In 1996, following an appearance in
Romeo and Juliet, twenty-year-old Bolle was promoted to principal dancer at La Scala. He left that position when he was 21 to pursue a freelance career. Since then he has starred in many ballets including
Sleeping Beauty,
Swan Lake,
Cinderella,
The Nutcracker,
Giselle,
La Esmeralda, and
In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. Bolle has danced for the
Royal Ballet, the
Tokyo Ballet, the
National Ballet of Canada, the
Stuttgart Ballet, the
Finnish National Ballet, the
Staatsoper in Berlin, the
Vienna State Opera, the
Semperoper in Dresden, the
Bavarian State Opera, the
Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden, the 8th and 9th International Ballet Festivals in
Tokyo, the
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the
Teatro di San Carlo in
Naples, and the City Theatre in
Florence. and Roberto Bolle, 28 June 2014 Derek Deane, the English National Ballet director, created two productions for him:
Swan Lake and
Romeo and Juliet, both of them performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. On the 10th anniversary of the Opera Theatre in Cairo, he performed in
Aida at the pyramids of Giza and afterwards at the
Arena in Verona for a new version of the opera live worldwide. In October 2000 he opened the season at
Covent Garden Opera House in
London performing
Swan Lake, and in November he was invited by the Bolshoi Ballet to celebrate
Maya Plisetskaya's 75th anniversary in the presence of President
Vladimir Putin. In June 2002, on the occasion of
Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, he danced the
Swan Lake Act III
pas de deux with Royal Ballet principal dancer
Zenaida Yanowsky in the ballroom at
Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Queen. The event was broadcast live by BBC and transmitted to all the Commonwealth countries. During the 2003–2004 season he was promoted to
Étoile of La Scala Theatre. On 1 April 2004 he danced in front of
Pope John Paul II in
St. Peter's Square to celebrate young people's day. On 7 December, to celebrate the re-opening of La Scala Theatre after its restoration, he danced
Europa riconosciuta with
Alessandra Ferri and three weeks later in the New Year’s Eve Star Gala. In December 2005 at Covent Garden Opera House in London he performed
Frederick Ashton’s production of
Sylvia, broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Day. Bolle danced at the opening ceremony of the
2006 Winter Olympic Games in
Turin where he performed a solo created for him by Enzo Cosimi. The ceremony was broadcast worldwide and seen by 2.5 billion people. In 2007 he performed for the first time with ABT as a guest artist, on the occasion of Alessandra Ferri’s farewell performance. For the 2009 spring season at the
Metropolitan Opera House in
New York City, Bolle performed as a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre: the first time that a male Italian dancer joined the company as a principal. The "Dance Listings" in the
New York Times on 26 June 2009 described Bolle as "utterly gorgeous (in both looks and dance)." Bolle’s Spring 2010 American Ballet Theatre performances include
The Lady of the Camellias,
Swan Lake,
La Bayadère, and
Romeo and Juliet. In June 2019, Roberto Bolle left the American Ballet Theatre. He took the stage for the final time with the company as Des Grieux, partnering
Hee Seo as the titular role in
Manon. He performed at the
2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in
Verona, Italy. == Other work ==