Together on stage, united in life. Thus the two principal dancers of La Scala in Milan , Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko , embarked on a new adventure : one which made them testimonials of the Italian Foundation for Arthritis Research (FIRA). The couple, who are in Cagliari for the only national stage of the Swan Lake tour with the La Scala ballet company , met the public this morning in the foyer of the city's Lyric Theatre . With them also the superintendent Nicola Colabianchi , Professor Alberto Cauli , full professor of Rheumatology at the University of Cagliari, Director of Rheumatology of the AOU of Cagliari and member of the FIRA Board of Directors and Dr. Aurora Marsotto , advisor to the FIRA Board of Directors.

«Our life is centered on movement, dance and expression – explains Manni -. We could never imagine a life without the possibility of moving , of expressing our feelings and emotions through our body. This is precluded for people suffering from rheumatological pathologies. What is taken for granted for us is not for them. For this reason we want to put the spotlight even more on these diseases and on the work that FIRA has been doing for years to find a cure, hopefully definitive."

The couple ideally takes up the baton of the great étoile Carla Fracci, who worked alongside the Foundation for 12 years. «She was the first and historic testimonial. It is a great honor for us to be able to be her successors, after having worked with her a few months before her passing. He taught us many things both about dance and everyday life. Her greatness also shines through in these gestures", says Andrijashenko, remembering the Milanese dancer. The couple's commitment began with the creation of an advertisement to raise awareness of the importance of research and an invitation to donate 5 x 1000 to FIRA, in which they are protagonists. In the video Nicoletta symbolically interprets with dance the aim of the research which helps those who experience a situation of pain and constraint due to the disease, played by Timofej, to free themselves and move in harmony again.

Opening the meeting with institutional greetings was Superintendent Colabianchi who did not hide the pride of the Opera «for having managed to bring La Scala and its dance troupe to Cagliari. This title, Swan Lake, so loved by the public is a great result for us. We are also happy with the initiative with FIRA, which I thank: scientific research must go hand in hand with culture and art ."

Among the topics discussed at the meeting was also the importance of raising citizens' awareness of the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatological diseases, including arthritis but also osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus, connective tissue disease, which affect over seven million Italians. «I thank Nicoletta and Timofej for accepting our invitation. We are proud to have two dance stars at our side, who have made themselves available for a social cause" underlines Alberto Cauli, full professor of Rheumatology at the University of Cagliari , Director of Rheumatology at the AOU of Cagliari and member of the Board of Directors of FIRA. «In Italy there is a need to stimulate and support independent scientific research . In recent years, rheumatology research has made enormous progress in identifying the causes of major rheumatological diseases and intelligent drugs that have helped improve patients' lives. We raise funds for scientific research, keeping in mind, however, that the objective is to make all these advances available to the patient."

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