Elisabetta Terabust

Elisabetta Terabust, born Elisabetta Magli on 5 August 1946 in Varese, Lombardy, Italy, was an Italian ballerina and company director who built one of the most distinguished careers in European ballet over several decades. Her mother Charlotte was a French woman of Basque descent. Terabust died on 5 February 2018 at her home near the Campo de' Fiori in Rome following a long illness.

Terabust relocated to Rome at the age of eight and enrolled at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma's school the following year, at age nine. She graduated from the school in 1962, having trained under Attilia Radice. By 1966 she had been named prima ballerina, and in 1972 she was promoted to étoile. During this period she performed in productions including Giselle, La Sylphide, Les Biches, Balanchine's Symphony in C, and Romeo and Juliet, working alongside choreographers Erik Bruhn, Aurel Milloss, and Žarko Prebil. She received the 1969 Positano Prize, shared with Liliana Cosi, and the 1970 Le Noci d'Oro en Lecce award.

In 1973, Terabust joined the London Festival Ballet, now known as the English National Ballet, where she performed leading classical roles in Swan Lake, Coppélia, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle. There she worked with choreographers including George Balanchine, John Cranko, Barry Moreland, and Glen Tetley. In 1977, at the invitation of Roland Petit, she joined the Ballet National de Marseille, where she danced his versions of Nutcracker, Carmen, and Notre-Dame de Paris.

Terabust appeared on Broadway in 1980 in Makarova and Company. Her international stage work extended further to include guest performances with the National Ballet of Canada, Aterballetto, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Teatro Comunale in Florence, the Verona Arena, and Naples' Teatro di San Carlo. In 1983, she appeared on the BBC television programme Dancer.

Following her retirement from performing, Terabust transitioned into arts administration. She served as director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma from 1990 to 1992, then as director of Ballet at La Scala in Milan from 1993 to 1997, where she taught dancers including Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru. From 2000 to 2002 she directed the MaggioDanza, the permanent ballet company of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Between late 2002 and 2006, she served as director of the Corps de ballet at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. She returned to lead the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in September 2007, stepping down in January 2009 and being succeeded by Makhar Vaziev. In her later years she held the title of honorary director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

A biography titled Elisabetta Terabust l'assillo della perfezione was published in 2013, the same year she received the International Dance Award City of Rieti from the Rieti municipality. She also served as a juror for the Piero Fasciolo Prize on two occasions between 2011 and 2014. A chapel of rest was held at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma's Dancing School on 7 February 2018, and a funeral took place that same day at Rome's Artists' Church. In October 2019, the school's primary ballet rehearsal room was renamed Sala Elisabetta Terabust in her honor.