Carlo Di Lanno

Carlo Di Lanno was born in Naples, Italy, and trained at La Scala Ballet School in Milan. He danced with La Scala Ballet and Staatsballett Berlin before joining San Francisco Ballet as a soloist in 2014. He was promoted to principal dancer in 2016, and in 2020, he became a principal dancer with the Dresden Semperoper Ballett. He obtained a BA in Performing Arts at Saint Mary’s College (2020) and is currently pursuing an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business (class of ’23).

Carlo has danced principal roles in Tomasson’s Nutcracker (Nutcracker Prince and King of the Snow), Romeo & Juliet (Romeo), Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried), Sleeping Beauty (Prince Desirè), Trio, Prism, Valses Poeticos and Haffner Symphony; Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote (Espada); Wheeldon’s Cinderella (Prince Guillaume); Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments (Phlegmatic), Serenade (Waltz), Theme and Variations, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Agon; Cranko’s Onegin (Onegin); Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas, Symphony #9, and Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Piano Concerto #1; Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering (Green), and Opus 19/The Dreamer; Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour; Possokhov’s Bells pdd; Peck’s Rodeo: Four Dances Episodes; Caniparoli’s Ibsen’s House; Liang’s Infinite Ocean. He created principal roles in Forsythe’s Pas/Parts 2016; Thatcher’s Frayed, Painting Greys and Ghost in the Machine; Bubenicek’s Fragile Vessels; Millepied’s The Chairman Dances; Dawson’s Anima Animus; Welch’s Bespoke; Wheeldon’s Bound.

Before joining SF Ballet, Carlo danced principal or featured roles in Nureyev’s Swan Lake (Siegfried) and Don Quixote (Basilio), Balanchine’s Diamonds (principal) and Theme and Variations (principal), Dell’ Ara’s Excelsior (pas de cinq), Petit’s Pink Floyd Ballet (principal), Ratmansky’s Russian Seasons (Green) and Concerto DSCH (pas de deux).

As a guest artist, Carlo danced the role of Albrecht in Stiefel/Kobborg’s Giselle with Royal New Zealand Ballet on its UK tour in fall 2015. He has performed in galas in Hanoi; London; Dubai; Havana; Taipei; Toronto; Shanghai; Berlin; and Moscow (Bolshoi Theatre).

Carlo was named Best Emerging Artist at the Premio Danza&Danza Gala in Brescia, Italy, in June 2015 and won The Eleventh International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize in Toronto, Canada, in March 2015. He was named Italian Classical Dancer of the Year at Positano Premia la Danza Léonide Massine in Positano, Italy, in September 2014.