Poetry in Motion
April 24, 2016
In this little series of interviews, we meet three girls from the Royal Danish Ballet corps, who each in their own way adds new value and potential for the company. Here is an interview with Stephanie Chen Gundorph, perhaps the most poetic dancer in the company.
When a second year apprentice is chosen in the key female role in “Agon”, then you take notice. When Stephanie Chen Gundorph took the stage in the coveted role in 2011, you saw more than potential. You saw real ballerina qualities. However, inside the impressing performance, there was a young girl trying to find the right way to bring something special to the role.
“I was very lucky to be partnered by Sebastian Kloborg. He was open for trying some of my suggestions. At one point I tried an interpretation of not being dominant, but I could soon see, that in order to make it work, I had to be as dominant as the male partner”, says Stephanie Chen Gundorph.
Stephanie Chen Gundorph spent her first six years in her mother’s home country China. Later the family moved back to Denmark. They were keen that their children should find careers in areas they were passionate about.
“I played tennis as a child and my father would have liked to see me as the next Steffi Graf. That was not within my range, but as we lived in Odense and the Royal Danish Ballet opened a local school I became a pupil and the goal was changed to be a ballet dancer”, Stephanie Chen Gundorph explains.
It proved to be very smart move to have a ballet center in Odense. In addition to Stephanie Chen Gundorph, the school has sent some very talented dancers to the RDB, including Benjamin Buza, Viktoria Falck-Schmidt and Benita Bünger. The children train in Odense until the twelfth year. They then have to join the boarding school attached to the company in Copenhagen.
The Early Mover
Stephanie Chen Gundorph describes herself as the constant first mover:
“Together with Viktoria Falck-Schmidt, I was the first boarder at the RDB boarding school. We were also the first cast of Kompani B, the children’s own ballet company. It meant, especially at the boarding school that we had to make a lot of decisions ourselves and find our own way to deal with the challenges. Now there is a better support system in place, the children can rely on. ”
However, there is another trend; Stephanie Chen Gundorph could do without:
“Ever since I joined the RDB School, the company had to face one financial cut after another. It limits what we can do. There are ballets in store that we would love to dance again. It also makes it very difficult to develop and bring in new original choreography.”
Stephanie Chen Gundorph is passionate about new choreography. Together with her friend and colleague Sebastian Haynes, she travels to other ballet companies and is very knowledgeable and passionate about what is happening elsewhere. Seeing Mats Ek’s radical take on “Romeo & Juliet” was a current highlight.
A Bournonville Ballerina
Following “Agon”, Stephanie Chen Gundorph was cast as Eleonora in Ib Andersen’s outstanding production of August Bournonville’s “Kermesse in Bruges”. I have interviewed Ib Andersen earlier about the production and I know he was very pleased with Stephanie Chen Gundorph as the lovely ingénue, Eleonora.
Although Stephanie Chen Gundorph was pleased to be chosen, she could not help feeling like Cinderella in the production.
“Ib Andersen paired Alban Lendorf with Ida Praetorius. She had just won the Erik Bruhn Prize together with Andreas Kaas, who was to be my partner. I felt a bit like an interloper and as they both knew the Pas de Deux so well, I was very conscious about not lagging behind.”
She need not have worried, because she proved to be a wonderful and delicate Eleonora.
The following year RDB produced not one but two productions, “The Lady of the Camellias” and “Manon”, where the RDB ladies, much more experienced as Sylphs, Swans and country girls had to go on the game:
“ I found my role as one of two fighting concubines in “Manon” rather difficult to play. In “Lady of the Camellias”, I portrayed new girl in town, Olympia. As it was more of a character, it was easier to handle.”
Building a repertoire
Since then Stephanie Chen Gundorph has been in constant demand doing a series of solo roles, including Effy and First Sylph in “La Sylphide”, soloist in “La Bayadére”, Wayne McGregor’s “Chroma” and “The Russian divertissement” in “Swan Lake”. She has also participated in new choreography, both in the main repertoire and in various productions under the “Corpus” brand. She has also represented the company in several competitions.
“Although I have danced in several strictly classical ballet, I must admit that I prefer the more dramatic ballets. I am a big fan of Principal Gudrun Bojesen, and I would like to emulate her dramatic qualities”, says Stephanie Chen Gundorph.
Gundorph is at a point of her career, where it can develop in many different directions. The RDB repertoire is based on Bournonville and many dramatic ballets, which tends to favor the dancers developed in the company school. Only time can tell. However, with her elegance, lines, dramatic abilities and her openness regarding new repertoire she could be a key player in the company future.
Photo Credits:
- Portrait of Stephanie Chen Gundorph by Natasha Thiara Rydvald (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Stephanie Chen Gundorph and Andreas Kaas in "Kermes in Brüges" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Stephanie Chen Gundorph and Sebastian Kloborg in "Agon" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
Comments