August 27, 2015
Alban Lendorf hopes that his dual affiliation with Royal Danish Ballet and American Ballet Theatre for the coming season will give him and the two companies the best of both worlds.
The RDB audience is familiar with the experience of losing some of our best dancers to overseas companies. Eric Bruhn, Peter Martins, Adam Lüders, Ib Andersen, Nikolaj Hübbe all went to New York for the major part of their career. Although these dancers did occasionally appear with their parent company, their signing on to ABT or NYCB including leaving their employ at RDB, including the attached state pension.
When ABT earlier this summer published that they had signed RDB leading star Alban Lendorf as a principal, many fans believed that the signing was identical to the model, quoted above. Fortunately, it was soon made clear that the two companies in question shared joint custody of Alban Lendorf. Yes. He will spent part of the year in New York, but will also stay committed to RDB.
“It is a much for personal reasons that I want to spend a prolonged period in New York. Having lived almost all my life in Copenhagen, I have for some times wanted to try living abroad. And what better place than New York? I want to get that experience”, Alban Lendorf explains.
A Fast Rise
Alban Lendorf’s remarkable talents was discovered early. Although he only entered the RDB School at the age of 12 years, he developed fast and in few years was ahead of the curriculum. By the age of 21, he was leading principle dancer and the first cast for most productions. At his current age of 25, he is the veteran of most productions, and has even starred in two different productions of “Swan Lake” and “La Sylphide”.
“It is not that I have grown tired of being in RDB. I am as committed as ever. The season is planned, so I can dance major roles in Copenhagen as well as in New York. I have reached a point where I wanted to spend a longer period with another company to see what I could learn from other teachers and gain new experience.
Over the last years, I have been a guest at several companies and participate in many international galas. Nevertheless, at best, this gives a short view of the host company and for the gala’s, it is a fly in, a stage rehearsal, a performance, a reception and back in the airport next morning. I felt ready to make a stronger commitment”.
Excellent Timing
Alban Lendorf will join American Ballet Theatre at a time where the company is enjoying a very positive development. Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie has in a relatively short period strengthened the company, by not only hiring and developing new and strong stars and building a strong classical repertoire. He has also hired Alexei Ratmansky as house choreographer. Still Alban Lendorf’s reason for joining ABT as his second company is more based on the core values:
“I have danced with ABT several times, first as part of an exchange program and later as a guest. This has allowed me a closer look at the company and working with Kevin Mackenzie and the other teachers. I feel confident that I can continue my development as a dancer under their tutelage.”
As mentor and Artistic Director, Nikolaj Hübbe has built a very Lendorf-friendly repertoire in Copenhagen. In many ways Lendorf career mirrors Hübbe, who also got an early starts and danced leading as a very young dancer. At a 21 year old, he was not Lensky, but Onegin in the Copenhagen production of the John Cranko ballet. A few years later, he himself left RDB to join NYCB.
“Nikolaj has been very supportive regarding my plans and has made this shared custody arrangement possible. I am very grateful for his positive attitude. “
Maybe Nikolaj Hübbe’s positivisms is partly based on the fact that there is a significant line of male talent in the company’s young members or maybe he has realized that the game has changed. Looking on the international scene, many ballet stars split their time between several companies.
Having it Both Ways
Neither ABT nor RDB has completely finished their casting schedules. Alban Lendorf confirms he will dance in Balanchine’s “Waltz Fantasy” and Twyla Tharp/Jerome Robbins’ “Brahms/Handel”, and he looks forward to more new challenges later in the season:
“For this first year I will probably spend more time in New York than in Copenhagen, as I need to familiarize myself with the repertoire. However my longtime plan is to achieve a 50/50 split.”
The Copenhagen season will probably show Alban Lendorf in most of the repertoire, he would have gotten, had he stayed at home, but in fewer performances:
“In ABT I will be compared to dancers who can jump and spin better than myself. I will be there to further my future development, not as much as an equilibrist, but by working with other teachers and directors and adding my Danish ballet heritage, I hope I can continue to develop as a dancer and a performer.”
I Denmark we are always proud when a fellow Dane does well abroad and we can hope that by sharing Alban Lendorf, the American ballet environment will gain more interest in the RDB achievement and history.
Hopefully the new arrangement will allow Alban Lendorf to grow his repertoire and maybe get some custom-built roles. He is at the point of his career where a large-scale ballet could and should be built around him. Maybe ABT can facilitate that.
Photos (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet.
1. Promotion photo for Royal Danish Ballet
2, Portrait by Henrik Stenberg
3. In "Lady of the Camellias" with Susanne Grinder by Costin Radu
4 In "Lady of The Camellias" with Nikolaj Hübbe by Costin Radu
5. As Siegfried in "Swan Lake" by Costin Radu
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