Roberto Bolle lays himself bare in Vanity Fair: it’s difficult to say “I love you”

In a revealing interview with the Italian Vanity Fair, Roberto Bolle opens up, and reveals parts of his psyche that he usually prefers to keep hidden in interviews.

Luca Dini was asking the questions, and Bolle literally laid himself bare to photographer Marc Hom:

Dance has improved me as a person. I've always danced better on stage than during the rehearsals because of the contact with the public and the protection of inhabiting the ‘armour' of a character which allows me to let go, to experience and communicate emotions, to not be restrained and timid as I am by nature.

It has been therapeutic; it has given me the possibility to express things that I still struggle to expose, and it's a work in progress. I find it difficult to say no, or be critical, I'm afraid to hurt someone's feelings, and I often suffer in silence in situations where I ought to fight back.

And then, in our family, we have a certain reserve in communicating our sentiments. The love is there, and it's sincere, but sometimes things also need to be said. It's difficult for me to say to my parents “I love you.” I know that they know it but to say it is important. I want to learn to say it more.

Vanity Fair Italia, 2 January 2013

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.