Roberto Bolle

Biography

Roberto Bolle was born in Casale Monferrato.
When he was extremely young he entered the Theatre La Scala ballet school.
Rudolf Nureyev was the first to notice his talent and he chose Roberto to interpret Tadzio in the ballet Death in Venice.

In 1996, just 2 years after he joined the Theatre Company, at the end of a Romeo and Juliet performance, Roberto was promoted to Principal by Elisabetta Terabust who was at that time the Director of the Corp de Ballet. Since then he has starred in many contemporary and classical ballets such as Sleeping Beauty - Cinderella - Don Quixote (Nureyev) Swan Lake (Nureyev - Dowell - Deane - Bourmeister). The Nutcracker (Wright - Hynd - Deane - Bart), La Bayadиre (Makarova), Etudes (Lander), Excelsior (Dell’Ara), Giselle (also in the new Sylvie Guillem’s version), Spectre de la rose, La Sylphide, Manon, Romeo and Juliet ( MacMillan - Deane), Onegin (Cranko), Notre-Dame de Paris (Petit), The Merry Widow (Hynd), Ondine, Rendez-vous and Thais (Ashton), In the middle somewhat elevated (Forsythe), Three Preludes (Stevenson).
Also the neoclassical roles he has also had many: Agon, Tchaikovsky pas de deux and above all Apollon musagete, which led to his nomination for the "Benois de la danse" Prix.

Since 1996 his international career has increased. He has danced with the Royal ballet, the National Canadian Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Finnish National Ballet, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Opera House in Vienna, the Staatsoper in Dresden, the Opera House in Munich, the Wiesbaden festival, 8th and 9th International ballet festival in Tokyo, the Tokyo Ballet, the Opera Theatre in Rome, the San Carlo Theatre in Naples and the City Theatre in Florence.

Derek Deane, the English National Ballet director, created two productions for him: Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet both of them performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

On the 10th anniversary of the Opera Theatre in Cairo he performed in a fabulous Aida at the pyramids of Giza and afterwards at the Arena in Verona for a new version of the opera live worldwide.

Since December 1998 he has been Residential Guest Artist at La Scala Theatre.

In October 2000 he opened the season at Covent Garden Opera House in London performing Swan Lake, Anthony Dowell’s choreography, and in November he was invited to Bolshoi to celebrate Maya Plisetskaya's 75th anniversary in the presence of President Putin.
In June 2002, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee, he danced at Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Queen. The event was broadcast live by BBC and transmitted to all the Commonwealth countries.
In October 2002 while La Scala Ballet was on tour in Moscow, he danced Romeo and Juliet with Alessandra Ferri in Kenneth MacMillan's production at the Bolshoi Theatre.
In 2003, to celebrate St Petersbourg’s 300 year anniversary, Roberto danced Swan Lake with Royal Ballet at Maryinsky Theatre.
Immediately afterwards he performed Amedeo Amodio's L'pres-midi d'un faune to celebrate the return of the Dancing Faune to Mazara del Vallo.
During the season 2003/2004 he was promoted to Etoile at La Scala Theatre.
In February 2004 he performed L'histoire de Manon for the first time with Alessandra Ferri at Arcimboldi Theatre in Milan It was a huge success.
In March he danced The Fire Bird a solo made specifically for him by Renato Zanella at the prestigious Italian San Remo Festival broadcast worldwide.
Afterwards he was invited by Maryinsky Theatre to dance for the third International Ballet Festival where he performed De Grieux in L’histoire de Manon and for the closing Gala he danced the pas de deux from Excelsior and J Kudelka's Summer.
On 1st April 2004 he danced in front of the Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square to celebrate young people's day.
The Paris Opera invited him to dance Don Quixote in May and The Sleeping Beauty in December.
On 7th December, to celebrate the re-opening of La Scala Theatre after its restoration, he danced Europa riconosciuta with Alessandra Ferri and 3 weeks later in the New Year’s Eve Star Gala.

In March 2005 he was invited to dance Apollon musagete at Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersbourg on occasion of the fourth International Ballet Festival.
In December 2005 at Covent Garden Opera House in London he performed F. Ashton’s production of Sylvia, broadcast by BBC on Christmas Day.
In February 2006 he danced at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin where he performed a solo created for him by Enzo Cosimi.
The ceremony was broadcast worldwide.

Among his numerous partners: Altynai Asylmuratova, Darcey Bussell, Lisa-Marie Cullum, Viviana Durante, Alessandra Ferri, Carla Fracci, Isabelle Guerin, Sylvie Guillem, Greta Hodgkinson, Margareth Illmann, Susan Jaffe, Lucia Lacarra, Agnes Letestu, Marianela Nunez, Elena Pankova, Lisa Pavane, Daria Pavlenko, Laetitia Pujol, Tamara Rojo, Polina Semionova, Diana Vishneva, Zenaida Yanowsky, Svetlana Zakharova.

He has received many prizes throughout his carrier.
In 1995 he received the prize: " Danza e Danza" and the prize " Positano" as a young promising dancer of Italian Classical Ballet.
In 1999 at Sala Promoteca in Campidoglio in Rome he was awarded the prize "Gino Tani" for his contribution to the development of body language and soul which represent the true values of dance and movement.
The following year he was awarded the prize "Galileo 2000" and "Pentagramma d’oro" in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
He also received the following prizes: "Danza e Danza" in 2001, "Barocco 2001" e "Positano 2001" for his international activity in the latest years.

Since 1999 he has been Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.