‘Born for Ballet’

Like the north England coal-mining town depicted in the film “Billy Elliot,” Naples, Italy, isn’t exactly the most hospitable place for a young boy who wants to dance.

Yet, like the hero of that film, Giuseppe Picone, born in Naples and now an American Ballet Theatre soloist, didn’t have any doubts about what he wanted to do.

“When I was 9 and auditioning for the school of the San Carlo Opera, the director asked me, ‘Why are you doing ballet?’ ” Picone said.

“I answered him--and I was 9--’I was born for ballet.’ I just always wanted to do it. But I really didn’t know what ballet was.”

Picone was speaking in a recent phone interview from Washington, where ABT was dancing “Nutcracker” before its “Cinderella” engagement this week in Orange County.

The youngest of four children, Picone, 24, began dancing by tagging along to discos and parties with his oldest brother and sister. He often became the center of attention.

“I was very good at imitating Michael Jackson,” he said. “I was a big fan.”

So he thought his Michael Jackson imitation would be expected at the San Carlo Opera audition.

Instead, “they put me in First Position [heels together, feet turned out to make a single straight line]. I thought, ‘Are they nuts? What are they making me do here?’

“They took me into the dressing room, told me to get naked and leave only my underwear on. I thought this was a funny way to do things. I had no clue what dancing was about. So it’s always been a beautiful discovery for me.”

His talent was a beautiful discovery for others. Wayne Eagling cast him as the child Nijinsky in “Nijinsky,” choreographed for the Ballet of Naples in 1989. Picone was 12.

But his parents, especially his father, a secretary to a judge in Naples, were troubled.

“In Naples, it’s not what you do, especially for a young boy,” Picone said.

But after a colleague told his dad that he and his wife had fallen in love with Giuseppe at a performance, “that’s when he accepted what I was doing.”

Finding Naples too small for his burgeoning abilities, Picone at 13 left to study at the National Academy in Rome. At 15, he won first prize at the Rieti and Positano ballet competitions. He joined Pierre Lacotte’s company in Nancy, France, as a soloist in 1992.

“At 16, I was already doing principal roles. It was hard.”

Too hard.

“I thought the director--we’re still good friends--was pushing me too much. Already, I had done ‘Giselle.’ At 16. I always thanked God I understood that and left.”

He moved to London in 1993 to join the English National Ballet, beginning as a coryphee and becoming a soloist in 1994. “I joined ENB when I was 17, and they were already giving me opening nights--’Cinderella,’ ‘Nutcracker,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Princess Diana used to come.”

In fact, in her profile of Picone last year, Dance Magazine writer Iris Fanger reports that the princess became quite a Picone fan, extending frequent compliments and even an invitation to a private dinner.

The English National Ballet was also demanding--he danced more than 200 performances a year.

“ENB got me on stage every day. I mean every day. But I was a little more mature,” he said.

If all this sounds as if he were leading a serendipitous life, he wasn’t.

“It wasn’t easy at all,” Picone said. “I had a wonderful time from 9, when I joined the school, to 13 and from 13 to 16.

“From there on, it really hasn’t been easy, first of all because of the language--having to learn English. Second, because I was very young. I’m still the youngest at ABT doing principal roles.

“I joined ABT when I was 21, and I was doing everything. The only other boy who dances principal roles is [Angel] Corella. We were like the babies.”

He left ENB after four seasons.

“ABT has always been the company for me,” he said. “After four years in England, I was exploring some sort of connection with the Royal Ballet. It didn’t happen and I’m glad, because ABT should have happened and it did happen.”

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It didn’t look like it was going to happen at first, however. ABT invited him to come for 10 days in September 1997 for classes.

“They told me they didn’t have any contracts, but to come to class anyway. I took one class and the next day they offered me a contract.”

That December, he made his ABT debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in a house gala, in Kylian’s “Sinfonietta.” But it was as Conrad in the company premiere of “Le Corsair” that he became a star. Orange County audiences saw him in the role in February 1999.

“After the opening, I had a call from a friend who told me to go get the newspaper. [New York Times dance critic] Anna Kisselgoff was raving about me. ‘Oh my God,’ ” I thought. ‘This is a dream.’ When I didn’t think I would even be there, in one month it was all together. It was quite a dream.”

As far as he’s traveled, however, Picone remains closely tied to his family in Naples.

“Absolutely. I think, when somebody finds love, maybe family becomes second. But family is very important. Then love goes on.”

Chris Pasles can be reached at (714) 966-5602 or by e-mail at chris.pasles@latimes.com.

SHOW TIMES

American Ballet Theatre dances “Cinderella” today through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Giuseppe Picone will dance opposite Paloma Herrera Thursday evening and at the Saturday matinee. $12 to $70. (714) 556-2787.