Roberto Bolle becomes a King of Dance for London début (with surprise Queen)

The Kings of the Dance gets its first Re Italiano, as Roberto Bolle joins the roster of some of ballet’s most exciting male dancers, for the latest edition of the roadshow.

The new tour will bring together American Ballet Theatre‘s Marcelo Gomes and Ivan Vasiliev, the Mariinsky’s Denis Matvienko, and the Mikhailovsky’s Leonid Sarafanov, all who have been seen in previous editions. La Scala and ABT’s Roberto Bolle will forget about playing princes for a while, and join them.

The self-proclaimed kings will dance eight works by Frederick Ashton, Roland Petit, Edward Clug, Patrick De Bana, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, and Marcelo Gomes. Gomes, apart from performing, will choreograph a new piece with music by Canadian Ballet’s Guillaume Côté, who won’t participate in this tour as a dancer, but will be still appear in the programme wearing his other hat.

Bolle and Vasiliev will both dance in Petit’s Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, so unless they take turns in putting on the yellow dress, I guess there will be a Queen present in next year’s line-up too!

Tickets are available from 19 March 2014 through the English National Opera site.

Photo: Patrick de Bana with Ivan Vasiliev

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.