Florence, June 18th - EQUILIBRIUM, the latest exhibition curated by Stefania Ricci and Sergio Risaliti at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, honouring the trailblazing studies conducted by the Maestro on the anatomy of the foot, opened last night in Florence as part of the calendar of Firenze Hometown of Fashion, the program of special events organized in association with Pitti Immagine Uomo to mark the 60th anniversary of the Center of Italian Fashion.
The rich catalogue of the exhibition (running for almost one year until April, 2015) includes exceptionally fine and meaningful works of art in various media – painting, sculpture, photography, video, film, and printing - on loan from major international museums and art galleries. Artworks by Canova, Degas, Rodin and Bourdelle, Matisse and Picasso, Lipchitz and Severini, Klee and Calder, Bill Viola and Marina Abramovic, Wassily Kandinsky, Fausto Melotti, Albrecht Dürer, and Giulio Paolini, are displayed in the museum halls along with documentaries, historic records, and archive images of Nijinsky, Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Trisha Brown.

At the inaugural cocktail, members of the Ferragamo family welcomed the artists Will Self, Cecil Balmond, Bill Viola and Philippe Petit, joined by a mix of the most important names from the international fashion, art and culture worlds. Wines from the Ferragamo estates of Il Borro and Castiglion del Bosco were served to accompany elaborate finger food inspired by the theme of the exhibition, while the grand entrance hall of the museum, housing the party, was graced by graphic floral decorations of tall stemmed roses and statices in shades of apricot and antique pink.

Outside, in Santa Trinita Square with Palazzo Spini Feroni as the backdrop, guests and public alike admired the outstanding Cecil Balmond H_edge installation featuring metallic structures in equilibrium. In this striking location, the crowning moment arrived just after 7pm, when the prestigious Firenze Danza Ballet Company (formerly Maggio Danza, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Ballet Company), helmed by director and choreographer Davide Bombana, performed Suite dal balletto Carmen, with music by George Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin - an extract and first preview of the show to be staged at the Florentine Teatro della Pergola from June 20th. The show, repeated at 9:30pm, achieved resounding success in the public, who applauded enthusiastically the two prima ballerinas Letizia Giuliani and Gisella Carmona Gálvez, among other performers. It was the customary homage that the Ferragamo family is always keen to offer to the city of Florence, a way of showing its gratitude and highlighting once more the strong bond between Salvatore Ferragamo and the highest expressions of Italian art.