Inside Marcelino Sambé’s Dance Bag

August 13, 2024

Royal Ballet principal dancer Marcelino Sambé’s everyday dance bag is a substantial leather Mulberry bag. For The Royal Ballet’s first-ever engagement at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, he chose to leave it behind in London to keep it in pristine condition.

Instead, he packed his belongings in a new Keith Haring canvas tote bag that he received at a Pride charity event in London. “It was fabulous, with lots of drag queens performing and a strong sense of queer community that I’ve really learned to embrace in London,” says Sambé.

Photo by Christopher Duggan.

The Goods

Fragrances: “I’m a perfume fanatic,” says Sambé. “Everyone knows that I have, like, 10 different fragrances on the go, always. I think dance is not only a performance and a physical thing, but also a sensory thing. If you feel good and smell good, you dance better.”

Sambé prefers clean, almost detergent-like scents in the summer and woodsy scents in the winter. For his trip overseas, Sambé brought eight fragrances, as well as a Diptyque Figuier candle.

Dancewear favorites: For his trip to Jacob’s Pillow, Sambé traded his normal dancewear favorites—Bloch boots and FaB knit warm-ups by Portuguese artisan and former dancer Fátima Brito—for shorts and cotton T-shirts more suitable for the summer climate in Massachusetts.

Photo by Christopher Duggan.

Snacks: Sambé likes to pair nuts with fruit for a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. “We have amazing nutritionists in London who help us understand how we can absorb nutrients in the right way.”

iPhone: Sambé loves to document life behind the scenes at The Royal Ballet on his personal Instagram account and @royalballetbymarci, a second account dedicated to photography. He edits the clips using an iPhone app that gives them the appearance of having been shot on film. “Cinematography is something I really would love to study more in the future,” says Sambé. “The dancers I’m surrounded by are so beautiful, so talented, so special in their own way. I like capturing that.”

Photo by Christopher Duggan.

Ballet shoes: Sambé carries three pairs of Sansha ballet flats in different colors to match various costumes. His skin-toned shoes are dyed by hand. “I wish brands would be more accommodating to different skin colors,” Sambé says. “Not every Black person has the same shade. [Having them professionally dyed] complements the line and I feel so much more like myself.”

Rolling tools: “I’m quite a muscular dancer, and something that has really helped me keep the elasticity and length of my muscles is rollers,” says Sambé. He rolls out before bed each night to release tension, and does Pilates each morning to strengthen the smaller muscles that can be overpowered and weakened by larger muscles.