Silja Schandorff & Nikolaj Hübbe:
“Swan Lake”
Royal Danish Ballet
Danish Television
December 27, 2015
Schandorff’s and Hübbe’s “Swan Lake” makes the journey to television with all the qualities intact. Originally presented a live casting to cinemas, the final television production is edited to almost perfection, and both the outstanding work of the corps de ballet and the breathtaking décor arrives with all the magic still there.
For a longer period than I care to remember, RDB has been an infrequent guest at national television. 30 years ago every state visit to Denmark included a transmission from a gala performance from the Royal Theatre, mostly ballet. Danish television also did annually transmissions and Producer Thomas Grimm made wonderful new productions with the RDB and international choreographers like Glen Tetley, Paul Taylor and Christopher Bruce. However, after Danish television opened up for commercial competitors, the national channel dropped the focus on high art, and since then RDB has received very indifferent and sparse coverage. A few years ago an agreement was made for more transmissions. Last season presented Nikolaj Hübbe’s Fellini-inspired “Napoli”, this year “Swan Lake” and it has recently been announced the John Neumeier’s “Romeo and Juliet” will be next in line. The Napoli is available on DVD and hopefully the other productions will go the same route.
Magic & Space
When RDB presented 2 act of “Swan Lake” earlier this season on the Old Stage it seems to lose a lot of it qualities by moving to the smaller stage. The television version documents how well it performed on the bigger Opera Stage. The work of the corps is the outstanding element of the production.
The décor, partly physical partly computer generated, also travel well to another format. Likewise the divertissements, choreographed by budding choreographers Oliver Starpov and principal dancer Gregory Dean comes across as well on television as on stage.
Of the leading performers, Jon Axel Fransson as Von Rothbart managed to steal even more of the action on television than on stage. An outstanding dancer, here dancing tailor-made edgy choreography, again hammers the message that he is one of the most prolific dancers in the company. In January he will take the male lead in “Theme & Variations”.
Alban Lendorf shows strong solo work as Siegfried. However the partnership with J’aime Crandall does not really create magic. Crandall seems uncomfortable in the role. Never a strong dramatic force, she struggles building the double character as Odette/Odile. Nor is she blessed with the long lines, so integrated in the swan image.
Unfortunately missing the great partnership on top of the well baked cake diminishes the impact of the otherwise outstanding production.
Photo by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
Alban Lendorf & Jon Axel Fransson
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