now directed by Paola Iorio, is a wonderful breeding ground for artists. Under Elisabetta Terabust's rule it improved as one of the most important ballet schools in the country. I hope to give the youngsters the opportunities they deserve."

Fracci's debut with the company actually happened in November 1999 when she danced the principal role in the revival of a ballet based on Eduardo de Filippo's celebrated comedy Filumena Marturano, directed by Menegatti and choreographed by Luc Bouy.