Nikolaj Hübbe is returning to US for a four city tour as Ballet Master for his parent company
“To take the company on an international tour is a goal I sat for myself, when I started my tenure as Ballet Master three years ago. I sat myself the task of bringing the company to a standard, where an international tour was feasible and sensible and I also saw it as a milestone for myself. This was a target I demanded myself and the company to reach,” says Nikolaj Hübbe, when asked why the Royal Ballet is touring USA and why they are doing it now.
Second casts in "Etudes", "Alumnus" and "La Conservatoire" May 2011
In most productions the first cast tends to be the better cast, and if looking at Royal Danish Ballet's latest programme, that will be true, if the focus was only on the men. But the good performances from the girls came from the alternate casting of Diana Cuni, Lena-Maria Gruber and especially J'aime Crandall, who proved not only to be good but great.
This season Hilary Guswiler has establish herself as the next great Danish ballerina covering a repertoire from Bournonville over Balanchine to a promising Swan Queen.
21 year old Hilary Guswiler has had a dream start to her career at Royal Danish Ballet. In her first year as member of the company she not only got a leading role in “Serenade”, had a ballet made on her by Iain Rowe, and participated in the Erik Bruhn competition with Alban Lendorf as well as performed in Vail. And by the beginning of her second season, she got the ultimate challenge as Odette – Odile in Swan Lake.
When Amy Watson decided to follow her School of American Ballet training with a stay at the Royal Danish Ballet, she expected to stay for a season or two. Now ten years later she has build a strong and varied resume and has moved to the very front of the company
Amy Watson seems to have had three different careers at the RDB and although she is very pleased of having had and conquered so many challenges she is now in a stage of her career where she would like to be able to concentrate on her present employ as the classical ballerina, an employ that this season have included the lead roles in “Swan Lake”, “The Sleeping Beauty”, “Serenade” and “Etudes” as well as two leading roles in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
Harald Lander: "Etudes", directed by Nikolaj Hübbe & Thomas Lund
August Bournonville: "La Conservatoire" directed by Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter
Johan Kobborg: Alumnus (Les Lutins & Salute)
Royal Danish Ballet
April 30 2010
When two thirds of a programme consists of classical signature pieces like "La Conservatoire" and "Etudes" one knows that it will be an evening in a somewhat historical mood. But even though I have never formulated my expectations of Johan Kobborg as a choreographer, I was never the less gobsmacked when seeing that his take on his old company reminded more of "Graduation Ball" than any other work from the last 80 years or so.
And then company superstar Alban Lendorf was finally made principal, just turned 22 after two glorious seasons. That was expected but much of what I expected of the evening did not come true.
