Roberto Bolle, born on 26 March 1975 in Cassale Monferrato, Italy, confessed in an interview that as a child he longed to be "the handsome prince from a fairy tale". He may well have predicted his future, for his career does indeed resemble a fairy tale. On his way to success, Bolle was accompanied by good judges in the form of important dancing personalities; he performed in front of the royal family, the Pope, and the whole world at the opening of the Olympic Games. He has donned the costume of a prince countless times, as well as the attire of noblemen or ancient heroes. After all, Robert Bolle's image of elegance and perfect appearance has been transferred to civilian life - as his fans and colleagues say, it is hard to find him unkempt or in a bad mood. Although in classical roles Bolle's sophisticated appearance has always been an advantage and clearly suited him to the role of danseur noble, in dramatic roles he has sometimes met with criticism, pointing to his limited emotional register and lack of authenticity where it is necessary to get his hands dirty (physically and character-wise).
Roberto Bolle is no longer just the handsome prince of ballet
He has been described as a dancer with the body of a Greek god and the aura of a movie star. He has reached the highest of the highest in the ballet world, and he has done it all, as it were, with grace, a disarming smile and without breaking a drop of sweat. Roberto Bolle, an extraordinary talent of his generation and an icon of Italian ballet, celebrates his 50th birthday this year and seems to have never let up on his legendary workload, even as his attention shifts from the big stages to his own projects and alternative forms of sharing the art of dance.
Yet it is clear that Roberto Bolle has been blessed with a near-perfect combination of qualities for a future ballet superstar - harmonious physical disposition, technical clarity, charisma, tenacity, as well as an open nature and reliability that make him a sought-after dance partner and colleague. This was already noticed by the legendary Rudolf Nureyev during Bolle's studies at the ballet school of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He offered the fifteen-year-old Robert the role of Tadzio in his upcoming opera Death in Venice. However, the school did not release him and his promising debut alongside his famous mentor did not take place. Bolle still describes this experience as a great disappointment and an important step in his career path.
Four years later, Bolle joined the Teatro alla Scala ballet company and quickly rose from a position in the corps de ballet to the highest possible position - that of principal dancer, or étoile, with a lifetime contract. However, for a young dancer with great ambitions, his home company soon became too confining, and although he never broke contact with La Scala, he decided at the age of twenty-three to pursue a career as a freelance artist. This also opened the way to almost all the world's stages: he danced with the British Royal Ballet, among others, and performed at Buckingham Palace in 2002 on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's anniversary celebrations; he danced at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow for Maya Plisetskaya 's birthday gala and guested in Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty at the Paris Opera. In 2004, he performed a solo in the Vatican Square in front of Pope John Paul II and in 2006 at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin.
The turning point in Robert Bolle's career was a stint with the American Ballet Theatre. He was first invited to New York in 2007 by the legendary Italian ballerina Alessandra Ferri, who said goodbye to the Metropolitan Opera stage as Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet. Bolle was the ideal Romeo for the occasion, and his guest appearance turned into a permanent engagement as principal dancer two years later. Although he struggled at first with a system of work quite different from European standards, he soon became one of the company's most popular faces and made his mark in the memory of audiences as Albert (Albrecht) in Giselle, Armand in The Lady with the Camellias, Onegin in the ballet of the same name and the Knight Des Grieux in Manon.
As well as dazzling in solo roles, his stage partners also sang his praises. Kevin MacKenzie, then director of the American Ballet Theatre, even revealed that dancers bombarded his office asking if Bolle could dance with them. The aforementioned Alessandra Ferri also chose him as her partner for her farewell performance at La Scala in Milan, and he also accompanied Paloma Herrera, Julia Kent, Zenaida Yanowsky and Aurélie Dupont during the farewell performance. He formed a very popular dance couple with the famous British dancer Darcey Bussell and the Russian prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova.
During the early years of his international career, Bolle began toying with the idea of his own project that would connect dance personalities from around the world while making classical dance accessible to the general public. And so, in 2008, he introduced Roberto Bolle and Friends - a series of exclusive classical dance galas that were, and still are today, showcases for the big names of the ballet world. There is no point in naming all the guest artists here, but it is not without interest that Czech dancers, such as the Bubeníčková brothers, Michal Krčmář and Nataša Novotná, have also performed at these galas. Over time, the Roberto Bolle and Friends project has taken up residence in the impressive (and atypical for dance) backdrops of ancient theatres, squares and other historical sites such as the Amphitheatre in Verona, Taormina or the Roman Colosseum. Audience interest was huge, and the Bolle Tour took the ballet show beyond Italy's borders to Japan and the United States.
When Roberto Bolle bid farewell to the American Ballet Theatre company in 2019 (in the role of the Knight Des Grieux in the ballet Manon, with which he began his American engagement), he was forty-four years old. In that time he had not stopped appearing on the world's prestigious stages, but he had long since ceased to be "just" a dancer. He became an ambassador for dance (especially in his native Italy), active in various fields of public engagement. His TV shows La Mia Danza Libera (2016) and Danza con me ( 2018), for which Rai 1 reserved prime time, have received an overwhelmingly positive response. It was watched by millions of viewers in anticipation of the popular guests and, of course, their idol, Roberto Bolle. In addition to television, throughout his career Bolle has regularly appeared in the pages of fashion magazines, in the pictures of important photographers (Annie Leibowitz and Bruce Weber) and in book compilations devoted to the art of movement. He has also been invited to collaborate with many fashion brands such as Tod's, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gap and Longines.
Not to make everything look like sun-drenched, even he hasn't escaped injuries and doubts about his own sufficiency. Although he is almost anxiously protective of his privacy, he has also mentioned on several occasions the feeling of loneliness that has accompanied him since his student days. He has lived away from his family since the age of twelve, when he moved from the Piedmont region to Milan, and even his later frequent travels have not helped in building strong relationships. But, as Bolle himself says, he now sees solitude differently and takes it as an opportunity for maximum concentration. His awareness of his own privilege and his sense of community have led him to charitable and educational activities, be it his collaboration with UNICEF (he has been a "goodwill ambassador" for the Children's Fund since 1999) or his own programme of workshops and masterclasses called OnDance. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his contribution to culture.
Watching Robert Bolle's current activities on and off stage, it is hard to believe that he is now entering his sixth decade of life. He thus joins an increasingly large group of dancers who are breaking out of the stereotypes of a short dance career and successfully translating their stage experience into new projects. And although the media, audiences and Robert Bolle's die-hard fans, the so-called Bollerini, still mention that aura of "princelyness" (and, I'm not afraid to say, the occasional stigma), it would be short-sighted to see him only from this perspective. Bolle grew out of the "handsome prince" box a long time ago and has matured into a much more complex and multi-layered personality than it might seem at first glance.
Sources:
https://robertobolle.com/bio/
https://robertobolle.com/rb-and-friends/
Malcom Pagani. Roberto Bolle: Ogni volta che sono caduto. Vanity Fair Italia, 17. 12. 2020
https://www.vanityfair.it/show/agenda/2020/12/17/roberto-bolle-intervista
Gia Kourlas. Roberto Bolle Says Goodbye to American Ballet Theater, but Not to Dance. The New York Times, 06/25/2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/arts/roberto-bolle-american-ballet-theater.html
Kory Stieg. Peek Backstage During Roberto Bolle's Final Bow with ABT. Dance Magazine, Sep 8, 2019.
https://dancemagazine.com/peek-backstage-during-roberto-bolles-final-bow-with-abt/#gsc.tab=0
Alessandro Cannavò. Roberto Bolle on turning 50 - I want to bring all those years to the stage. Gramilano, 24 Aug. 2024.
https://www.gramilano.com/2024/08/interview-roberto-bolle-on-turning-50/
Silvia Gianatti. Roberto Bolle: Volevo fare il principe azzurro. Vanity Fair Italia, 12/23/2022. https://www.vanityfair.it/article/roberto-bolle-intervista-danza-con-me-rai
Claudia Spano. Dancing with Roberto Bolle. Excellence Magazine, 5. 1. 2021. https://www.excellencemagazine.luxury/dancing-with-roberto/
Judith Mackrell. Review: Romeo and Juliet. The Guardian, 4/29/2002. https://www. theguardian.com/stage/2002/apr/29/dance.artsfeatures