Inventing the diva: ballet stars of the 19th century

Elsa Giovanna Simonetti is a Paris-based philosophy scholar at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE–PSL), where her research focuses on ancient ideas of divination and salvation. Trained in ballet for over a decade, she later studied philosophy and aesthetics at the University of Bologna, taking courses in the history of dance, arts, and performance. For her work, she has travelled extensively and has lived in Italy, the UK, Belgium and now France – always taking every opportunity to see dance performances wherever she goes. Besides her academic career, she writes about dance, exploring its power to reimagine tradition and open meaningful dialogues with the present.