La Scala Theatre Ballet School La Scala Theatre Ballet School La Scala Theatre Ballet School () is one of the leading classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of La Scala Theatre Ballet, an international ballet company based at La Scala in Milan, Italy. The school forms part of the theatre's Academy for Performing Arts. The ballet school was founded in 1813 by Benedetto Ricci, as the "Accademia di ballo" (dance academy) of the "Teatro alla Scala". Following the defeat of Napoleon, the school's name was changed to "Imperial Regia Accademia di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala" (Royal Imperial Dance Academy
La Scala orchestra pit had not yet been built. Above the boxes, La Scala has a gallery—called the "loggione"—where the less wealthy can watch the performances. The gallery is typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, known as the loggionisti, who can be ecstatic or merciless towards singers' perceived successes or failures. For their failures, artists receive a "baptism of fire" from these aficionados, and fiascos are long remembered. For example, in 2006, tenor Roberto Alagna was booed off the stage during a performance of "Aida". This forced his understudy, Antonello Palombi, to quickly replace him mid-scene without time to change