Presentation of the 2016-2017 repertoire
Royal Danish Ballet
April 27, 2016
Compared to last season, where the mantra was new creations, the 2016/17 season is a catalog of well-known masterpieces by well-established choreographers. One of the new creations will be a ballet choreographed for the RDB by Wayne McGregor.
RDB and The Royal Theatre has been hit by a series of financial cuts over the last decade. The reason why Nikolaj Hübbe can present a full and coherent repertoire for next season is mostly due to the contribution from foundations and donors and from clever re-cycling.
The season opens with a rerun of Silja Schandorff and Nikolaj Hübbe’ successful production of “Swan Lake”. With 16 performances, the production should secure a high number of casts. The team behind “Swan Lake”, Silja Schandorff, Nikolaj Hübbe and designer Mia Stensgaard, this time with décor by Maja Ziska, will present a new production of “Giselle”. The new décor and costumes will replace the Desmond Healy design from the 1978 production, which has been in use for almost 40 years. There will be but eight performances.
Giselle will be followed by a new production of Christopher Wheeldon’s “Alice”, which will form the Christmas run with 22 performances.
“We have made this production in cooperation with The Swedish Royal Ballet,” says Nikolaj Hübbe, “It is a gigantic production. We are happy that by sharing the cost, it will be possible to produce it, even in a year where we have to cope with smaller budgets.”
Khan, Kylian & McGregor
Several combo programmes will characterize the spring season. The first “Giant Steps” combine “Vertical Road” by Akram Khan, “Falling Angels” by Jiri Kylian and a new creation by Wayne McGregor.
The RDB has earlier danced several ballets by Jiri Kylian and Wayne McGregor’s” Chroma” was a hit two seasons ago. It is clear that Nikolaj Hübbe this season has chosen the modern content more carefully than last season’s “Free for all “strategy:
“In hindsight I should not have opened last season with such a large clunk of new modern choreography. It should have been placed later in the season,” says Hübbe, who also admits that he is playing it much safer this upcoming season.
It could be a negative consequence of the tighter financial limits, that the room for experimentation is limited. In addition to “Giant Steps” , RDB dancer and budding choreographer, Oliver Starpov will show the finished version of his “Beginning and Ending” in the seasons “Dance2Go” and the English choreographer, Cathy Marston, who has earlier choreographed ballets based on “The Elephant Man” and “Lolita” for Alexander Kølpin’s Summer Dance project, will now choreograph a ballet based on “Liaisons Dangereux” .
This year the in-house company Corpus looks to have their performance limited to the studio A-Salen. Last season they were responsible for choosing two choreographers for the general repertoire. Neither made an impact.
The Jewel in the Crown
The rest of the programmes are classical joy. Most importantly, we are finally getting the full version of George Balanchine’s “Jewels”. RDB have earlier performed “Rubies”. It will be a milestone for the company and a testament to the quality of the corps the ballet. “Theme & Variations” will also be part of a programme named “Ballet de Luxe”, which will also include “Flower Festival in Genzano Pas De Deux”, “Wilhelm Tell Pas de Deux” and the “Balibile from “Napoli” as well as pas de deuxs from “Coppelia”, “Swan Lake”, “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” and a Pas de Deux from John Neumeier’s “Romeo & Juliet” .
“Dance2Go “will present “The Dancing School” from “The Conservatory” and “Other Dances” by Jerome Robbins. Therefore, outtakes and smaller works will only represent Bournonville this upcoming season.
“The Hübbery” will continue for the upcoming season, and “The Fable Maker” by Ester Lee Wilkinson and Shane Brox will entertain the children.
Three dancers are reaching pension age, Principal Gudrun Bojesen, Maria Bernholdt, the strong character dancer, and member of the corps de ballet Kristine Andersen. Sebastian Kloborg has decided to finish his dancing career to concentrate on choreography. Whether he will be available for character parts is not known. As one of the best actors/dancers in the company, his gifts and originality will be heavily missed. Whether as Tybalt, Madge, Drosselmeyer or Diderik, he could deliver strong and inventive interpretations. Charles Andersen will also leave the company by the end of the year to move to Australia.
There will be two guest visits. One by the Finnish National Baller, lead by former RDB star Kenneth Greve will perform his ballet over HC Andersen's "The Snow Queen" and Stephen Shropshire and Marcos Morau 's "Valse" with Danish Dance Theater.
Photo Credits:
- Gudrun Bojesen in "Swan Lake" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Lena Maria Gruber and Gregory Dean in Wayne McGregor's "Chroma" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c)Royal Danish Ballet)
- RDB in "Theme & Variations" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- Sebastian Kloborg in "Short Time Together" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet
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