When Wayne McGregor first asked Alessandra Ferri to come out of retirement and anchor his ambitious ballet Woolf Works in 2015, it was an easy yes—and not only because the endearingly polite British choreographer asked her nicely, over tea.
Now, nine years later, the Italian dancer—one of the very few awarded the title of prima ballerina assoluta—has agreed to dance the role McGregor created for her once more. This month, at 61, Ferri will perform in two shows as the award-winning work, inspired by the life and writing of Virginia Woolf, has its New York premiere with American Ballet Theater. (ABT principal dancers Gillian Murphy and Hee Seo will alternate the role on other nights.)
Though Ferri seldom performs these days, she didn’t need much persuading to work with McGregor again—nor to dance on stage in the city that she called home for 30 years. In fact, she was enamored with the idea. After beginning her career at London’s Royal Ballet, she was invited to join ABT as a principal in 1985 by Mikhail Baryshnikov himself. As an international guest artist, she also lent her talents to La Scala Theatre Ballet in Milan—where one of her performances in Romeo & Juliet, showcasing her prowess not only as a dancer, but as an actress too, would have a profound impact on McGregor.
“It has really been my favorite role of this ‘second chapter,’ if we’ll call it that,” Ferri tells Vogue of her Woolf Works part during a break in her rehearsal schedule. Since announcing her retirement in 2007, she has emerged on several occasions to delight a grateful public. “I’ve been lucky to have many wonderful roles created for me, but this one has stayed very deeply inside of me,” she notes. “It has so many facets, depicting an amazing woman and artist who is incredibly strong and revolutionary, but who is so fragile and vulnerable at the same time.”
Ferri dived into her own well of life experience to unearth personal parallels, keenly aware that continuing to dance at her age, and defying preconceived notions about what the female body is capable of, was an important act in itself.
“Ballet is thought of as a young person’s game—ballerinas often retire in their 30s or 40s,” adds McGregor. “But why is it like that? Why have we allowed that limitation on people’s physical expression? I’m a massive advocate of working with people at all ages because they bring a completely different creative intelligence to the work.”
The role itself is very physically demanding, still further proof of Ferri’s dedication, commitment, and power. In preparation, Ferri, who last performed this part in March 2023 in the UK, eases her body into the day with a Pilates class and a ballet class each morning before rehearsing for an hour or so. Then it’s time for recovery, whether that’s physical therapy, a massage, or icing. It’s pure hard work, and a test of her humility and mettle. But she’s conscious that her presence on stage is reminding future generations that getting older is not just beautiful, but also a blessing. “I feel more free at this age to embrace life passing,” she muses. “You get to a point where you feel a lot stronger than what you were. Your image in the mirror, the mirror of life, becomes more clear, and you’re not afraid to look at it.”
It’s that unbridled passion that’s also motivated McGregor to create this kind of ballet. While Woolf notably advocated for women to use their voices in society almost a hundred years ago, somehow we are all still fighting to be heard. It’s “all the more reason we need innovation, creativity, cultural education, and artists who are challenging the status quo, reminding society that a lot of things that are happening are not fine,” McGregor says. “It’s really important that we have more and more diverse and representative artists who are questioning, pushing, challenging, advocating, and using their voices loudly. I’m making this work with really powerful women”—including lighting director Lucy Carter and dramaturg Uzma Hameed—“who have a lot to say, and collaboratively that’s really exciting to me.”
When dance-lovers settle into their seats at the Metropolitan Opera House this week, there’s a good chance they won’t have seen anything like Woolf Works before. McGregor likens its three acts—which take cues from the fluid way that Woolf wrote—to renderings (rather than direct adaptations) of her work. The first, “I Now, I Then” (based on Mrs. Dalloway), is the most narrative of the three, albeit presenting recognizable characters from Woolf’s world and their stories in a fragmented, non-linear way. “It’s really beautiful and poetic, and the music is gorgeous,” McGregor says, referring to Max Richter’s original score.
Next comes “Becomings” (Orlando), which “hurtles” the audience into a sci-fi rave of sorts, replete with electronic orchestral music, extreme physical expression, and gender-bending dynamics. “People really tend to love that one,” McGregor says with a laugh. “It’s like you take a window pane and smash it into shards, and add a few lasers in for good measure.”
And then there’s the final act, “Tuesday” (The Waves), which leans into Woolf’s biographical writing, including the suicide note that she left her husband, Leonard. “It sounds depressing, but it’s really hopeful and touching,” McGregor offers.
Another element that will feel novel to the classical ballet audience is the minimal costuming, by Moritz Junge; there isn’t a tutu in sight. “Part of it is that I love seeing the human body that is so well trained, moving in real time in front of you. I want to see it,” McGregor explains.
Yet there’s still a lot for the fashion fans to love. “The middle act is the most fun in terms of costumes,” he says. “There’s Baroque influences, diaphanous things, and then there’s woven bits of metal and gold that reflect the light.” The late and great Thierry Mugler, with whom McGregor collaborated before his death, proved an unexpected inspiration. “I sadly never got to see one of his stadium shows in the ’80s or ’90s, but that’s the energy we wanted. When all these art forms coalesce to something bigger than just dance, it makes it an event.”
Another 1990s cornerstone that continues to resonate with McGregor is the cultural edge that New York City had during that decade. As an impressionable young dance student in the city, living in a large loft with other artists, he thrived on the independence, the unexpected connections, and the ability to truly lose yourself in music then.
But now, as cultural conservatism, smartphones, and the commodification of nightlife all close in, how do we resuscitate the pulse of creative freedom? With greater funding and resources for the arts, sure, but on a peer-to-peer level, McGregor argues, we could stand to collaborate and convene more. “I remember the 1990s as being a time when amazing artists would work with younger ones. Opening up a venue allows that to happen, so we’re trying to do that in London now that [Studio Wayne McGregor, his creative arts company] is part of the cultural establishment. We’re inviting all of these young, energetic, wilder, non-rules-focused artists into the building to be with us.”
Yet in Manhattan, at Lincoln Center, Ferri finds their project similarly important. She believes that bringing Woolf Works to the New York audience is “a wonderful move forward” for ABT. “Woolf Works is the new classical ballet,” she says. “It’s so extremely moving, delicate, powerful, and modern all at the same time.”
Indeed, the question of what ballet looks like now has very much been on her mind during Ferri’s second chapter, as she prepares to become director of the Vienna State Ballet in September 2025. “I really love what I do, I feel so free and transcended when I dance—but I want to pass my experience on and open the door for others,” she says. “If I can give the key to a young dancer to unlock something in their soul, that’s a beautiful and fulfilling moment.”
Performances of Woolf Works run from June 25 to June 29 at the Metropolitan Opera House.