George Balanchine: Serenade
Jorma Uotinen: Earth
Marius Petipa: Don Quixote Pas De Deux
Ann Crosset and the Ballet children:
Hvem f…”#%! Er Nijinskij?
(Who the H... is Nijiinsky?)
The Royal Danish Ballet, October 2010
As many other ballet companies, The Royal Danish Ballet is actively working to broaden the audience base. Especially reaching a younger public. This it not a new strategy. It has been going on for at least 30 years. I for one was caught by a reach out activity in my high school days. But the success rate has not been high. Many small scale activities have been tried. Probably all school children in Copenhagen have been invited to a gen rep etc. The great change in Nikolaj Hübbe's strategy is than instead of showing ballet at 50% of its potential he chooses to show ballet at the highest level, but at an affordable price.
With a programme consisting of a sandwich of "Serenade" and audience favorite "Earth" by Jorma Outinen with "Don Quixote Pas the Deux" as filler, Hübbe is true to his strategy of quality ballets, but has not compromised on content. He nevertheless produced a framework around the performance that must make any cafe and cinema goer feel at ease. In the foyer you could get a special Dance to Go cocktail, discounts on sweets, and instead of raising the curtain, Hübbe himself spoke to the audience on film. For each ballet a 3 minute long presentation promo was run and the cinematic experience was followed by running credits and outtakes at the end.
Old and new stars
I had expected that the performance would start with modern and feisty "Earth" to Metalica music, but Hübbe chose a more chronological schedule, opening with "Serenade", the only Balanchine work in repertoire this season. The solos were danced by Diana Cuni as the "Russian" girl; Caroline Cavallo, now a guest artist in Waltz; and newcomer Josephine Berggreen, a first year dancer as "The Angel". Berggreen is a tall statueque dancer with a definitive sense of style and three dimensional movements. With the work of Alban Lendorf, Hilary Guswiler, Jon Axel Fransson and now Berggreen we are really seeing the new generation in full flow and most importantly succeeding. Although they have been tested in big roles, they succeed because they are placed in the right employ (well except Alban Lendorf who seems to defy any kind of typing).
Down to earth
The type-defying dancer was also at large in "Earth" in the shape of Thomas Lund. "Earth" is a collective piece for 12 men, dressed in red kilts and knee pads, doing a tribal dance in not real, but artificial dust. Originally "Earth" was produced as a part of the half baked ideas that dominated Frank Andersen's second tenure as ballet master, this time in the format of asking four Nordic choreographers to each create a ballet on one of the four elements. This impossible idea resulted in three misses and one hit.
One of the reason why most modern ballets done for classical companies seldom work is that modern dance works with gravity and classical dancers dance against gravity. And with Outinen you get a full load of gravity, but yet it functions with the classical dancers, and especially with Thomas Lund. How the gravity defying Bournonville specialist could turn himself into a pre-historic patriarch and make the life of tribal hardship so moving and yet so pure modern dancing is beyond logic. And this is not a first for Thomas Lund. His ability to transform himself and to put a personal mark on the most unlikely of challenges is an ongoing riddle and joy.
Lund was in good company, and especially Nicolaj Hansen and Sebastian Kloborg stood out.
The old warhorse
Between the two longer pieces soloists Kizzy Matiakis and Marcin Kupinsky danced the Don Quixote Pas de Deux. In the introdution snippet it became clear that the dancers share a very traditional view of the piece as an audience pleaser and the result was also although they could perform the piece they could not dance it.
By that I do not mean that they were inaddequate; most steps were in place, but it lacked phrasing and feeling and instead of being the crown of the performance this fell flat when compared with the quality level of the other two ballets.
One may hope that this ouvre really managed to bring more audience in. At the moment the company is bursting with energy and dancers are developing before our eyes. We need more attendees so the company's position is not in question and we need more funds so the company can get more performances and productions. To any potential sponsors I would state that this is time to get involved.
The energy level and potential of the company is no more present than when Kompanie B, the in house company for the oldest pupils of the ballet school, put on the annual performance.
Coached by Ann Crosset, a choreographer, the pupils put on their own performance as part of an effort to prepare for the full experience of creating a performance. This time around they have made a work telling ballet history from the court ballets to West Side Story. It is entertaining, well done and well danced. They even have managed to include a large segment from "La Conservatorie" and it is great to see how well they manages with some of Bournonville's most difficults steps. It would be unfair to single anyone out but one can safely say that more talent will enter the grown up company in few years.
It is impossible to say how much Ms. Crosset helps with the choreography, but at least the project gives the students a change to test the waters and hopefully we will get future choreographers as well.
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