Natalia Horecna:
“The Death
That Best Preserves”
Idan Sharabi:
“Know”
- presented by: Corpus
Sol León og Paul Lighfoot:
“Short Time Together”
Royal Danish Ballet
September 25, 2015
The Old Stage
The Achilles’ heal of the Royal Danish Ballet is the mystic inability to be an instrument for modern choreographers. Many well-known choreographers have been bought in – very few have succeeded.
Nikolaj Hübbe’s main strategy has been to focus on the classical qualities and unique heritage, but he has also stated that new choreography should have a place in the company and the dancers should have the experience of being choreographed on. He has also started the In House company Corpus to further this process.
Almost each of his seven seasons so far have included at least one program, where the dancers works with well-establish international choreographers. Often these programs have included one or two ballets, choreographed elsewhere, like Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, Ohad Naharin’s ”Minus 7 “ or Liam Scarlett’s “Viscera”. In these works, the company shined and was able to add their own qualities to the work while the tailor-made works bombed.
Last night’s premiere of the “Short Time Together” programme unfortunately was a perfect fit to the pattern. The company shone in Sol Lean & Paul Lightfoot’s “Short Time Together”, while the two other works choreographed on the RDB dancers came across as unoriginal and messy. It is my belief that for this programme there has been a sufficiently long rehearsal period, so shortage of time cannot have been the issue. Why do this pattern have to continue?