Eva Hammershøy:
“Ballettens kommende superstjerner”
(The upcoming superstars of ballet)
Historia 2016
Eva Hammershøy portrays Kompagni B, the in-house company for RDB Ballet students, in a book. The book is very detailed and written with the best intentions. However, some of the editorial choices misses the real – and even greater story.
At first look, the book includes every standard item of the typical Danish ballet book. Intros by Erik Ashengreen and Nikolaj Hübbe, interviews with company stars Ida Praetorius and Sebastian Haynes and with Head of the Ballet School, Thomas Lund. Unfortunately, real interviews with the key players the kids themselves and Kompagni B leader, choreographer Ann Crosset are very limited. Off course the careers of Ida Praetorius and Sebastian Haynes, who both moved to the frontline of the company as very young dancer are a testament of what Kompagni B can do for the students, but I do miss more in-depth interviews with the current company members.
A strong point of Kompagni B is that it teaches the young students the whole process of creating a performance. Not every student at the RDB school will make it to the grown up company, but through the program they also tests whether the might have talents for other components like design, choreography and project management. The book misses the opportunity to interview Oliver Starpov, who started choreographing in Kompagni B, and now at the age of 20 have contributed two divertissements for the company’s production of “Swan Lake” as well as several smaller works.
It is an expensive project to produce a book, and one would wish for more photos. Instead, a lot of various memos and lists creates the breaks in the book. These limitations hinders the books in really showing the Kompagni B project and the people creating the miracle. The reader is to far remove from the action.
Photo by Christian Als (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
Comments