On Tuesday, August 13 through Sunday, August 18, ballet’s evolution as an inclusive artform will take center stage with the Joyce Theatre’s Ballet Festival UNITE!, a one-week celebration creatively directed and co-produced by Calvin Royal III., American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) dynamic African American principal dancer.
In a recent interview with the Amsterdam News, Royal expresses his unbridled enthusiasm for the festival, which brings together a global community of distinguished artists from nine esteemed companies across five continents, spanning four generations, and a beautiful array of ethnicities all to share and celebrate our collective humanity through dance.
“As the Joyce represents ultimate artistry and dance legacy, it is important to me that the festival evenings, taken together, honor the past, reflect the present, and extend to the future of what our art form can be,” said Royal.
UNITE connects the arc of ballet with the best of its present and future artists and master choreographers with works by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, George Balanchine, Angelin Preljocaj, and a selection of contemporary works. Adding to the festival’s allure, Royal debuts a self-choreographed solo alongside creations by fellow dancers of American Ballet Theatre, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Boston Ballet, and more.
Asked how the solo came about, Royal said, “I met with the Joyce’s producer Ross LeClair and programming director Dani Gee over dinner and they extended an invitation to me to direct the Ballet Festival which had been done a number of years prior to the pandemic. They asked me to curate it offering my point of view on ballet—where it is now and where I hope it will go into the future.” Motivated by the artists and musicians who have inspired him throughout his career, Royal chose to highlight the idea of creating and cultivating community. From here, he assembled a repertoire that “essentially spans the arc of ballet and when assembled shows us this bright long line of ballets form the earlier works made by master choreographers, like Balanchine and MacMillan, to choreographers who’ve been in the game for decades, like Alonzo King and Christopher Rudd as well as emerging choreographers like an Aleisha Walker, a young African American dancer who belongs to the ABT corps de ballet and who won Young Creation Award for her choreography at the Prix de Lausanne (2023). [There’s also] Adriana Pierce who was a classmate at the Professional and Performing Arts School, joining New York City ballet before going on to Miami City Ballet eventually expressing her choreographic vision with her company Queer the Ballet, which seeks to bring more representation to queer artists in ballet.” Royal said all in all his goal is to basically “span the arc of ballet to embrace all from the beloved classics and works that have been out there and that people are familiar with, as well as these newer works that extend what ballet is and where these creators want to take it into the future.”
To that end, Royal said, “We have artists from nine esteemed companies across five continents, spanning four generations, a beautiful array of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds and experiences from those just starting their careers to those established in the field for decades, all sharing and celebrating who we are and what we bring to this art form through dance. You know I remember so many conversations about diversity and its challenges with folks asking, ‘How are we going to do this? How can we …?’ Well, given this opportunity, I was like, I don’t want to talk about how we’re going to do it, I just want to do it. I just want to show that it’s possible. That’s how you do it, by doing it.”
Royal said the works on the Joyce Theatre Ballet Festival UNITE program embody that mission, beginning with one that is a major career milestone, George Balanchine’s “Apollo,” the oldest Balanchine ballet in New York City Ballet’s repertory. “The role of ‘Apollo’ has always had such a significant meaning to me and my career. It is one of the first male principle roles that I was given at ABT. It showcases a path to emerging and developing into the type of artist I wanted to be and it represents this idea of leadership for me. Throughout the course of the full ballet, Apollo learns so much about the arts from the muses as, step by step, he rises up and reaches back to pull others up with him. That is sort of like the subtext of the UNITE concert so I made sure to put ‘Apollo’ on the program. I’ll be dancing that with the Boston Ballet’s exquisite principal ballerina Chyrstyn Mariah Fentroy. I’ve watched her career since she was with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem before she went on to Boston in 2017. So we’re performing the ‘Apollo’ pas de deux together.”
Royal will dance a solo that he created to Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” accompanied by his husband, pianist Jacek Mysinski. And his fans will be happy to know that he will also perform the “Romeo & Juliet” Balcony Pas de Deux with ABT Principal ballerina Isabella Boylston. Royal said, “Romeo is one of my all-time favorite roles. I wanted to make sure to include it because it’s a piece that is of course glorious but it’s one in which the choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan, shows his passion for this idea of the human portrayals in his ballets. He never wanted dancers to simply perform for the audience per se but to highlight the human spirit of the characters and through them our collective humanity.” Christopher Rudd’s “Touche,” is also on the program. “You know it was ABT’s first explicitly gay male pas de deux created for the company and I wanted to make sure that we included that on the program because, again, it is another representation of this universal idea of love and finding that love and acceptance within yourself and also with another person who, in this case happens to be another man.”
“It’s an exciting time” Royal said, noting that the program he’s curated allows him to offer his unique perspective on ballet by assembling art and artists who tell the story of an artform that appears to be on a positive trajectory which after years of clinging to its image as a whites-only artform, seems to be moving in a more inclusive direction. “Yes, I’m part of ABT and thankfully everything that I do at ABT has been aligned with my values and has been a great gift but to be able to offer my perspective is also exciting. I also have these visions and ideas about where ballet is and where I hope that it will continue to evolve.” Royal acknowledges that he’s standing on the shoulders of those who went before him, like Janet Collins, Raven Wilkinson, Keith Lee, Desmond Richardson and, of course, Arthur Mitchell. Embodying a can-do attitude, Mitchell said despite the difficulties, ‘I’m going to do it!’ Now, Royal’s path is somewhat smoother and even as he expresses gratitude, he is realizing his dream by opening doors for others with the Joyce Theatre’s Ballet Festival UNITE! program. For more info, visit www.joyce.org