Lene Boel:
”7 Runer”
Netx Zone
Takkelloftet
November 2. 2015
“Bolshoi
Babylon”
European premiere
as part of CPH:DOX
Empire Bio
November 7, 2015
Financial Cuts at the Royal Theatre
The Royal Danish Ballet will keep the number of performances, but will have to rely more on heritage productions following the cuts.
A Modern Dance groups presents a work inspired by Viking and Hunger Game, while the Copenhagen audience can get an insight view on how another company handles their issues.
Nick Reed’s documentary on the acid attack on Sergei Filin is trying to find an explanation on how such an aesthetic art form can develop into thug behavior. However, the question remains it the reason a Russian issue or a ballet issue? The movie follows the three men in the conflict, the victim, Company Director Sergei Filin, the culprit and the new broom, Vladimir Urin, who was brought in to put the organization either back on its track or create a new organization.
Reed tells most of his story through interviews with rather upset dancers. One is afraid her career is over due to injure. Another is frustrated over getting small and unimportant roles. Slowly but clearly he paints a portrait of a company where most of the dancers will only get few roles and will be overqualified for those they do get, a company, where there are deep believes that casting are dictated by unfair favoritism or bribes.
Filin put out the thesis, as he has not promoted his own wife, who is a member of the corps, he can be not labeled corrupt. Vladimir Urin on the other hand gains the support from the dancers by announcing that anyone can audition for any part. The dancers do not realize that the promise may not really bring them closer to the coveted roles.
In the end, Filin’s contract is not reviewed. His artistic adversary Nikolai Tsiskaridze gets an important posting at The Vaganova institute. Will it change anything? Nobody knows.
Is There such a thing as a Happy Ballet Company?
Probably the film director had another goal, but what the film really achieve is the portrait of an art form, where only few of the performers reaches their goals while the rest have to live with the frustration of not being able to succeed.
The film turned my mind to the Lander affair, where the RDB ensemble in 1952 rallied against the artistic director, Harald Lander and accused him of artistic favoritism and sexual harassments. Lander resigned and left the country before the case went to court. He later received an apology from the Ministry of Culture, but the questions and the fronts was still visible in the company almost 20 years later.
Being an Artistic Director of a ballet company obviously will remain a no-win situation. You cannot make everybody happy.
With another financial cut, Nikolaj Hübbe will once again have to accept more limitation on what he can do with his talented ensemble, who seems able of doing so much more than was is financially possible. It seems like the survival strategy of the Royal Theatre is to keep the numbers of performances, but to focus more on existing and heritage productions than the current strategy, where the focus is on bringing out new – and expensive – productions.
During his reign so far, Nikolaj Hübbe has built a good selection of classic, neoclassic and dramatic ballets that should keep the dancers well occupied for a decade. However, the question remains: Will the Copenhagen audience adjust to old gold rather than new glitter?
Going Archaic
When someone launches a dance project inspired by Nordic mythology, Vikings and “Hunger Games” it created a certain curiosity and excitement. Learning that the project will use only seven performers from as different genres as new circus, fusion breakdance, urban dance and new dance, a certain worry sets in.
Lene Boel, who is previous winner of the prestigious Reumert Award, promises a lot of action, including Valkyries, dragon/human mixes, gods and heroes. However, the reality of the performance is on a much more human scale.
As a recent visitor to the new impressive Moesgaard archeological museum, which wallows in the most severe aspects of our ancestors like ritual killings and strange practices and has the research results to back them up, I thought I knew what was going to happen when the cast entered the stage carrying one man and many axes. I was proved wrong what we were in for was mere joggling and honestly not a very refined performance of such.
Lene Boel is religious in her own method, by starting each project with a brand new cast of mix skills. It may feed her inspiration, but it may hinder her work and her performers reaching as high a quality as is present in more stable ensembles. Last week Danish Dance Theater proved the high quality level that follows a more long-term oriented strategy.
The best performances came from the female cast members with good modern dance skills. They could add something to the various scenarios. The male cast was less fusion oriented. They did not really move away from their core circus- and breakdance background, and thereby the saga was unable to fulfill the intentions.
Photo Credits:
- Poster for Bolshoi Babylon
- The Royal Danish Ballet in John Neumeier's "Lady of the Camellias" by Costin Radu (copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
- 7 Runes Photo by Stuart McIntire Coyright(c)
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