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On a brisk Wednesday in February, there’s a lively murmur bouncing around the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Though Justin Peck’s first evening-length work Copland Dance Episodes debuted in January of last year, a lukewarm reception from dance critics apparently hasn’t deterred audiences from braving the cold to see City Ballet up close. Large-scale projections of ballerinas jeté-ing in slow motion are cast upon the walls, towering over the mingling crowds like apparitions of company’s past, who, I imagine, must be pleased.
Of note is one Gilbert Bolden III — a recently promoted City Ballet soloist who’s dancing a featured role in the evening’s program. The brainchild of the company’s resident boy genius, Copland Dance Episodes doesn’t suffer from those same charges of melodrama in the moments that belong to Bolden. In two pas de deux with fellow soloist Miriam Miller, “4. Two Birds” and “20. The Split,” the work finds its footing somewhere in Bolden’s earnest interpretation: not naïveté so much as buoyancy. Of course, the 25-year-old is stoic as a grounding force for Miller. But I find it is his tenderness — wrists unfurling in port de bras as though a swallow preparing for flight — that separates Bolden from the sea of anonymous musculature. Galloping and expansive, his is a presence that eclipses technique and blankets the audience all the way up to the nosebleeds in the fourth ring: the work of a clever performer. “I always felt like I was never the perfect ballet boy when it came to how I danced and how my body is built, so I’m always looking at how to make things fit me … I love to be onstage,” he told me before the show. “I just love to perform.”
Better known as “dancerdude” to his 63,000 followers on Instagram, the San Diego native was promoted from the corps de ballet in October and has since won the hearts of City Ballet regulars with his avant-garde red-carpet style and the ease of his rebellion, both on- and offstage. On the heels of a whirlwind winter season, the rising virtuoso discusses his aspirations to strengthen his dancing en pointe — a balletic style historically reserved for cisgender women — designing and constructing his own garments for galas, queer love stories, and performing in drag in his spare time. “I’m not afraid of camp!” he says. “I’m really not. I’ll take it there.”
Take me all the way back to the beginning. When did you realize you wanted to dedicate your life to dance?
I started dancing when I was about 8 and a half years old. I was living in Las Vegas at the time, and growing up I would always watch music videos on TRL. I loved Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Usher — all those icons of the early 2000s. Every day after school, I’d find myself replicating the kinds of dances you’d see on MTV. So my mom was like, “Do you want to try dance? Because there’s a new little studio near my work.” They had a boys-only jazz class, so I thought that sounded exciting and like a safe space.
After going to the class once a week for about a month, the owners of the studio asked if I wanted to join their full-time performance troupe, which was doing local shows in the community. But if I joined, I’d have to do everything: hip-hop, tap, jazz, ballet, singing, the whole nine yards. So I was thrust into the full dance and theater world pretty quickly. It wasn’t until I was 13 that I decided ballet was gonna be the one for me. I actually despised ballet for the whole first bit of my dance training. I couldn’t stand it. And then something switched for me at my first summer intensive at Ballet Austin.
Ballet does creep up on you, doesn’t it? It’s so rigorous, structured, and self-serious, and then all of a sudden, you’re infatuated.
Yeah, I remember after my second year at Idyllwild Arts Academy in high school, I had been accepted to the Rock School for a year-round program. I knew if I stayed in California, I would go more commercial — trying to get music videos, world tours, that whole shebang. But the Rock School meant I’d go full ballet. And that was it: I made the choice to only do ballet at 14 years old. I didn’t even know who I was, really, but I was always very ambitious and clear with my goals. If I said I wanted to do it, I was going to do it. And now here I am, more than a decade later.
At that time, was there a role you always aspired to or envisioned yourself dancing?
Siegfried, obviously, because Swan Lake is everyone’s first thing. But the variation I first became obsessed with was “The Bronze Idol” in La Bayadère because I love a dramatic costume and the idea of being painted gold head to toe, and I thought it was such a beautiful little gem in that second act.
It’s been so fun watching your red-carpet style evolve, especially in that you’re making nearly everything you’re wearing yourself. Can you tell me about the start of that passion? And how in the world do you have time to make eveningwear from scratch?
It started in 2019 when I commissioned my first custom look. It was my second fall gala with the company, and I asked my friend Tyler Sherrier, who was at one time the shopper in the New York City Ballet costume department, to add a train to a jacket I already had. I wanted something out of the ordinary — something fantastic. I worked with him again that spring, when he made me a cropped two-piece tan suit with a corset in the middle. So I was already playing with design, but I didn’t have the sewing skill set to make anything myself.
When the pandemic happened, I was doing a lot of drag, so my thought process was, If I’m doing drag, I want to be able to make myself garments. I am so large, like six-foot-three, that it’s hard to find the looks that I want in my size. A lot of women’s clothing comes up short on my arms and legs, and, with my delusional brain liking the idea of going on Drag Race one day, I figured I’d try making everything on my own. I started out very small: The first thing I made was a pleated sash that went around a suit I already had. And with each product, I’d push myself a bit further and teach myself new skills. I started working with tulle, then learned how to gather tulle and how to make a tutu, then experimented with proportion for my giant pink cape.
I like playing with masculine and feminine energy: Sometimes that’s in the design of an outfit, but I also have a very masculine build and masculine face, so I like pairing that with a really feminine outfit as a way to create balance. That’s what I did with my diamond look recently, where I just let my body do the talking. It’s not about men’s, women’s, masculine, whatever. You’re just looking at my body covered in diamonds, and that’s beautiful as it is.
Speaking of your diamond-encrusted-corset look, how many hours did that take, and how many gems were on it?
It was somewhere in the 8,000–8,500 range, and they’re all individually placed. For stoning, I would say it took 30–40 hours, while sewing took ten total. It was a huge undertaking, and I was averaging two hours of sleep a night for a little over a week, and then the two days leading up to the gala, I didn’t sleep. I would just have a Celsius or a coffee, work all night, maybe have a little nap for an hour, wake up, do some more work, go to rehearsal, and then run home, keep sewing, perform, repeat. I was up for 48 hours straight from the day before the gala to 1:30 in the morning at the after-party.
And was it worth it?
It was worth it. It’s so funny looking back, because I wasn’t stressed. I knew I could do it. But it’s also a running joke with my friends now; they’re always begging me to start sooner because they’re sick of me wasting my time and then freaking all of them out.
Did your rehearsal directors know that you weren’t sleeping?
Um, no. They don’t have to know! My work was still getting done. I wasn’t hurting myself. I wasn’t hurting anyone else. My body might have been in survival mode, but I was safe. My partners were safe. Everything was good.
Are there any costumes that you’ve worn at City Ballet that you’re completely in awe of and wish you could take home?
There is a section in Balanchine’s Coppélia called “War and Discord” in the third act of the ballet, and this costume … I can’t even. It’s this midnight-blue tank-top corset, midi gladiator skirt, and then black sheer tights and a half-cape. And then over the tights, there’s this crisscrossing elastic that goes up the entire leg with studs on each crossing. It’s very Viking-esque. I made them make my costume a little tight so it gave me more of a waist. And I just feel so amazing in that costume. That’s my campier side.
Then on the more couture side, in Zac Posen’s first ballet with the company, he worked on a piece choreographed by Lauren Lovette called The Shaded Line. He made these sleeveless tunics for the gentleman that were so beautifully done. They had a quilted section, were ballet pink so it looked very nude on the skin, and had a cinched waist and a peplum hip. I felt so good onstage in that costume.
Let’s talk about your drag persona, Ivy Profen. Can you tell us about Ivy’s origins?
When I started drag, I knew that I wanted to incorporate ballet in some way. I needed to find that balance of it being referential but also appealing to people who might not know about the art form. I thought about going super Russian, but I’m not Russian, and I don’t know Russian! I also thought about playing off of Marianela Núñez or Tamara Rojo, the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet, but some random person at the bar downtown is not going to know who Marianela Núñez is, especially not with a pun on her name. So I came back to the idea of my life in ballet, and was like, Well, I always take like 12 ibuprofens in a day. Plus, I was watching a lot of Smash during the pandemic, so it was a nod to Megan Hilty’s Ivy, like Team Ivy and Team Karen.
Let’s say you’re about to go onstage back at City Ballet, and you’ve got your headphones on. What are you listening to to get in the zone before a show?
For the last two years, it’s been Beyoncé’s Renaissance from the beginning until “Break My Soul.” That string of songs is the perfect warm-up if I need a pump-up or I’m getting excited. But if I need more of a chill vibe, I’ll probably do Madison Beer’s Silence Between Songs. Or Taylor Swift’s Reputation.
Is there a choreographer that you either love working with or that you would die to work with in the future?
I want to work with William Forsythe so badly. That’s been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. One of the reasons I fell in love with ballet was because I’d been shown the pas de deux he choreographed from In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and I knew I wanted to dance like that. And then by extension, because he’s very similar, David Dawson. I’ve always been in love with his work.
Ballet has evolved drastically in the last five years or so, but there’s still a long way to go. As you’re coming up within an institution like City Ballet, how would you like to see the art form continue to change?
What I’ve noticed in other companies and schools, including our own, is that we’re all working on diversity and inclusivity and visibility, but we’re not taking into account that those kinds of transitions take time. So while everyone is doing the work to make ballet a better and more inclusive workplace and art form, we need to allow time to actually breed a new generation with new ideas. For example, I think it’s amazing that a lot more people are allowed to do pointe these days. Men and nonbinary dancers are starting en pointe earlier so they can get to where they want to be at a younger age. I started pointe when I was 18, so I’m not going to be at the level of intense technical ability that other 18-year-old girls would be at because they’ve been training en pointe for over ten years. We are heading in the right direction, but it takes time.
I would also love to see a lot more queer love stories and nontraditional stories being told when it comes to full-length ballets. There’s something so powerful about having more women in the ballet space partnering together. It doesn’t always have to be two ballet men being like, “We’re so strong, and we love each other!” Maybe we have more feminine roles, maybe we have some women who are more masculine, and I think there’s a lot more leeway that can be had as we’re exposed to different types of people and how they present.
Onto the lightning round: Favorite classical ballet and why?
Swan Lake. You can’t argue with that. Specifically, the music at the end of the fourth act gets me every single time. Doesn’t matter which production it is, but I know I’m always going to be a ball of tears.
Speaking of tears, do you have a go-to crying movie that you put on when you just need to go through it?
Of an Age. These two boys have this experience when they’re 18, and they don’t see each other again for over a decade. It’s about longing and yearning, and it’s everything a gay film should be: kind of sad, kind of funny.
What is a book that you could not put down recently?
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. It’s my second time reading it. It’s cheesy and campy, and I love it.
I’m seeing a thread here.
I’m not afraid of camp! I’m really not. I’ll take it there. I just want to have fun, you know? That’s why I do what I do and how I do it. If you’re not having fun, what are you doing?
Okay, let’s say that you’re planning a very chic dinner party. What celebrities would you want in attendance?
My heart says Beyoncé, but I know if Beyoncé were there I would be so overwhelmed by her power. I’d be stressed that the party is not nice enough for her. Someone I would be able to remain chill with would probably be Dua Lipa or, honestly, Michelle Obama. That’s royalty right there.
Any fragrances on your vanity right now that you’re obsessed with?
I have been obsessed with this one from Zara, which I think is a knockoff of a nicer scent. It’s vanilla, bourbon, tobacco, and leather, so it’s very sultry and masculine.
Favorite handbag?
The first Telfar bag I ever bought, in the color Azalea. I became known for having this bright-pink bag in the hallways at the company. I just bought one in the color Oxblood that’s more of a maroon or burgundy color, and it’s better for fall and winter. I have five Telfar bags, but the pink one is my favorite.
Do you have any lowbrow recommendations for us? Maybe you’re a Cheesecake Factory regular?
I love junk food. McDonald’s, Burger King, I don’t shy away from that. I also love to go to the three-story Olive Garden in Times Square. I try to go three times a year. There’s something so camp about it. I used to go to Olive Garden all the time back home. So now I always ask this one friend like, “Should we go to Olive Garden? Should we do a tour of Italy? Three different carbs side by side?!” My order is the salad, chicken gnocchi soup, the tour of Italy, about 15–24 breadsticks, and the Italian Margarita that has a shot of Amaretto on top. What more do you need? I mean, I guess it’s not really lowbrow if it’s a very chic opinion.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Related
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- What Makes a Justin Peck a Justin Peck
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Emily Leibert , 2024-04-12 17:00:16
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