Royal Danish Ballerina Anna Lærkesen died on January 14, 2015.
It is a difficult task for a company ballet school to identify the real talent, and in the 1950ties Royal Danish Ballet School totally missed seeing the potential in the tall, willowy Anna Lærkesen. Luckily she had the perseverance to continue her ballet studies as a private pupil of the Estonian born teacher Edite Feifere Frandsen. In 1959 the talented dancer was finally recognized by the RDB and signed as an aspirant. It did not take long before the company discovered what a unique talent, Anna Lærkesen possessed, and her career developed with an impressive pace. During the early 1960ties she amassed the audience dancing all the romantic leads like “La Sylphide”, “Giselle”, “La Sonambule”, Ashton's “Romeo and Juliet” and “Swan Lake”. She also shone in Kenneth MacMillan’s “Solitaire” and in Birgit Cullberg’s “Moon Reindeer” and “The Lady from the Sea”.
In 1966 Anna Lærkesen together with Kirsten Simone was appointed First Principal Dancer, a title seldom used in the company. However Anna Lærkesen did not thrive in the company and she absented herself on prolonged sick leaves. She did return for various roles, but in 1984 she was pensioned off shortly before her 25th jubilee. Her last role was the part of Louise, the wife of the philandering Eduard in August Bournonville’s “The Life Guards of Amager”.
However, Anna Laerkesen was not finished with ballet and reinvented herself as a choreographer, creating a number of neoclassical ballets for the new young generation of Danish dancers.
Her first work,”When I am in the air” was choreographed for a group of young dancers, and she continued choreographing for this talented group, especially for Silja Schandorff. Among the ballets created for Silja Schandorff was “Homage à Bournonville” created for Shandorff'sparticipation in the Eric Bruhn Price, which she won.
Two of her ballets was also produced on television, The Bach Pas de Deux ”Partita” and her version of “Kindertodenlieder”, created for LIs Jeppesen, Peter Bo Bendixen, Christina Olsson and Juri Possochov. One of her greatest hits “Polacca” with music by Chopin, played by a classical ensemble and Safri Duo, the internationally success Danish percussionists is probably the best example of her style. She also created ballets for NYCB, San Francisco Ballet and Royal Swedish Ballet.
She continued following RDB and could often been seen watching performances. Probably only few in the audience recgognised her, but for those like me,who saw her “Swan Lake” and the Ashton”Romeo & Juliet Balcony scene” captured on television, could never doubt having seen a rare ballerina.
Royal Danish Ballet dedicate this evenings performance of "La Sylphide" and "Theme & Variations" to her memory.
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