Nikolaj Hübbe & Silja Schandorff:
“Swan Lake”
with additional choreography by Gregory Dean and Oliver Starpov
Royal Danish Ballet
The Opera
March 14 & 17 2015
Two new casts presents their take on Nikolaj Hübbe and Silja Schandorff’s “Swan Lake”. There are challenges and successes. Some part of the work starts to make more sense but it must also be discussed whether the six cast strategy really was a good decision.
On paper, it looks impressive. Six different casts for “Swan Lake” in a row. Now we have reached the half of the road mark, the strategy, although there has been some very fine performances, look a bit too ambitious and not thought trough.
I do understand why Nikolaj Hübbe made that choice. The economic and political limitations enforced on the company demands that the RDB does fewer productions and less performances than what is ideal. At the same time, the demands for box office performance are unrealistically high. Every production must be a full house.
Nikolaj Hübbe is very adapt in attracting sponsorship, and now the RDB have new big, beautiful productions of “Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Nutcracker”, “La Sylphide”, “Napoli”, “Bayadére”, “Lady of The Camellias,” “A Folk’s Tale”, “Kermesse in Bruges”, “Etudes” “The Golden Cocharel” as well as house standards “Romeo & Juliet” , “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Giselle”, “Don Quixote” (a new version is rumored for next season), “Onegin” and “Manon”.
There are also at least 10 Balanchine ballets in store as well as Alexei Ratmansky’s “Anna Karenina” and a version of “Cinderella” by Tim Rushton. The Neumeier collection also includes “Amled” and “The little Mermaid”, both choreographed for the RDB as well as his “Ulysses”. The Flemming Flindt “Caroline Mathilde” and many other works are also in company storage.
It is not that I have a wish to see all of them returned, but it does show potential for a much broader repertoire, where leading dancers could get perhaps not tailor-made roles, but roles who are more suited to their special talents.
Too Great Expectations
The expectation is that RDB should be able to sell as many tickets as the leading companies in London, Paris and New York. Cities with 2 – 10 time more people than Copenhagen. Add also that the subscription system is organized so that a subscriber will not get the same production twice in three season. That is likely the explanation for empty seats at “Lady of the Camellias” earlier this season.
The low quota of performances also leads to that ballets like “Manon” was danced only 8 times last seasons. Several dancers could and should have had leading roles. However, that was not possible due to the short run. “Manon” did not sell very well, but limited marketing budgets did not stretched to make a campaign for the ballet.
I do not know whether “Swan Lake” which has been completely sold out since the beginning of the run will be back for next season. Will Hübbe dare to take the chance that it can be sold outside the subscription? This might very well be the reason why six casts shares only 17 performances.
Sharing the Opportunities
The limitations in productions and number of performances is probably also the reason why not all the six casts are ideally “Swan Lake” material.
It is more or less Hübbe’s only chance to test and award dancers who deservers leading roles. A dancer who should be Myrtha is rewarded the lead in “Swan Lake” instead, etc.
The upgrades for Rothbart and Benno might easily be explained as creating stronger roles for the two deserving dancers, Jon Axel Fransson and Jonathan Chmelensky who both must have candidates for Siegfried as well. There is also upcoming talents Andreas Kaas and Sebastian Haynes. Maybe it is the verticality of Fransson and Chmelensky that cost them the leading role.
Chmelensky, first cast Benno and second cast Rothbart, shows himself to be as good as a villain as he is a classical dancer. He can create a dangerous and bitter character. He lacks a bit of the modern/classical mix and stage power that Jon Axel Fransson brought to the part. Chmelensky stays within the frame of classical dancing. So far, the season has primarily showed him in second leads. He was the cavalier in “Etudes” where he should have been one of the soloists, and it could look like the raise of the upcoming males stars is on his expense. However, he will get a specially made pas de deux by Adam Lüders in the final programme.
Jon Axel Fransson managed to put Benno in the limelight, not only through his very fine dancing in the pas the pas de trois, where he had beautiful support by Alexandra Lo Sardo and Silvia Silvini, but also by his strong stage present.
Soloist Alexander Stæger is Benno in third cast. He is nowhere near the ekvilibrism of Fransson or Chmelensky, but probably more on the level normally expected by a Benno. Ji Ming Hong and Emma Hawes, both newcomers this season are the two girls Especially Hawes showed beautiful dancing.
Someday My Prince Will Come
Not only does Hübbe put up six casts. The casting also mixed the dancers, so only a few of the leading couple have actually danced together in a large-scale work before.
For newcomer Sebastian Haynes, save a few performances as a guest Nutcracker prince in the low scale TIVOLI production, this is his first time in a classical lead; nevertheless, he presented a full-fledged, nuanced performance. He has an amazing stage presence, musicality and line. He infused the interpoled Erik Bruch solo in act 2 with poetry and emotion. A remarkable result in a production where Siegfried seemed almost totally forgotten by the directors in the intro scenes.
As the evening went on, he lost some of his precision but nothing of his dare and self-confidence. It was a very impressive debut in a large-scale role that fully confirmed the belief in Haynes as a potential star and a star on amazingly broad platform. Is there anything he cannot do?
He partnered Principal Susanne Grinder, who had danced the role as Odette/Odile in the Martins production as well.
She has the significant advantage over the two other Odette/Odile's that she is the type for the role and her dancing and acting as Odette was breathtaking and moving. As Odile, she also managed to get the character right and pull out a strong and daring performance. The cost for all that energy was paid on the fouettes, but it was a well-paid price for real emotion, lines and musicality.
Playing too Safe
Second cast Odette-Odile, Holly Jean Dorger comes to the role with the shortest resume of the six casts. A veteran of many divertissements she has never had a dramatic lead nor the lead in a full evening ballet. Type wise she is neither Odette nor Odile.
Based on her very fine performance in “Pas de Classique”, I expected more of her Black Swan Pas de Deux, but in both incarnations, she stayed on the narrow cautious route. It lead to few mistakes but that is not a good strategy for “Swan Lake”.
There was no abandonment, no flowing on the music, no testing the technical limits and little emotion coming across. She needs to break loose, invest herself and take bigger chances to have a fighting change.
Unfortunately, for her and many other strong dancers, Odette-Odile is the leading classical role that has the most specific physical and type wise demands for the interpreter. That can be conquered, but it needs a very intelligent game plan and dare to succeed. Playing it too safe is not an option and she should have been coached to drop that strategy.
She was partnered by Ulrik Birkkjær, who provided strong support and fine technical dancing. But if the neglect of Siegfried in the first act can limit even Alban Lendorf, it certainly also hurts Ulrik Birkkjær. However, he did have his moments, but the partnership never really flourished.
Room to Impress
The half way conclusion must be that the production, although solid and developing toward more coherency is still in want of the big ballerina performance on the level of what Silja Schandorff, Gitte Lindstrøm and Gudrun Bojesen was able to bring.
On the other hand,very solid performances on the male wing by the Siegfrieds, Rothbarts and Bennos, including James Clark who toke over as Rothbart from an injured Benjamin Buza.
The quality of the female corps and the soloists in the divertissements continues to impres.
RDB needs to dance more and have more productions each season, so the dancers can develop in the roles most suited for them instead of being placed in bunk beds like this production of “Swan Lake” seem to do.
Photos:
1. Jonathan Chmelensky as Von Rothbart (Photo Copyright (c): Tobias Praetorius)
2. Jonathan Chmelensky and Ulrik Birkkjær as Von Rothbart and Siegfried (Photo Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet & Costin Radu)
3. Holly Jean Dorger and Ulrik Birkkjær as Odette-Odile and Siegfried (Photo Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet & Costin Radu)
4. Sebastian Haynes (Photo from A Folk's Tale) ( PhotoCopyright (c) RoyalDanish Ballet and Per Morten Abrahamsen
5. Susanne Grinder (Photo from The Dying Swan)(Photo Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet and Costin Radu)
Comments