“The Hübbery”
Royal Danish Ballet
April 15, 2016
Contrary to standard practice, this season’s last installment of the talk and dance show “The Hübbery” was not used to promote the current and upcoming repertoire. Instead, a large part of the program was used to promote in-house choreographers like Adam Lüders, Sebastian Kloborg and Charles Andersen. As always, the program was supposed to follow a theme, this time America, so the evening included segments with the popular American Ambassador Rufus Gifford and a Danish Arctic specialist Martin Breum. The latter explained the American/ Danish history and alliance in the Arctic area. However, although Nikolaj Hübbe mentioned Harald Landers Arctic themed ballet “Qarrtsiluni “, he also wisely concluded that its time has passed.
He did however include a segment from Jose Limon’s “Unsung”, which has been part of the RDB repertoire for several seasons, so the history box could be ticked off.
Balanchine vs. Bournonville
Nikolaj Hübbe used four leading dancers Holly Jean Dorger, Amy Watson, Ulrik Birkkjær and Andreas Kaas in a battle between Balanchine and Bournonville style without really displaying either’s strong points. Had he chosen to mix “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” and “Flower Festival in Genzano” the differences, the quality and the dancers would had shined more.
A Masculine Touch
At current Royal Danish Ballet has 15 apprentices and they are all girls. Potentially it is half the corps needed for “Swan Lake Act two” or the shades in “La Bayadére”. Sebastian Kloborg had been given the task of creating a ballet on an American theme for the group of girls. The work named “1970 now 2015” is based on a speech by Jimmy Carter.
It was the best thing on the menu. Kloborg had found an inventive solution of dealing with the all-girls ensemble. Not only were they styled masculine, the choreography, although done on pointes also took on a masculine quality. It was sharp, modern and inventive.
The Traditional Route
Over the last seasons, former NYCB star Adams Lüders has created several pieces for the RDB dancers, mainly in the Pas de Deux format. He has also used primarily classical music so “7 Tjerepnin Piano Pieces” fit the pattern. The pas de deux was created on two young dancers Astrid Elbo and Magnus Christoffersen, who both are alumnies from the large successful young generation lead by Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas. The pas de deux highlights the talents and skills of the duo especially the expressiveness of Miss Elbo. Compared to his last ballet, the dancers have more room to maneuver. However, it amounted more as a good effort rather than as a brilliant result.
The dance part of the evening included a tap solo by and with Charles Andersen. which emerged seamlessly into the showstopping “That’s life Pas de Deux” from “Come Fly Away” danced by Gregory Dean and Alexandra Lo Sardo.
Unfortunately, the rest was no silence but an overenthusiastic Gospel performer trying to get the audience to participate. It might have worked better if the performer had presented Gospel as a team sport and not as an ego effort.
Photos:
Charles Andersen in "Come Fly Away" Photo by Costin Radu (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
Magnus Christoffersen and Holly Jean Dorger. Photo by Henrik Stenberg (Copyrigt(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
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