«Before Amici I had to give up dancing due to illness. What if I fly to New York? Maybe”

He has spent the last few months inside Italy’s most popular school wearing a knee brace, ever since he started feeling pain in his right leg in mid-December. They didn’t stop her. On the other hand, Marisol Castellanos, of Cuban origin but Italian from Biella, winner of the “dance” circuit of Amici 23, second place in Saturday’s final of Maria De Filippi’s talent show – seen by 4.48 million spectators equal to 31.8 % share on Canale 5 – behind the singer Sarah Toscano, she soon learned to face the obstacles that life can throw at her, despite having just turned 18: «I was seven when I started going to dance school. Then, however, in third grade I had health problems that kept me away from my passion for two years. I was ill again in 2022 and even then I had to leave, for three months. During which I felt like I was failing,” she says.

Sarah Toscano: «Before Amici I played tennis at a professional level. I learned to sing in holiday villages”

We don’t want to be prying: are you okay now?
«Fortunately, yes. I would prefer not to go into detail about the illness: it is a private matter. And I don’t feel like making it public.”

We understand. Did you give her more strength?
“Yes. When I went back to dancing I always did it more determined and hungry than before. It’s true what they say: it’s when you’re about to lose something that you understand its true value. I understood that without dance I felt incomplete.”

To whom do you owe your passion for dance?
«Maybe it’s in my blood: dad is Cuban. I also got my fiery energy from him. It was my sister who took me to a modern dance school for the first time. Meeting my teacher, Emily, changed my life. It’s as if she saw a light in me: she always pushed me to give my best.”

Is there anyone who inspires you in dance and in life more generally?
“Yes. Misty Copeland: she was the first African-American dancer to join the American Ballet Theater in New York, the most prestigious American ballet company, of which today she is Étoile. Her story gave me confidence and hope.”

During Saturday’s final, in addition to winning the Critics’ Award, she also won one of the three dance scholarships granted to Amici’s students by the Alvin Ailey school in New York. Will you fly to the States, then?

«I’m still stunned, as well as flattered. That is one of the most important academies in the world and it is a train that passes once in a lifetime. In the meantime, I’m thinking about returning home, to Biella, and hugging my whole family again. We’ll see”.

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