Royal Danish Ballet
Whims of the Ballet Master
Ohad Naharin : Minus 7
Christopher Wheeldon: Wanderers
Jacopo Godani: Uncontaminated
Alicia Alonso: "Don Quixote"
April- May 2009
One man improvises on stage. He communicates with the growing crowds who have stayed in the theater during intermission in anticipation of his act. No two performance are alike and the dancer is fully in command of his steps, miming and audience. This is Morten Eggert, one of the most original dancers in Royal Danish Ballet warming up the audience for "Minus 7" and what he represents in those few brief moments is the soul of the company, the special abilities of the Danish school to combine drama and dancing and be able to communicate without words, to give a dramatic twist to even the most abstract ballet. He is the more than 200 year old tradition, but does he also represent the future?
Yes, if the verdict is based on "Minus 7" alone. The work by Ohad Naharin, which was presented last season, managed what probably no other work danced by the RDB in the last seasons has done: make the diverse company appear as one organism. It is a work where you can see no visible difference between the home grown dancers and the imported ones. Granted the technical and stylistic demands on the dancers are few, but the work is a clever construction and communicates a real joy of dancing.
It was presented last season in combination with Christopher Wheeldon's "Wanderers" and Nacho Duartes "Coming Together," a programme which became a surprise hit. This year Nikolaj Hübbe has changed the Duarte work to Jacopi Godani 'Unconterminated" and although this work, choreographed for the company, features a row of the company's strongest female cards: Gitte Lindstrøm, Gudrun Bojesen, Amy Watson, Susanne Grinder and Kizzy Howard the impact of this 3-part evening is diminished compared with last year. There are in my opinion two reasons. Firstly the new work, although it is high driven and energetic, does not really cater to the special qualities of the company or its stars. Lovely Gudrun Bojesen, so strong in so many genres and the epitome of the Danish ballerina, looks almost miscast in this high driven, big punches ballet. The music is electronic and the stage is almost completely dark. And then the movements seem to take second place to a rather busy decor of objects constantly moving around the place. Where Duarte's work, although inspired by prisoners' letters, kept an optimistic tone and gave a lot of opportunities for dramatic and poetic moments, this is darker than dark, and the whole tone of the evening becomes two dark and only one light ballet.
The second main reason for the programmes' diminishing impacts is the casting of the otherwise impressive "Wanderers". It was choreographed as the last great pas de deux for Silja Schandorff and Kenneth Greve, who now both have retired on top of their game, and this second outing indeed proves that there are a hard couple to replace.
Nehemiah Kish and Yao Wei, two of the season's most used dancers, are the ones who hasve to follow in Schandorff and Greves footsteps. Wei and Kish shares some character traits. Both are technically strong dancers and have broad repertoire experience, but neither offer much stage personality or dramatic impact and as the work carries on, it becomes more and more evident that Wheeldon choreographed as much for the dramatic qualities of the Schandorff/Greve partnership as for their technical skills. Both Schandorff and Greve could handle a fair amount of camp in their performance style and what in their interpretations came across as "Swan Lake" on acid now comes across as nothing. Some key stances are uses several time in the work, and instead of seeing some kind of interpretation we only grasps the two dancers posing meaninglessly.
But all is not lost. Last year the second pas de deux, danced by Femke Slot and Ulrik Birkkjær seemed a very minor pas de deux, but this year it was a really magic moment. And this has less to do with the absence of the grander couple and more, I believe, with the grooming and growing experience of the young couple, who were one of the casts for "Romeo and Juliet". Birkkjær especially has been given several leading roles, including Albrecht, and although he has been over-matched by some, he is constantly growing as a dancer and as a performer. He will be one of the dancers Hübbe will build the company on.
When Hübbe took over the company he was faced not only by the fact that many principal dancers as well as many soloists were getting closer and closer to the retirement age, the younger group of dancers was rather underdeveloped and although it presented definite talent, it lacked the outstanding star potential. on top of that Kenneth Greve retired to take up the post as ballet master in Helsinki, Finland and three of the younger principals, om whom he should be able depend, Mads Blangstrup, Andrew Bowman and Kristoffer Sakurai, have been absent for most of the season due to injury and leave. Hübbe was forced to test the younger dancers in major parts. Hübbe comes across as a ballet master not afraid to take even big chances and although some castings have been too much too soon, it cannot be denied that he has shown incredible progress in developing the younger dancers. Probably the two dancers he has managed to develop most are Christina Michanek, from a coltish potential soloist to a real romantic ballerina, and Sebastian Kloborg, from a dramatic talent with a messy style to a stronger and cleaner dancer, but also Susanne Grinder, Ulrik Birkkjær, Femke Slot, Kizzy Howard and the young super talent Alban Lendorf shows his skills in talent management. In reality these dancers have developed more in one season than in five years.
But there are limits to what Hübbe can achieve and save, and the Alicia Alonso "Don Quixote" remains as ill chosen and problematic as it was when presented by Frank Andersen last season. It is not the right ballet for the company at this time. The production is so clearly designed for a smaller company with few technically strong dancers, hence the more folklore style. And as RDB do not really have any stars crying out for a Basil or Kitri, there seems little point in presenting this junk. "Don Quixote" in any production is a trial and when the company is not able to bring on really outstanding casts, it is not worth the bother. Luckily it is not part of next year's repertoire. One may hope, next time their there is call for a "Don Quixote" -- maybe for Alban Lendorf -- the company and it ballet master may have the confidence and quality to go for the superior Bolshoi version mounted in the 80s. As the company is getting stronger one dares to hope.
Photo copyright Royal Theatre
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