Interview with Oliver Starpov
The line of homegrown choreographers at the Royal Danish Ballet is annoyingly short. So short that it can almost be listed as August Bournonville, Harald Lander and Flemming Flindt. Yes, Alexei Ratmansky and Tim Rushton did their very early works here and yes, there have been others. However, hardly anyone has made it past the various workshop initiatives. Moreover, although some alums become choreographers, it generally happened years after leaving the RDB Peter Martins and Ib Andersen are examples of this trend.
It is therefore a novelty when a young dancer is asked to choreograph some of the most important divertissements in the upcoming production of “Swan Lake”.
An offer he could not refuse
First Year dancer Oliver Starpov passed Nikolaj Hübbe in the corridors of the Royal Theatre was asked: “Would you be interested in choreographing two of the divertissements in “Swan Lake”?
“I was so surprised and also a bit scared. But I also realized that this assignment would help my quest to become a choreographer and therefore signed up for the challenge” explains Oliver Starpov.
It was actually Deputy Artistic Director Silja Schandorff, who got the idea of bringing Starpov and Principal Dancer Gregory Dean, who both shares choreographic skills and ambitions into the production, she is staging together with Nikolaj Hübbe.
“There are so little opportunity for choreographic talents in the repertoire. So I thought it could be an idea to bring them in, and as we planned that the four divertissements should appear foreign, it looked like an idea that even might enhance what we are trying to do,” Silja Schandorff told the audience at the workshop presentation of “Swan Lake”.
Like a Fish in Fresh Water
For Starpov, the quest of being a choreographer has been on his game plan, almost from the time he entered the Royal Ballet School:
“I have always been a child making stories, so when ballet became a part of my life, it merged into a wish of creating my own ballets.”
While busy as an apprentice, Starpov stayed on the outlook for opportunities and he was an eager participant when Corpus last season launch an initiative “Interregnum” where the participating dancers should choreograph for themselves.
Corpus also took the initiative, called PopUps, small studio performances created in less than week, where dancers could create their own small-scale performance. It was in one of the PopUps that Oliver Starpov first got the chance to show his skills.
He created a Pas de Deux for fellow dancers Stephanie Chen Gundorf and Sebastian Haynes, and that led to an invitation to create a piece for “The Hübbery” , and outreach programme for the RDB, a piece to “Le Sacre.”
Modern & Classic
Oliver Starpov passed his dancers exam in summer 2014 and was offered a contract as dancer in RDB. He is now trying to balance his career as a dancer with his quest for choreography:
“Originally I saw myself as modern dance choreographer but now I am keen to work on a more classical base. Being a classical trained dancer I feel I can use the classical language in my choreography”.
He has several ideas he would like to turn into ballets in the coming, including a ballet based on Frida Kahlo and her works.
“I have no fixed idea yet on how it should turn out, but I do admire her work and feel that there could be an interesting ballet there”.
Go East
When distributing the divertissements with Gregory Dean, Starpov wanted the Spanish and Russian divertissement. Luckily Dean’s preference was the other two the Hungarian and Neapolitan segments.
The new version of “Swan Lake” will replace the Peter Martins version, created for RDB in 1996. In that version the Russian divertissement, then a Pas De Deux for a slightly clad warrior king and queen was the outstanding of the four divertissements. I therefore asked Oliver Starpov on his take for that segment.
Nikolaj Hübbe and Silja Schandorff has decided to drop the six brides Waltz and instead - as Flemming Flindt also did in his version - distribute the four divertissements to four potential brides representing four different countries and dancing styles. Therefore, each divertissement will be built around a female soloist.
“My inspiration are mostly the Asian part of Russia. In that respect I am not far from Peter Martins. But I am also using some gestures and poses that is inspired by Bolshevik art and posters,” says Oliver Starpov.
For the Spanish dance, he is trying to avoid the obvious clichés:
“There are several Spanish divertissements in the classical ballet tradition, and we can even ad several Bournonville Spanish ventures as well. Here I am trying to avoid the stereotypes.”
Neither choreographer has had any input on the costumes, which were designed prior to the decision to farm out the choreography. They are however the most experimental of the costumes for the ballet.
“They suit very well with my intentions. The whole idea costume -vise and choreographically has been to let the divertissements represent a foreign element.”
I hope that Oliver Starpov and Gregory Dean can use this opportunity to establish themselves as choreographers. In addition to choreographing two divertissements, Dean will also reprise the role of Siegfried.
It is about time that RBD found its interpreter of the presence,
Photos:
Oliver Starpov by Henrik Stensgaard
Russian and Spanish divertissement by Costin Radu
Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
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