One of the most loved ballerinas at Royal Danish Ballet; Gitte Lindstrøm retires at the end of the season. Gitte Lindstrøm has enjoyed a long and varied career covering major Bournonville, Russian classic and new dramatic roles. Through her whole career she kept developing and her range is demonstrated by her last roles, which include Nikiya in “La Bayadére”, “Lady Capulet in “Romeo & Juliet” and Frau van Everdingen in “Kermesse in Bruges”
An Almost Born Princess
Gitte Lindstrøm joined the Royal Danish Ballet School in 1984 as a nine year old. At that time the children at the school performed a series of children’s’ ballets inspired by the tales of Hans Christian Andersen , and off course Gitte Lindstrøm was casted as the spoiled princess in “Klods Hans” opposite Thomas Lund as the clumsy/clever antihero and with Mads Blangstrup as one of his superior brothers. The trio grow to be the backbone of a very talented generation, also including Gudrun Bojesen, Tina Højlund and Diana Cuni.
RDB has a strange pattern, where talents seems to comes in groups every seven year, and Lindstrøm’s group included strong Bournonville skills and in many ways could be characterizes as a very Danish bunch.
The group matured and gained their first roles in the last year of Frank Andersen’s first reign and then had their formative year during the years where RDB changed ballet masters and repertoire almost annually.
For Gitte Lindstrøm the rapid changes was probably a factor in making her a very versatile dancer.
It was Anna Lærkesen, who was first to give Gitte Lindstrøm a featured role in “Hvisken & Svæven”, a ballet to music by Mozart. It was clear already from this early stage that Gitte Lindstrøm and Mads Blangstrup had the qualities to be a leading duo in the company.
An Important Mentor
The choreographer to really set that train in motion was no other than Peter Martins, who not only cast Gitte Lindstrøm as the more classical diva in “ Barber Violin Concerto”, but also gave them the chance to be Odette/Odile and Siegfried in his version of Swan Lake, created for the RDB. Over the coming years, Gitte Lindstrøm starred not only in the Martins ballet brought in for the company, but also created “Hallelujah Junction” on her.
Gitte Lindstrøm was also a guest at NYCB, where the New York critics remarked on her dramatic expressions. In Denmark at that time, she was celebrated more for her classical skills, shown in “Etudes”, “the Nutcracker”, “Myrtha”, “Sleeping Beauty” and as Kitri in “Don Quixote”, the role on which she was made principal dancer in 1998 after less of a year as Soloist.
Her strong and modern appeal also placed her in several newer works including “Return to a Strange Land”, “Stepping Stones”, “Mahler’s Fifth Symphony”, “Octet” (also by Peter Martins)and “Requiem by Tim Rushton”.
Drama Queen
Flemming Flindt was the first to give her a dramatic role in “Legs of Fire”, based on the Danish ballerina Elna Lassen, who tragically took her own life in 1930. Balanchine was guest ballet master in Copenhagen during that times and stages a memorial for Elna Lassen, including himself dance “Le Spectre de la Rose” without the role of the young girl.
Finally, the dramatic roles started to come to Gitte Lindstrøm. For Bournonville she was a strong Birthe in “A Folk’s Tale” and more importantly Teresina. When Nikolaj Hübbe returned to Denmark and produced his own version of “Napoli”, Gitte Lindstrøm was first cast Teresina and managed to portrait a modern, sassy and nuanced leading part. However, it is two other dramatic roles, which really displayed Lindstrøm capacity for building characters. She somehow managed to create the two Russian tragic heroines “Tatiana” in “Onegin” and “Anna Karenina” in Alexey Ratmansky’s creation for RDB as strong characters, which actually brought a lot to the roles.
Maturity & Variety
Nikolaj Hübbe also brought a healthy dose of Robbins to a rater starved RDB. Gitte Lindstrøm had earlier done the last Pas de Deux in “In the Night”, but now found herself as the sexy, singing diva Anita in “West Side Story”. Her performance was a highlight of the production.
The last year of her career has unfortunately been marred by several injuries, but luckily when free of injuries, she has managed several come backs, none more impressive than Nikiya in “La Bayadére” a few season back, showing her full skillset. Lindstrøm somehow managed to make the temple dancer into a strong character and remove some of the downtrottenness of the role.
This role together with the dramatic powerhouse of Lady Capulet and the mature rich widow falling for the fool who uses magic tricks in “The Kermesse in Bruges” showed that Gitte Lindstrøm kept and developed her versatility through her long and impressing career.
Gitte Lindstrøm has been a teacher at the RDB schoos for some years and hopefully some of her magic will spread to her young students. Gitte Lindstrøm retires with Diana Cuni, whose career I will cover in a separate piece. Next year Gudrun Bojesen will retire, and with her, a specially golden generation will leave the stage. Luckily, their achievements are celebrated by the younger dancers and as most of them are teaching; their unique skillsets will inspire generations to come.
Jörgen Willhelmsen has created an online picture achieve on Gitte Lindstrøm. It can be enjoyed by following this link. http://jorgen-w.livejournal.com/photo/album/552/?mode=view&id=737688&page=1
The Facebook and Instagram community Soloists and Principals has made an interview with Gitte Lindstrøm in English, where she speaks on her long career. Please enjoy it here. https://www.facebook.com/principalsrdballet?fref=ts
Photo Credits:
1. Portrait by Henrik Stensberg
2. Teresina in "Napoli" by Costin Radu
3. Nikiya in "La Bayadére" by Costin Radu
4. Tatiana in "Onegin" by Henrik Stensberg
Copyrights(c): Royal Danish Ballet
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