Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

 Wayne McGregor: "Chroma"

Tina Tarpgaard: "DEW" 

 Patrick Delcroix: "Inpénétrable Songes"

Yuri Possokhov: "ergo ubi NARCISUM per deviarura vagantem"

Royal Danish Ballet

May 26 2012

It is a well-known fact that Nikolaj Hübbe primarily sees RDB as a classical and neo-classical company, and therefore rarely focus on modern choreography.  As this seasons final programme consist of three creations by well-known Danish and international choreographers and supplemented by Wayne McGregor's "Chroma",  it was a good opportunity to se if modern ballet could and should take a larger role in the repertoire. Based of the quality of the dancing it was a resounding yes, but none of the new creations managed to make the case for a more modern line nor for a place in the standard repertoire. 

 Wayne McGregor's "Chrome" proved to be a very good choice for the RDB with a predominately younger cast demonstrated the core quality of the company to enhance almost every ballet they dance. Compared to the Royal Ballet cast, caught on the dvd production, RDB succeeded in widening the space and the scale of the dancing, especially with the energetic bravura of Alban Lendorf, who showed how well he can tackle modern dance and Hilary Guswiler, who's classical grace and long extensions infused the work with real ballerina qualities, which strangely bought out how high choreographic skills, McGregor poses. They were surrounded by a strong group of soloists, which included a fine debut by young Sebastian Haynes, who is still a first year aspirant.         

Bring in the Light

Danish choreographer Tine Tarpgaard is one of the leading lights of the Danish modern scene. Her work "DEW" proved to be as much an exercise of lightning and video projection on a hightened floor as really creating  for the RDB dancers. Instead of Tarpgaard entering the RDB world and qualities she seems to try to draw RDB into her core area. The result is an anonymous replica of modern dance cliches. She can use the speed of the classical dancers but cares not for their other qualities and the result is a boring and uninspired work. In short an opportunity misted.  

The qualities of Patrick Delcroix' "Inpénétrable Songes" is almost 100% limited to a glorious pas de trois where Gudrun Bojesen is lifted, dipped and slung across the full stage by ulrik Birkkjær and Tim Matiakis. The rest is a selection of modern dance cliches. Delcroix has made some good sequences for Gitte Lindstrøm, but never gets around to create anything for Amy Watson, who is left to space out in the right wing. What can one say about a choreographer who cannot come up with better use for Gudrun Bojesen than have here wailing and hiding behind the back curtain. The rest is silence.

Lend me a Tenor

Finally Yuri Possokhov, fondly remembered by Danish balletomanes forr his stint as principal dancer in the early 1990ties, returns from San Francisco where he is the in-house choreographer to mount his ballet inspired by Narcissus. Sorry to say Possokhov choreographs like most dancers turned choreographers with lots of steps, few standouts and tied to a concept, they cannot really use. Possokhov has included a contra tenor to enact with the dancers un stage, and although he has some of the finest Danish dancers like Alban Lendorf, Sebastian Kloborg and Jón Axel Fransson as well as his Narcissus, Charles Andersen at his disposal, it does not amount to much.

Why and Wherefore 

 It would be easy to dispel of this programme as good intentions - bad deliverance, but unfortunately this is not an one off experience for the Danish audience. Good choreography created on the RDB dancers are few and far apart. This programme resembles a large number of other works where well renowned choreographers has been invited to choreograph for the company. The choreographers seems keen on the company and talk at length about the quality of the dancers and the special Danish skill-set, but seems often allured away by the high production values the Royal House offers re. costumes, decors, musicians and other tricks instead of focusing on the core job. And esteemed choreographers like Alvin Ailey, Richard Alston and Glen Tetley have fallen into the trap and left us with beautifully dressed nothing.

As I am not yet ready to resign myself to the fact that ballet have joined opera as a art-form where the best work have all been created, I will continue to hope that it will be possible to get great choreography made on the company . In this oeuvre the choreographers seems to have little burning ambition and ideas and save McGregor make a poor argument for modern dance. Based on what we see here Modern Dance have become even more a cliche than classical ballet. It must also bee discussed if and how RDB can be a more nurturing environment for creating ballets. As most choreographers does their best work on dancers they know, I think the solution must come from within the company or through a house choreographer. Next season will not include a similar programme but instead an in house experiment, a sort of Kompanie B for grown-ups. Maybe real choreographic talents will arise. If so I hope the company can recognise, support and develop the talent because as this and other programmes have shown is that good choreography cannot be bought as a commodity.   

 

Comments

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