Calvin Royal III has been doing a lot of shapeshifting lately. The American Ballet Theatre principal is preparing to make two very different debuts: the title role in Lar Lubovitch’s Othello: A Dance in Three Acts and Prince Ivan in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird. Both ballets are part of ABT’s spring season (March 6–21) at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
“I’m on a darkness-and-light track this season,” Royal says with a laugh during a recent phone interview. In Othello, based on Shakespeare’s play, the titular character is a respected Moorish general in the Venetian army. His vengeful senior ensign, Iago, deceives him into thinking his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair. Othello, consumed with jealousy, kills her and then, finding out the truth, kills himself. In Ratmansky’s Firebird, Prince Ivan comes upon a strange land while searching for his lost love. He captures the Firebird, who breaks free but gives him a magical feather to summon her if ever in danger. Ivan meets a group of maidens, his love among them, who are under the spell of the sorcerer Kaschei, and with the help of the Firebird battles against him to set them free.
“Going from Othello to Firebird rehearsals feels like you’re waking up into a whole other world,” says Royal. “Prince Ivan goes on this journey of transformation, overcoming evil, whereas Othello starts at a place of high authority and prestige, but unravels after a seed of doubt and mistrust gets planted in his mind.” Below, Royal shares his creative process and how he’s developing each character.
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How have you prepared for Othello?
Lar came to me ahead of casting announcements to see how I felt about stepping into a role like this, which is so different from the classical roles that I’ve done. I thought it was very generous of him, since it leans much darker, psychologically. I did a lot of research ahead of time to wrap my mind around Othello’s character and the world he inhabits. I read as many synopses that I could find, watched a lot of the footage of past productions with different interpreters, including the San Francisco Ballet one with Desmond Richardson. I also watched a few different versions of the play on YouTube and even researched images, because I feel you can really tell and receive the story through imagery. Then once we got into the studio, it was about learning the steps and getting comfortable with the partnering, which is so intricate and requires a lot of trust and timing. Othello is very demanding, not only physically, but also because of the emotional and psychological states of mind that he goes through over the arc of the ballet.
Othello is tricked into thinking his wife has been unfaithful, with deadly consequences. What is it like to tap into the character’s psychological breakdown, and how do you try to make the role your own?
I went into the process being as open as I could be to receiving direction. The ballet was created decades ago, and yet the work still feels so current and contemporary. The whole idea of what’s true versus untrue, and how that information is given or misrepresented? These are things that we’re going through right now! How do you deal with betrayal and lack of trust? So I’m letting a lot of my lived experiences inform Othello and this process from scene to scene to help me lean into the truth.
What has it been like to develop Othello’s relationships with the other characters, like Iago and Desdemona?
It’s been interesting. My Iago is James Whiteside. We’ve known each other for over a decade and have danced together in many other productions, so we already have a mutual understanding of how we move and what we bring to roles. (Madison Brown is stepping in as Iago’s wife, Emilia. She is just an incredible dancer and artist on the rise.) Whereas with my Desdemona, [ABT soloist] Fangqi Li, this is one of her first big roles in a full-length ballet. It’s been exciting to work with her on something so dramatic at this stage of her career. We’re building trust and figuring out how to communicate. Fangqi and I are also doing Firebird together, so we’re both jumping between these two worlds.
Ratmansky’s Firebird takes place in this sort of wacky, dystopian landscape, where the maidens are trapped in an almost zombie-like state. What is Prince Ivan’s role?
He’s a foil to the evil Kaschei. I feel like he represents purity and goodness, and has passion to do the right thing. He goes on this mystical journey and finds the courage to cross over the threshold into this strange world. He goes to great lengths to get back the love that he lost, and the community that he lost. That’s, for me at least, the motivation to try to take down the evil force that has transformed everybody.
I remember being part of the creation of this Firebird production when I was still in the corps, and over the years as we’ve returned to the ballet, I’ve been able to see different interpreters and revisit the music. And even though Firebird is a one-act ballet, it’s still an Alexei Ratmansky work. The movement is still so physically challenging and fast that it feels like a full-length! Now we’re at the stage where we’re starting to do run-throughs of both ballets, which is teaching me how to pace my energy, because if I give 150 percent at the top, it’s like there’s nowhere left to go.
How do you go back and forth between these two contrasting characters during rehearsals?
We usually get about five minutes between each rehearsal, so there’s not a whole lot of time, but it helps to take a moment for myself to breathe and reset. I also change clothes—when I’m doing Ivan, I tend to wear lighter-colored clothing to help me imagine that purity and honesty, and I tend to wear darker, heavier clothes when I rehearse Othello. I even grew a little mustache and goatee to help feel more in character. These small things help when we don’t have costumes and sets.
Is it hard to go home after going to these dark places in Othello rehearsals?
Not for me. During the pandemic we worked with an intimacy coach for a piece we were creating called Touché. And through this process, we learned this act of tapping in and out of the work. So at the end of the day, if I end with something that’s heavier like Othello, I take five to 10 minutes at the back of the studio, when everybody’s gone. I’ll lay down with my legs elevated and just breathe, letting everything all go so that I leave the emotional work there in the studio. That helps me a lot.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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