{"id":3753,"date":"2019-11-12T18:07:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T18:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=3753"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:27","slug":"catch-up-to-abts-calvin-royal-in-his-own-words-on-the-recreationalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2019\/11\/12\/catch-up-to-abts-calvin-royal-in-his-own-words-on-the-recreationalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch up to ABT&#8217;s Calvin Royal in his own words on The Recreationalist"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-clpid=\"RhQq55Y-qnff4rgfkX\">\n<p>Calvin Royal III &#8211; Recently, Calvin Royall III made his New York Debut as Apollo during American Ballet Theatre\u2019s (ABT) fall season. Critics highlight Royal\u2019s performance as Apollo as standout among the ABT\u2019s New Romantics program. As an artist Royal embodies the strength in vulnerability to which we all admire and strive. In this article posted on the Recreationalist, Royal offers an intimate look concerning his upbringing as well as the professional and personal routines that keep him on balance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rrDoUkK6gA8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>TO READ FULL ARTICLE JUMP TO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.therecreationalist.com\/doing-things-with-calvin-royal-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Recreationlist<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"grid-x\">\n<div class=\"cell medium-12 large-9 border-right\">\n<div class=\"main-nav py-3 px-lg-4 flex-container align-middle\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"logo\" src=\"https:\/\/2m1xmi48gdhk2o6cr21hkze5-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/logo.svg\" alt=\"The Recreationalist\" width=\"290\" height=\"39\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"menu-main-nav-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"default-page pt-6\">\n<section class=\"content blog-content\">\n<div class=\"grid-container full\">\n<div class=\"grid-x\">\n<div class=\"cell small-12\">\n<div class=\"grid-container\">\n<div class=\"single-top width-75 mb-lg-5\">\n<div class=\"social-top\">\n<div class=\"social-sharing \"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hero-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/2m1xmi48gdhk2o6cr21hkze5-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_0229.jpg\" alt=\"hero-image\" width=\"541\" height=\"812\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"the-content\">\n<section class=\"wp-block-glide-section-block is-pinched\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">\u201cI remember after the first year of taking ballet I wanted to quit because it was so hard, muscles in my body I didn\u2019t even know existed were cramping and it was painful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"wp-block-glide-section-block is-pinched\">Soloist at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abt.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The American Ballet Theatre (opens in a new tab)\">The American Ballet Theatre<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/calvinroyaliii\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Calvin Royal III (opens in a new tab)\">Calvin Royal III<\/a> took his first ballet class at the age of 14; an extremely late start to instruction in the world of classical ballet. Despite his delayed beginning, Calvin placed as a finalist in an elite scholarship competition during his senior year of high school earning himself a spot at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at The American Ballet Theatre in New York City, one of the most selective and competitive in the world. He stands alongside legendary ballerina Misty Copeland as one of only a few dancers of color to earn the distinction of Soloist at ABT performing in full-length classical ballets such as <em>Swan Lake<\/em>, <em>The Nutcracker <\/em>and <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>.Apart from long hours spent in the studio or at the theatre, making time for his body and mind to relax is equally as important as mastering technique. Royal often finds retreat by way of intentional stillness and rest, whether in Sheep\u2019s Meadow of Central Park or at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BYdwd64ljRM\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Half Dome in Yosemite Valley<\/a>. He says that being one with nature is his best source of restoration.We recently sat down with Calvin to learn about how ballet influences his recreational routine, the intimate relationships between dance, body and mindfulness and why being visible in his talents for the inspiration of others is one of his biggest motivations.<\/section>\n<section class=\"wp-block-glide-section-block is-pinched\">\n<div class=\"block-outdoor-embed flex-container align-center\">\n<div class=\"video-wrapper w-100\">\n<div class=\"article-readmore\">Play<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-vQE5D4wa30\" data-fancybox=\"\">\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"wp-block-glide-section-block is-pinched align-middle\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-2-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h3><strong>On<\/strong> Routine<\/h3>\n<p>I don\u2019t just roll out of bed and start doing a full dance sequence. I would probably injure myself. Doing warm-up exercises before starting class is so crucial and essential to prepare my body and my mind for what\u2019s to come. Everything is warm, ready, loose and limber.<\/p>\n<p>As a dancer there have been times where I\u2019ve gotten minor injuries. Through the recovery process, I\u2019ve learned so much about just how important it is to take time before doing those more advanced and extreme positions. To really warm yourself up properly and take time to set yourself up so you\u2019re ready for whatever the day may bring.<\/p>\n<p>Starting ballet my freshman year in high school, I had to play catch up. At the time I didn\u2019t know that I was going to become a professional ballet dancer, it was just something that I always loved. I always loved to dance and I wanted to explore it and to explore ballet and modern dance. When I got into the high school of performing arts, it was sort of my chance to learn how to move my body in this new way.<\/p>\n<p>I remember after the first year of taking ballet I wanted to quit because it was so hard, muscles in my body I didn\u2019t even know existed were cramping and it was painful. When I came to New York, I was in a class of 12 dancers who had been studying ballet since they were four and five years old. I knew that if I wanted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-vQE5D4wa30\" data-fancybox=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"yt-maxres alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/-vQE5D4wa30\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"youtube-embed\" width=\"582\" height=\"327\" \/> <\/a>get to that level I had to put in the work and the time warming up, doing the classes, doing the rehearsals, learning the entire vocabulary, just getting the strength to do half of these things. It was a journey.<\/p>\n<p>I went to a summer intensive. Most young dancers go away for about six weeks to study and train with new teachers. You\u2019re around other dancers from all over the world. Getting to see other dancers that were my age but that were just soaring and doing all these incredible things, I came back feeling like I wanted to go for it. I wanted to push past the pain and the achiness of my muscles and see how much further I could go and how much stronger I could get. That was sort of my inspiration to keep pushing myself.\u00a0 CONTINUE JUMP TO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.therecreationalist.com\/doing-things-with-calvin-royal-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Recreationlist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calvin Royal III &#8211; Recently, Calvin Royall III made his New York Debut as Apollo during American Ballet Theatre\u2019s (ABT) fall season. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-zine"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/MG_0229-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3753"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3790,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753\/revisions\/3790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}