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.
But the chance to be a part of SAB was too big to miss and Holly emerged herself into the Balanchine tradition. At age 14, she was noted by Nikolaj Hübbe, who occasionally taught at the school. He obviously saw a talent in Holly and when he was appointed Director in Copenhagen four years later he
offered her a contract in the company after soliciting the opinion of Silja Schandorf, the leading ballerina of the company and now Hübbe’s deputy.
So Holly found herself in a different tradition, from what she was been schooled. One of her first outings was in the corps of “La Sylphide”, which quite frankly involves more posing than actual dancing:
"I really wanted to dance but there were so few steps. It took time to get the head movements correct because it was the opposite way I naturally wanted to turn my head from my training. Eventually I got the hang of it and more dancing came too."
Following the inclusion of Holly Jean Dorger, Hübbe signed two other girls from SAB, Carling Talcott and Shelby Elsbree. Also counting principal dancer Amy Watson, who has been in Denmark for more than a decade, there was then four SAB girls in the company. Shelby Elsbree has recently returned to the states and the Boston ballet but Holly Jean Dorger is happy in the company and in Copenhagen:
"I do miss the hustle and bustle of New York City. Central Copenhagen is so quiet in comparison, especially on Sundays! But it is a lovely town. I am working on my Danish. The Company has many international dancers, therefore we are almost always speak English. The Danish remains a work in progress. I enjoy class taught from Adam Lüders. I find it so amazing that he knew Balanchine so well."
A Healthy Dose
Holly Jean Dorger is surprised to learn that her beloved Balanchine himself was Guest Ballet Master in Copenhagen in 1930, before he came to New York. George Balanchine and the Danish audience did not hit off. She has taken part in almost all Balanchine and Robbins ballets, produced during Hübbe’s reign and have had featured roles in “Apollo” and “Agon”. In “West Side Story” she was one of girls having to sing “America”, but did not wear a mike:
"At casting we were asked to sing "Amazing Grace", and I decided to go full throttle. Well, I got picked, but they obviously chose to spare the audience from my singing voice".
Learning to be a Drama Queen
Holly Jean Dorger hopes for more Balanchine in the coming seasons. She would love to be in Jewells”, her favorite ballet. But Holly Jean Dorger understands that being in the RDB includes committing to the Danish repertoire:
"RDB's tradition includes many dramatic ballets, and the local dancers are very skilled actors. At SAB
we are not trained dramatically, so this is a big challenge that I am still working to conquer. I am in awe of the dramatic skills of dancers, like my good friend Gudrun Bojesen and Mads Blangstrup. When we do "La Bayadere", Mads Blangstrup can be seen in the wings extremely focused reviewing his mime and working on his character up until the last moments he steps on to the stage as the Brahmin priest."
” La Bayadére” became the ballet where Holly Jean Dorger got the big chance to test her growing acting muscles. Having done a Pas de Act solo and a shade solo, she got the bigger prize of Gamzetti or Emma as she is known in the anglophile production:
"As it was the end of the seasons run, I only performed the role twice.I tried to make Lady Emma likable to the audience by being curious about her new environment. I thought it could be more interesting if she becomes evil, rather than being born evil."
Hopefully Holly Jean Dorger will get more performances under her belt to develop the character further. As her dancing in the role shows, there is little need for improvement here. She is probably the strongest technical dancer of the four casts.
Moving Forward
This season has awarded Holly Jean Dorger with several meaty roles. Besides the three roles in “La Bayadére”, she was third cast as the Queen in Alexey Ratmansky’s “The Golden Cockerel” and “Bluebird Pas de Deux” in “Sleeping Beauty”. In both “Bluebirds” and in “Bayadére” she was partnered by the young and upcoming soloist Jonathan Chmelensky. The two dancers are well suited and shares many traits. Both are strong jumpers and turners:
"I love dancing with Jonathan. Neither of us like to play it safe. Instead, we both go for it and go for the max."
Being in a god partnership is a good strategy for an upcoming dancer and will often lead to more and better roles. With her combination of a strong technique, discipline, good schooling and her willingness to expand her range, Holly Jean Dorger may be on the way upwards in the company hierarchy. The next seasons may see her unleash her full potential.
Photos:
1. Holly Jean Dorger
2. Alba Nadal, Alban Lendorf and Holly Jean Dorger in "Agon"
3. Alba Nadal, Caroline Baldwin, Alban Lendorf and Holly Jean Dorger in "Apollo"
4. Holly Jean Dorger and Johnathan Chmelensky in "Bluebird" pas de deux,
Photo copyright (c) : Royal Danish Ballet
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