Roberto Bolle - news and interviews

[Naomi M]

Several Italian media have reported that Roberto Bolle intends to retire in April 2022 when he is 47. Bolle is currently 45 years old which is quite unbelievable.  He has talked about this in a recent TV appearance.

https://www.ilmessaggero.it/spettacoli/teatro/roberto_bolle_intervista_a_sky_tg24_pensione_aprile_2022-5615385.html
 

[Guest oncnp]

"To be a dancer takes humility, a sense of adventure, and the ability to bear loneliness."

 

Interview with Roberto Bolle 

 

https://www.gramilano.com/2021/01/interview-roberto-bolle-im-very-focused-on-what-i-do-thats-a-difficult-pact-for-anyone/

[JennyTaylor]

I've just seen photos posted on Instagram of Marianela Nunez and Roberto Bolle rehearsing at the ROH.  Dying to know for what purpose. I had a look at La Scala's website and no clue there, but I did note that he is due to dance Onegin in September 2022. 

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

I've just seen photos posted on Instagram of Marianela Nunez and Roberto Bolle rehearsing at the ROH.  Dying to know for what purpose. I had a look at La Scala's website and no clue there, but I did note that he is due to dance Onegin in September 2022. 

 

Saw  this as well. Getting a little anxious about Thursday now. 

[JennyTaylor]

4 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

Saw  this as well. Getting a little anxious about Thursday now. 

Nothing on the ROH webiste - checked that too

[Guest oncnp]

5 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

Nothing on the ROH webiste -

 

The first place I looked as well. Probably nothing but coming from the US for the performance and have e-mailed the box office for clarification (not that they'll tell me but doesn't hurt to ask. )

[capybara]

26 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

I've just seen photos posted on Instagram of Marianela Nunez and Roberto Bolle rehearsing at the ROH.  Dying to know for what purpose. I had a look at La Scala's website and no clue there, but I did note that he is due to dance Onegin in September 2022. 

Maybe for a future performance in the Roberto Bolle and Friends series or the end of January gala in Rome?

Instagram is full of misleading pictures (and false alarms)!

 

Edited to add that Nunez would not be rehearsing for Giselle in the kind of mid-length tutu she is wearing in the photo with Bolle.

Edited November 14, 2021 by capybara

[Guest oncnp]

1 minute ago, capybara said:

Maybe for a future performance in the Roberto Bolle and Friends series or the end of January gala in Rome?

Instagram is full of misleading pictures (and false alarms)!

 

Probably so....

[FionaM]

Marianela is wearing a tutu in one and a short floaty skirt in another … sounds like 2 gala pieces 🤔 

 

My guess is it’s for a Roberto arranged gala in Italy.  He usually has a show on TV at Christmas I think? 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWRD6F2IDgN/?utm_medium=copy_link

Edited November 14, 2021 by FionaE
Typo

[FionaM]

Ah I see from his website he has a ‘Roberto and Friends ‘ show in Dubai in early January 2022.  So that’s a possibility … although still rather a long way away to be rehearsing now? 

[Odyssey]

On 14/11/2021 at 21:36, JennyTaylor said:

I've just seen photos posted on Instagram of Marianela Nunez and Roberto Bolle rehearsing at the ROH.  Dying to know for what purpose. I had a look at La Scala's website and no clue there, but I did note that he is due to dance Onegin in September 2022. 

Marianela is listed as taking part in Roberto Bolle’s annual New Year TV programme Danza Con Me. They are performing two dances together from Paquita and Manon. Melissa Hamilton is also appearing with Bolle  in McGregor’s Borderlands. The details are her which you can Google translate. Lots of mouthwatering treats.

https://giornaledelladanza.com/roberto-bolle-danza-con-me-tra-gli-ospiti-svetlana-zakharova-marianela-nunez-virna-toppi-nicoletta-manni-e-molti-altri/

Lovely that Italy has this New Year tradition in its mainstream schedule. I was trying to think who would have the media presence to establish such a gala here - Darcey Bussell, Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo?  Certainly hard to  think of anyone who, like Bolle,  is still dancing regularly. 

 

 

[emmarose]

How is he 45? He does not look it at all!!!!! Jesus, he takes amazing care of himself (and obviously very blessed by his genes too!).

[alison]

He does look amazingly well preserved, it has to be said.

[capybara]

My Instagram feed tonight was awash with Bolle posts. He must have someone ‘ on the case’ for him.

 

[FionaM]

The year end Bolle TV show does appear to be popular!   And he incorporates a wide range of dance styles in the programme, including Paquita and Manon duets with Marianela, and Giselle with Svetkana Zakharova.  It can only be good for widening appreciation of ballet.  As someone said up-thread it would be good to have something similar on UK TV.   
 

The show included yet another Wayne McGregor “manipulate Melissa Hamilton’s legs to extreme places” duet in which I didn’t really notice Bolle, as it could be any good partner.  That’s probably true for the whole show!  He does a good job of selecting ballerinas who stand out in specialist pieces.  
 

Melissa manages to look beautiful and create mood whilst doing extreme things.  Glad they were both wearing black shorts rather than nude pants and tops as in prior duets.  

[FionaM]

I hadn’t noticed before that the show included a Liam Scarlett duet from ‘With a Chance of Rain’ … Roberto with La Scala dancer Agnese Di Clemente (a couple of short clips on her IG story)

 

Google translation of programme link (not edited):

 

Roberto Bolle - Dance with me - among the guests Svetlana Zakharova, Marianela Nuñez, Virna Toppi, Nicoletta Manni and many others
 December 26, 2021 News

 

 We dedicated this episode to CARLA FRACCI, of whom we will remember a moment lived together as cheerful and extraordinary, as she was, her talent and her ability to bring dance to everyone. "  - Roberto Bolle

 The new year of Rai1 opens with what has now become a beautiful and highly anticipated custom: the great
 dance show by Roberto Bolle that returns with his DANZA CON ME, broadcast in prime time on January 1st 2022. DANZA CON ME - produced by Rai1 in collaboration with Ballandi and Artedanza srl - builds a parallel world where for one evening everything is suspended, an extraordinary journey, which leaves you breathless, through the great artof dance told and experienced in depth and lightly together.  A round trip from reality in which the viewer returns in some way changed.

 This fifth edition of DANCE WITH ME also hosts very special artists from an even richer and more varied range of fields than previous editions, to celebrate the return to life in all its forms, with cameos and
 unpublished and original participations from the world of music and cinema, dance and culture, literature and television itself.  All united in what has now become a sort of propitiatory rite for the new year.  All together in the shared joy of being back to doing what we have been missing for a long, long time.
 Conducted by an artist much loved by the public, SERENA ROSSI, who in DANCE WITH ME with elegance and that grace that embraces and warms her, will not fail to get involved in all her registers, pushing herself into territories
 new and surprising.  Next to her, the irony of LILLO who returns - or so he believes - to her first love, dance.

 Special guest of the evening JOHN MALKOVICH who, in addition to lending himself to the dynamics of the program, will bring a theatrical piece of great lightness and charm, accompanied by the extraordinary artists IGUDESMAN & JOO.
 The timeless ORNELLA VANONI will be the soul of an unprecedented "dance company" made up of some of the most popular Italian actresses of the moment: MARGHERITA BUY, MICAELA RAMAZZOTTI, BENEDETTA PORCAROLI, SABRINA IMPACCIATORE and DIANA DEL BUFALO.

 Music is, as always, one of the main ingredients of DANCE WITH ME.
 Among the guests the duo COLAPESCE and DIMARTINO who will give life, together with the young students of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, to a moment of colorful and "very light" show.  BOOSTA - aka Davide DiLeo - will accompany Roberto Bolle in two highly suggestive moments of dance, both in his most electronic and in his most melodic key.  The young and incredible FRIDA BOLLANI MAGONI, will thrill with her talent on the piano and voice, Roberto Bolle and the first dancers of La Scala.  And she, always at the piano, she will embellish a ballet of contemporary classical dance, the always feminine skill of the musician BEATRICE RANA.

 A reflection, composed of dance and words, on time and its relationship with love, is created by Roberto Bolle and the prima ballerina of La Scala in Milan, VIRNA TOPPI, together with two great actors of today: JASMINE TRINCA and
 ALESSANDRO BORGHI.
 In this edition of DANZA CON ME we also wanted to celebrate the return to sport, which this year particularly gave us many reasons for pride as a country and it was done by combining, for the first time, the dance of Bolle with gracefulness. and the beauty of OLYMPIC BUTTERFLIES.

 The presentation and study of some of the most important and significant pieces of this year's dance program have been entrusted to authoritative personalities from the world of literature such as NICOLA LAGIOIA and
 SILVIA AVALLONE, in the themes and areas most suited to their styles, and of television as FRANCA LEOSINI for the unveiling of the great stories behind the great ballets.  To tell us legends and anecdotes from the world of
 dance, the irresistible CARLA SIGNORIS.
 A bewildered and certainly unconventional look on the world of dance will instead be entrusted to VALERIO LUNDINI.
 The great dance of Roberto Bolle, always at the center of DANCE WITH ME, sees, this year, the return of some great stars on the international scene: an effort that is hope and a symbol of reopening.
 First of all the beautiful SVETLANA ZAKHAROVA, star of world dance, First Absolute Ballerina of the Bolshoi of Moscow.  To her the task of paying homage, together with Bolle, to Carla Fracci by performing what was the great workhorse of the Milanese dancer: Giselle.  Alongside this great title of classical dance, another cornerstone of the Paquita repertoire, by Marius Petipa, danced here by the Étoile accompanied by the young students of the Accademia della Scala in Milan and above all by MARIANELA NUÑEZ, Prima Ballerina of the Royal Ballet of London, with which Bolle also dances the timeless L'Histoire de Manon, by Kenneth MacMillan.
 As always at the center of the story is the dance of Roberto Bolle - deus ex machina, creator and artistic director of the program - capable of combining art and irony, sacred and profane, high and low and to create a middle ground in which contemporaneity is intertwined. to the immutability of the classic with new and unexpected implications.  Many original pieces created or revisited for the program.
 Among these, a piece simply titled Acqua by Mauro Bigonzetti where Roberto Bolle with Virna Toppi and the dancers of Michela Merola's MM Contemporary Dance Company give life to a rhythmic and at the same time sensual dance in the rain.  A piece that will glue viewers to the video.
 The tango is reinterpreted with the steps of classical dance by Massimiliano Volpini in a triptych with music by Astor Piazzolla entitled Alma Porteña starring Bolle and NICOLETTA MANNI, Prima Ballerina of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, on the notes of the violin by ALESSANDRO QUARTA.
 Again with the MM Company and this time with TIMOFEJ ANDRJASHENKO, Primo Dancer of the Scala, Bolle will instead give life to a sunny piece that tastes of summer and friendship, but also of inclusiveness and unions, Zorba the Greek, of the
 choreographer Lorca Massine.  In the context of contemporary classical dance, two fascinating pieces
 surprising: Borderlands by Wayne McGregor, who Bolle dances with the beautiful MELISSA HAMILTON, soloist of the Royal Ballet of London, and With a chance of rain by Liam Scarlett, with the young AGNESE DI CLEMENTE, of the
 Milan staircase.
 A particular note deserves the piece on the notes of Respect, interpreted for the first time by Serena Rossi, on which the dancers of SILENT BEAT, the company of Irma Di Paola, will perform.  The union of dance with gestures
 borrowed from the language of signs, it creates a suggestive and exciting atmosphere with a great emotional impact.
 And much more interspersed with stories and interventions, smiles and perhaps a few tears of emotion: a great show born and raised, edition after edition, to preserve and defend Art and Beauty while waiting for them to regain possession of all possible spaces. and reach those previously considered impossible.  With the magic of dance that anything can, at least for one night.
 This year's studio is a LED arena that creates an almost immersive experience in dance thanks to the settings and graphics of Cristina Redini and her team, who have always been a consultant for all editions of DANZA CON ME.  The direction is entrusted to Cristiano D’Alisera for the third consecutive year

[emmarose]

On 01/01/2022 at 22:49, alison said:

He does look amazingly well preserved, it has to be said.

 

He has to have a portrait in the attic or something. The man looks nowhere near 45, he's keeping himself in such good condition!

[Odyssey]

I’ve been following the latest Bolle and Friends tour of Italy. Such gorgeous locations, including outdoor performances at wonderful venues in Verona and Rome. The guests this year have included( for the first time?) Vladim Muntagirov and Fumi Kaneko, as well as his long time friend/  guest partner, Melissa Hamilton.  The venues appear to be pretty much sold out and the reception they receive is pretty amazing - he seems to command rock star status in his homeland. 
As well as the dancers’  own Instagram pages, there’s  a lot of clips on YouTube, including dancersdiary (Andrej Uspensk)’s beautiful short films at the various location. 
I’d love to see Bolle tour here. He’s such a special dancer and the team spirit he appears to generate amongst his guests is great to see. 

[capybara]

I don't think that Roberto is going to retire any time soon. His "& Friends" show in July 2023 is already on sale for the Arena di Verona!!!

[Sophoife]

A dancing friend tells me Roberto Bolle, while he certainly has many irons in many fires, works extremely hard at maintaining his fitness and technique. Wherever he is and whatever he's doing he spends at least three hours a day in the studio and gym, which for a 47yo who is basically freelance and spends most of his life travelling is impressive discipline.

[FionaM]

Roberto will be partnered by Marianela Nuñez in ONEGIN at La Scala on 14, 17, 20, 23 September 2022

 

https://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/2021-2022/balletto/onegin.html

[TurningPointe]

41 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Roberto will be partnered by Marianela Nuñez in ONEGIN at La Scala on 14, 17, 20, 23 September 2022

 

https://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/2021-2022/balletto/onegin.html

WOW!  Roberto Bolle is an amazing case, and indeed he holds ‘rock star’ status in Italy.  

 

Ballet dancers tend to live their ‘functional’ (not necessarily their calendar) age.  Some may feel ‘old’ at 27 because of injuries, wear and tear, etc. Others at 40 may experience a second wind, particularly where they do not have to be on stage every night and have a say in the repertoire they dance.  It varies so much.  Of course, where dancers mature in the occupation, they have to work even harder than previously to maintain their fitness and allow enough time between shows to recover.  Underpinning ballet training with sports science has helped, amongst others, to identify ballet dancers’ bodies weaknesses, design personalised strengthening programmes, and prevent some injuries. In some cases, like Roberto Bolle’s, the combination of genetics, his discipline to pursue individualised training interventions, and his passion for the art form are contributing factors  in keeping him at the top of his craft.  Mr Bolle is just incredible, and very much recognised and appreciated by everyone that dances with him.

[DanJL]

11 hours ago, FionaE said:

Roberto will be partnered by Marianela Nuñez in ONEGIN at La Scala on 14, 17, 20, 23 September 2022

 

https://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/2021-2022/balletto/onegin.html

I have a ticket for the 14th 😊 Happy coincidence that it coincides with my holiday in Italy! 

[Peanut68]

Oh that would so be a dream…. Dare I book to take Hubbie away for his 60th to see ballet in Italy???🤔🤔

Would need to lie & say it was for a rugby match 🤣

Reckon Bolle would perform well on the pitch!!!

 

[capybara]

Not to take anything away from Bolle but his Principal Guest status at La Scala, the carefully curated works he performs in his own shows (neo classical/modern) and his choices of partners must surely be factors which are enabling him to continue dancing into his later forties - alongside his fitness regime, of course.

He and his back-up team are also very smart users of social media - hunky bared-chested poses against alluring backgrounds; clips where the ballerina is doing most of the dancing; never a hint of a personal life. Very clever and very effective.

Well done to them all, especially Roberto.

[Angela]

Roberto Bolle giving a dance lesson for 1600 students

 

 

[Peanut68]

What’s not to like???💜

[JennyTaylor]

I went to see Onegin last night. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint. The emotion of that final pdd! The applause started long before the curtain fell, and there were multiple curtain calls (I lost count). A wonderful evening. 

[DanJL]

1 hour ago, JennyTaylor said:

I went to see Onegin last night. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint. The emotion of that final pdd! The applause started long before the curtain fell, and there were multiple curtain calls (I lost count). A wonderful evening. 

I too thought it was wonderful (I went last Wednesday night). I'd forgotten what a fantastic ballet Onegin is. Nuñez was wonderful, I thought Bolle was well suited to the role and a bonus for me was seeing Martina Arduino as Olga - one of the La Scala dancers I particularly enjoyed watching in lockdown streams. It was also a great excuse to see the inside of the fantastic La Scala theatre!