Soloist Diana Cuni retires from the Royal Danish Ballet. She will be remembered as the ultimate female Bournonville dancer. She has made it her quest to preserve the Bournonville heritage and teaches dancers home and abroad how to make the old master shine.
Diana Cuni is born in 1975 and joined the RDB School at a time when the Bournonville heritage was in vogue. Together with her contemporaries Thomas Lund and Gudrun Bojesen, she felt a special responsibility to take care of the old master, and made it her mission to dance and teach the style.
For many people the Bournonville style is all about the male dancer’s steps and jumps. That limited view disappears when Diana Cuni take on one of Bournonviille’s solos for women. Her speed, precision and for a tiny dancer ability to fast cover grounds, shows aspects of Bournonville, not often recognized.
Being a good Bournonville dancer also means being a good dancer- period. Although Diana Cuni has shone in many other emploies, her career did not progress as fast and as wide, at one would expect. A main reason was the string of badly choices of artistic directors that hurt her career in her formative years. It took a surprisingly long time before she got the big leads. She danced every pas de trois and supporting role available, but had to wait ages to get Teresina in “Napoli” and Kitri in “Don Quixote”.
“Coppelia” has not been in the repertoire during her tenure. However, her soubrette qualities has been showcased in dramatic roles. She has partnered Thomas Lund in many Pas de Deux’s, including “Flower Festival in Genzano” and most charmingly in “The Wilhelm Tell Pas de Deux” at the gala of the 2005 Bournonville Festival.
She was also a favored dancer of Peter Martins, who gave her leading roles in The Waltz Project, Jazz, Fearful Symmetries, Swan Lake and most importantly Barber Violin Concerto as the fast mowing modern girl.
Diana Cuni also served Balanchine well as Russian Girl in “Serenade” and as impressively Third Movement in “Symphony in C” with the very young Alban Lendorf.
A new Quest
However, instead of focusing on missed opportunities Diana Cuni made it her project to keep Bournonville alive and well. Her commitment became a big help for American Soloist Caroline Baldwin:
“I was cast in “Napoli” Pas de Six as an alternate to Diana Cuni. Seeing my first attempt, she offered to help me with the solo. It was a great gift to receive. Through her I got a much better understanding of Bournonville.”
Caroline Baldwin has since danced several leading roles in the Bournonville repertoire.
Today Diana Cuni teaches Bournonville on the international scene including France and China. In Copenhagen, she has recently taught the RDB apprentices a series of Bournonville solos for their exam.
The London and New York audience was lucky to get the chance to see Diana Cuni perform Bournonville in a recent group tour. The international got the final chance to see her In the glorious Eliza solo in “La Conservatoire”, where she showed an artistry, fluency and ability to cover ground. Hopefully her new teaching career can insure that future generations learn her craft.
Photos by Henrik Stenberg (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
1. Diana Cuni
2. Diana Cuni in "Giselle"
3. Diana Cuni and Thomas Lund in "Don Quixote"
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