(71) Calvin Royal III, American Ballet Theatre Soloist

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This week we are going back into our vault from our time at the Vail Dance Festival this past summer, for another episode with a festival favorite.  Today we talk Calvin Royal III,  American Ballet Theatre Soloist.  Calvin started his formal ballet training at the age of 14 in St. Petersburg, Florida.  In April of 2006 he was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix Scholarship Comeptition in New York City, and joined ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onnasis School a few months later.  He joined ABT II (now the ABT Studio Company) in 2007, and joined the main company in 2010.  Royal was a 2014 winner of a grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund.  He was promoted to soloist just this past summer.  We talk with Calvin about how he got his start in ballet despite being 14, how he quickly caught up with his peers, what the Fellowship Fund grant has afforded him, and what he looks forward to as a new soloist.