Few issues are extra thrilling to dancers than receiving a promotion within the ranks of an organization. While many dancers get the prospect to bounce soloist or principal roles whereas nonetheless a member of the corps de ballet, really getting promoted to a better rank comes with a lot of new alternatives, and many new accountability. This fall, New York City Ballet (NYCB) promoted two corps members to soloist – Gilbert Bolden III and Davide Riccardo. Dance Informa caught up with each gents to speak about their journeys, the newfound accountability, what excites them and what recommendation they’ve, and why it’s vital to have exterior pursuits apart from ballet.
First up, did both of you might have any thought this was occurring, or was it a complete shock?
Gilbert Bolden III
“Yes and no. I’ve been really fortunate to do a lot of principal roles in my time with the company. I got past a point where I stopped expecting it after every single principal role, because I would like run myself ragged in my head. But it wasn’t until after my second show of Concerto Barocco that I actually felt a shift in my heart and my body, like something’s happening within me.”
Davide Riccardo
“Very similarly, we’ve both gotten to do so many featured roles in the company. But obviously, that doesn’t mean you are going to get promoted. There are so many amazing dancers in the corps who do big, huge principal roles all the time, and it still doesn’t happen for them. But with a promotion, you start to feel a different sense of duty.”
That’s tremendous attention-grabbing. Can you speak a little bit extra about how that sense of responsibility (earlier than or after promotion), modified your strategy to the roles you have been being given?
Riccardo
“I wasn’t doing the principal roles that I was given to get promoted very often. You get a big role, and you’re like, ‘Okay, this is it. I’m going to show them I can be a soloist.’ I felt a kind of switch like that I don’t need to dance it well to be promoted, but I need to dance it well because I’ve been given this role, and they trust me to take care of it. It’s not to get promoted; it is to dance the best as I can.”
Bolden
“I really did feel that shift as the season went on. I felt it from my friends, from lovely patrons at the stage door, who are saying they saw me in a whole new light. But for me, I was on my track. I was doing what I do every day, and I’m just doing my job. It wasn’t until the bitter end that I saw that shift for myself. But with that new set of responsibilities and duties, we really are being looked at differently.”
Now that you just each are formally in your new function as soloist, what excites you essentially the most concerning the change?
Riccardo
“What I’m excited about for the new chapter is having a more curated repertory. Obviously, when you’re in the corps, they need people. You end up being in everything, even if it’s a court role that’s maybe not really suited to you. But you still have to do it.”
Bolden
“I’m excited to connect with a more diverse pool of partners. When you’re young, you’re relegated to other younger people, which is great. But I really cherished when I got to dance with Megan Fairchild. That was really fun, and I never thought I would dance with her. I hope to do more of that.”
What would you inform your youthful self in the event you might return and ship a message?
Riccardo
“When people say that you just have to work at all times, it’s so true. I can’t emphasis that enough. Every day, even if you’re feeling off, you have to push yourself to work harder than everyone else in the room. I remember being a kid when I was six or seven years old, and I would always try to hold a position one second longer than everybody else, because I wanted to make sure that I was the hardest working person in the room. But it’s also really important to have a life outside of ballet. To feel human feelings that you can then bring on stage.”
Bolden
“I feel like the hard thing about giving advice to my little self is if I were to talk to myself, he’d brush it all off. He’d be like, ‘I got it, it’s fine.’ So the first advice, is to take advice. Also, I think it’s important to go somewhere where you find that alignment. I went to a ton of different schools throughout my dance training from age nine to when I got to the School of American Ballet (SAB), and it wasn’t really until I got to SAB that I felt aligned. And when you know it’s right, it’s right.”
Riccardo
“If I could add something, it’s important to take advice, but also to realize that you have to find your own way to get to where you want to get.”
Lastly, do you might have passions exterior of ballet, and, if that’s the case, how do they contribute to the work you do as a dancer and performer?
Bolden
“Fashion, designing and sewing is still new for me. I’m only on my third year doing it. It’s a way for me to express another facet of myself. I initially started it because I wanted to sew things for myself for drag. I was doing drag throughout the pandemic as a way to find out more about my feminine energy. But, as the world opened back up, I kind of fused all those attributes that I found with myself, so I haven’t felt the need to get in drag as often because I’ve been able to find this new femininity/masculinity balance in my life.”
Riccardo
“I never really had a hobby that’s so clear as Gilbert’s. But I think that also might change. That’s the funny thing about getting promoted to soloist is that you go from dancing every night to not dancing almost enough, but in a way, it kind of gives you more room to develop different sides of yourself. During my time off, I always like to connect with people — having a dinner party or going out and hearing people’s stories.”
As storytellers and artists, the journey of a dancer isn’t simple, all the time difficult, and requires constant dedication and arduous work. For each Bolden and Riccardo, receiving this new designation will enable them to dig deeper into the artistic work of expressing humanity by way of motion. We want all of them the perfect!
You can comply with these dancers on Instagram: @dancerdude56 (Gilbert Bolden III) and @davidericc (Davide Riccardo).
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
