”The Hübbery”
John Neumeier:
”Romeo & Juliet”
The Balcony Scene
Bella Speranza
Alessandro Sousa Pereira:
”Bravado”
Christian Lollike, Esther Lee Wilkinson, Tim Matiakis and the cast:
”Uropa”
Excerpts
Oliver Starpov:
“Beginnings and Endings”
Excerpts
George Balanchine:
“Theme and Variations”
“Pas de Deux and Finale”
Royal Danish Ballet
The Old Stage
February 20, 2016
This season’s second instalment of Nikolaj Hübbe’s dance and talk show displayed the company strength’s in many different styles as well as strong new choreography by a budding choreographer. As always, there was a theme, this time freedom. However, the theme has little logical connections to the works included. That did not matter much as the company showed there strength in a number of different styles and works and their commitment to strong human courses.
New Kid on the Block
First up was a preview of all Danish balletomanes favorite, the John Neumeier version of “Romeo and Juliet”. Young Soloist Ida Praetorius is already a veteran as she danced Juliet 3 years ago. This time she paired up with classmate Andreas Kaas, who also partnered Praetorius in the leads of Neumeier’s “Lady of the Camellias” last season. With this pairing we come very close to the dream casting from 1974 where Neumeier paired first years dancers Mette-Ida Kirk and Ib Andersen as the star-crossed couple.
The RDB ensemble also gave a healthy dose of the Balanchine masterpiece “Theme and Variations” doing both the pas de deux and the grand finale. Where Hübbe could force a link between “Romeo & Juliet” and the theme of the evening, he did not even try to make the link for “Theme & Variations”. It was not needed either as the ballet communicate its qualities very well on its own.
Promises Kept
Nikolaj Hübbe did try to force the freedom link to the two new pieces of choreography, included in the programme, but neither Alessandro Sousa Pereira’s ground skimming solo “Bravado” for Julien Romain or Oliver Starpov’s quartet, which is the second part of his “Beginnings and Endings” did respond to the labelling.
Especially Starpov’s work, which will turn in to a full ballet for next season’s “Dance2go”, again proved that the young dancer has significant choreographic talent. This time he choreographed for two men and two girls Victoria Falck-Schmidt, Wilma Giglio, Jon Axel Fransson and Andreas Kaas and showed how well he can move dancers on stage.
Controversy Well-dressed
The Corpus production “Uropa”, which targets the current and very important issue of human rights and freedom for asylum seekers, was presented by an outtake. The cast mixes RDB dancers and real asylum seekers. “Uropa” has been reworked since it failed to win over the Copenhagen critics. As I could judge from the outtake, more theatricality has been added. However, letting the asylum seeker tell their story dressed in rococo costumes does not by itself make the case stronger. Instead, it anonymizes their quest and personalities.
The final dance item on the menu was a focus on Bella Speranza, an initiative by artists Sorella Englund and Charlotte Khader and pianist Kim Helweg that brings chronically ill children to ballet pulled at the audience’s heartstrings. There were outtakes from a recent television documentary, interview with the founders and Laura, a well-spoken Bella child, who despite a serious chronical condition managed to take the lead as Swan Princess in their latest production. Finally, the whole group of Bella children and parents presented a group dance who showed that dance indeed is available to all and watchable even with severe physical impaired dancers.
It may not have been the expected outcome of the term freedom, but it did make the connection even stronger than anything else presented on stage: Dance make free.
Photos:
- Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas in "Romeo & Juliet". Photo by Costin Radu (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Oliver Starpov (with Kizzy Matiakis) Photo by Signe Roderik (Copyright(c) Royal Dnish Ballet)
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