Eva Kistrup

Handling Heritage

August Bournonville:

"La Ventana" directed by Gudrun Bojesen

&

August Bournonville:

"The Kermes in Bruges" directed by Ib Andersen,

THe Royal Danish Ballet

April 30 and May 3, 2013

Two leading interpreters of the Bournonville style, Gudrun Bojesen and Ib Andersen, present their take on how to stage Bournonville today, and their views could not differ more. Where Bojesen goes outside  Bournonville to give "La Ventana" more story and a link to Flamenco, Ib Andersen embraces the tradition and tries to go deeper into the inherited material. One strategy succeeds and the other fails.

 

 

Good Housekeeping

The presentation of next years season once more showcased Nikolaj Hübbe's ability to chose the best from what is available, a strong character trait in trying times.

When Opera Director Sven Müller should make a case for a production of "Porgy & Bess" with an ensemble brought in from outside (a strange decision for a theatre which had suffered severe cuts), he mused about how much the opera (in a Danish sung version) had meant to the Danish audience during the German occupation in 1940 -1945.

This was not the only time that the presentation catapulted me to that period where Danes survived on thriftiness, economizing and getting something out out everything. The Opera will celebrate Verdi and Shakespeare by doing Falstaff, Othello and Macbeth in the same decoration. The drama department will honour Shakespeare by productions so small scale that they could be performed in a telephone booth.

Money Makes the World Go Around

"Hübberiet"

April 12 & 17, 2013 

John Neumeier:

"Romeo & Juliet"

April 20,2013

 

The Annual Report 2012

Royal Danish Ballet

 

This week have seen the annual financial report of the Royal Danish Theatre following the cut downs and lay offs. There has also been two portions of the "Hübbery", an intro to the upcoming Bournonville programme and new cast members in "Romeo & Juliet".

The key figures in the annual report shows that the RDB performed better financially than the other artforms and has  lost fewer attendees from the fall in productions and performances.

The ballet have also attracted big sponsorships and have the best track record for attracting a younger audience.

Holly Go Lightly

 

Holly Jean Dorger traveled from School of American Ballet and a pure Balanchine environment and found herself in the drama-centric Royal Danish Ballet and met a whole new – or rather old – repertoire. The good news is that is proved a happy match. 

 In RDB all the men - and one woman – know how to wear a kilt. The woman with that particular skill are American Holly Jean Dorger of Irish descendent, who took up Scottish dance as an 8 year old back in Michigan and reached international top level in the sport before having to give it up when being accepted at School of American Ballet as a scholarship student.

Today Holly can still do the Highland Fling, as shown in a production by the in-house company Corpus, where she was partnered by fellow dancer James Clark, whom she had competed against and won over in the Scottish dance competitions of their childhood.

 "I did not recognize James Clark when we joined the company but as we got to know each other we discovered that we both spent our childhood dancing to bagpipes. It just shows how small the dance world is for us to show up 10 years later in the same company, halfway around the world," said Holly.

 

 

The New Reality for NYCB

New York City Ballet:

George Balanchine:
"Serenade", "The Four Temperaments", "Symphony in C",

Justin Peck: "In Creases"

Alexei Ratmansky: "Concerto DSCH"

Jerome Robbins: "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz"

Christopher Wheeldon: "Les Carillons"  

The Opera Stage
The Royal Theatre

April 4 – 5 2013

When George Balanchine and later Jerome Robbins died, the character of NYCB changed dramatically. The company was no longer the choreographic tool of master choreographers. The status of NYCB became more like its fellow European companies: " Royal Danish Ballet", "Royal Ballet", "Paris Opera Ballet" and "Kirov", who had to combine the inherited repertoire with works by new choreographers and international standard works. Indeed, one could say that Peter Martins, himself a product of the  European tradition actively forced the transition by adding ballet like "Sleeping Beauty", "Romeo & Juliet" and a full "Swan Lake"  to the repertoire.

Where it earlier have been impossible to compare NYCB to the other companies, it became easier and  easier. Not only did NYCB do more standard works and the bigger European companies and ABT more Balanchine and Robbins. The companies also favored the same new choreographers: Forsyth, Wheeldon, Ratmansky etc. Where NYCB had been totally unique in its approach to repertoire and style, the company became more mainstream.

A Life in Dance

Eva Kloborg joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1957 as a ballet child and she remains an active force in the company as a character dancer and beyond as an international teacher and stager of the Bournonville heritage. As the longest serving dancer in the company she is one of the few direct links to company choryfe's like Vera Volkova and Harald Lander. As a dancer she was as home in Balanchine as in her beloved Bournonville, and here she shares some of the tale of her long career
and her present quest to bring Bournonville abroad. 

The Viking of Kongens Nytorv

Royal Danish Ballet’s young hope Jón Axel Fransson embodies all the special qualities of the Danish demi charactere tradition. But this ultimate Danish dancer is not actually Danish. Jón Axel Fransson was born in Iceland, which was discovered and populated by the Vikings. Jón was three old when he moved with his family to Denmark, and thereby had the opportunity of applying for the Royal Danish Ballet School.  That gave him an easier start than Helgi Tomasson, a fellow Icelandic, whose early training consisted of a Danish teacher giving classes in the capitol Reykjavik. 

 

The Never Ending Story

John Neumeier:

"Romeo & Juliet"

"The Royal Danish Ballet

March 21, 22 2013

For a Danish audience, John Neumeier's "Romeo & Juliet" is as much part of the DNA of the company as "La Sylphide", "Etudes" and "Napoli". The parts of Romeo and Juliet is the dream roles for many if not most of the dancers. Although the company has danced six other full evening Neumeier programmes, of which he has choreographed two "Amled" and "The Little Mermaid" on them, "Romeo & Juliet" remains the favorate. Well at least un till the short sublime run of "Ladies of The Camellias" last spring. Now the youthfull  "Romeo & Juliet" is back in repertoire, can it reconquer the crown from the more mature lady?

The Runner Up

Nikolaj Hübbe & Eva Draw:

"La Bayadére"

New cast

March 8, 2013

 

In the final run of "La Bayadére" Hübbe presents a new cast in the three major roles. In contrast to the other three casts the team is well matches and especially the two newcomers Jonathan Chmelensky and Holly Jean Dorger delivers very fine performances.

Director's Cut

Dance2Go

Wayne McGregor: "Chroma"

José Limon: Excerpt of "The Unsung" 

Nikolaj Hübbe & Eva Draw: Excerpt of "La Bayadére"

Alternate cast

February 2012

 

The first cast of "Chroma" has so far been the only cast. We are finally getting a second cast but the first have so dominated the ballet that it is difficult to make mental room for other interpretations. In "The Unsung" several solos are surprisingly unsonged as the work is cut to make the Dance2Go a faster and smother program.