The event that brings together the Piccolo Teatro and the Accademia Teatro alla Scala over the Christmas period has become a tradition. In December 2022, audiences will once again be enchanted by Cenerentola, the ballet set to the music of Sergej Prokof’ev and choreographed by Frédéric Olivieri. The ballet, commissioned by the Fondazione Bracco in 2015, sees more than 100 young dancers on stage. 
The score, with the prominent presence of classic and popular dance, court dances and exotic dances, pas de deux and variations, is particularly suitable for young performers enthusiastic to have an opportunity to demonstrate their technical and interpretive skills.
Through a choreographic reading that focuses on a romantic and fairy-tale style, Maestro Olivieri puts the pupils through their paces in various moments of the two acts of the ballet; in the first act, there is the dance of the four seasonal fairies, called on by the Fairy Godmother to make Cinderella’s dreams come true and lead her to the ball, while the second act presents the court ball, the dance of the three oranges, the Prince's gift that the stepsisters fight for, the Spanish and Arabesque dances, the variations and the pas de deux between Cinderella and the Prince.
The personality of each of the characters is outlined through musical leitmotivs and themes that follow the events narrated in the story: thus, Cenerentola is characterised by three different themes, the first underlining the feeling of oppression and solitude, the second the hope for a rosier future, and the third her falling in love and the joy of having found happiness. On the contrary, the stepsisters are represented in farcical and clumsy tones, while the stepmother enters the scene accompanied by dark and threatening modulations that are in net contrast to the melodic and reassuring notes of the Fairy Godmother.
The sets have been designed by Angelo Sala, while the costumes for the lead performers have been designed by Maria Chiara Donato and created by the pupils and graduates of the theatrical tailoring course, as well as by the Sartoria Brancato. The sculptures have been created by Fausta Cerizza, a graduate of the Scenography course.