State of the Union

Royal Danish Ballet

Season 2015 -2016

 

Nikolaj Hübbe ended the 2015-16 season much better than he began it. The relatively weak fall season was substituted by a much stronger winter and spring season, which provided both artistic and commercial successes. Still, all is not easy sailing. With prima ballerina Gudrun Bojesen retiring, Deputy Artistic Director Silja Schandorff resigning and Alban Lendorf still not back in full gear, Nikolaj Hübbe is facing some tough decisions on settling on a new running mate and choosing the top stars for the coming decade.

Right now, the RDB is touring China, following a tour to the Danish provinces. The China repertoire is heavy in Bournonville or rather heavy on Hübbe’s own Bournonville updated versions of “Napoli” and “La Sylphide” supplemented by this year’s productions of Balanchine’s “Theme & Variations”.

The Easy Solution

Squeezing the local tour in between preparing for China and dancing three very different ballets: Kim Brandstrup’ s successful creation “Shaken Mirror”, Twyla Tharp’s “Come Fly Away” and Corpus’ “Hungry for Blue” meant that the program for the local tour was primary well tested numbers from the season. Only the Coppelia Pas de Deux was a new item on the menu. As the performance I saw, only three numbers was performed before the summer rain forced the cancelation of the rest of the program, leaving me with too little to review. I thereby missed seeing Wilma Giglio taking a shot at “That Life” from “Come Fly Away” with Gregory Dean. The Coppelia Pas De deux had only little common ground with the traditional Danish version, hardly ever performed in the last 30 years. However, the old costumes were dusted off for Holly Jean Dorger and Sebastian Haynes. Unfortunately, her costume was too small and too short. The costume in question was the doll dress from the old production, and therefore not suitable for classical dancing.

Missing in Action

Last summer Alban Lendorf changed his employment from RDB Principal to shared custody by RDB and ABT. Unfortunately a knee injury has kept him from serving either of his two masters. He will appear at the China tour but only doing a solo in “Napoli”. He is not yet ready to do the full Gennaro. Instead, soloist Jonathan Chmelensky got the chance instead.

Chmelensky is one of the dancers who has gained several leadings role, due to Lendorf’s absence. Even with the first half season not really catering for the male wing, Chmelensky’s season totaled 9 leading roles including Siegfried (act 2), Nutcracker Prince, Theme & Variations, Basil and Gennaro. Most important, he managed to create strong and believable characters. Especially Basil in “Don Quixote”, showed how far he has developed as a performer.

Besides Chmelensky, Jon Axel Fransson, who was made soloist in January, when he was first cast in “Theme & Variations” is establishing himself as a leading male star. Fransson has a very wide range and can do anything from comedy, over character to classical stylist, a skillset that should propel him to principal dancer very soon.

Finally, Andreas Kaas was appointed soloist at the return of John Neumeier’s “Romeo & Juliet” where he had his debut as Romeo. He also look destined to further promotions. Sebastian Haynes whose career paths normally follows Andreas Kaas remains in the corps in spite of some very fine performances, including Mercutio in “Romeo & Juliet” and is the Leon & Lightfoot “Short Time Together”. Young Tobias Praetorius also had an amazing season, concluding in the lead role in Kim Brandstrup “Shaken Mirror”. His extraordinary talent was recognized with a talent award at the Annual Reumert Theatre Awards.

The more mature dancers, Ulrik Birkkjær, Marcin Kupinski and Gregory Dean must - in spite of some very fine performances in “Romeo & Juliet”, “Don Quixote” and “Broken Mirror” - accept that the new strong generation is catching up and that they mature dancers will get a more character-oriented repertoire. Unfortunately, Nikolaj Hübbe has not scheduled “Onegin” for the coming season, which would be ideal for the group.

Sebastian Kloborg and Tim Matiakis are resigning. Kloborg will concentrate on choreography and Matiakis will dedicate all his time to the Corpus project.

 

Casting the Prima Donna

The two great prima donnas of the RDB, Silja Schandorff and Gudrun Bojesen is leaving RDB almost simultaneously. Gudrun Bojesen will say her goodbyes at a special performance on October 15, and Silja Schandorff will explore new territory after staging “Giselle” with Nikolaj Hübbe in October. All though neither has grazed the stage for a longer period, imagining the RDB without them is difficult. The two ballerinas has been guiding lights at the theatre and their abilities to enhance both the Russian classical repertoire and the Bournonville heritage has assured a very high standard in Copenhagen.

Nikolaj Hübbe has created two new principal female dancers in the season. American Holly Jean Dorger and Dane Ida Praetorius. The Danish audience and press has long celebrated Ida Praetorius as the upcoming prima donna and heir to the company repertoire. She already reigns over a large field, including local favorites like John Neumeiers “Romeo & Juliet”. Her brand is so strong that even though the Reumert Awards skipped the best dancer category, she was nominated as best actress for her outstanding and mature interpretation of Juliet.    

At 27, Holly Jean Dorger is five years older than Praetorius. She is a strong technical dancer, but as the spring season showed, her repertoire is significantly smaller than Praetorius’. Like other foreign dancers, who had joined the RDB, based on a strong technical content, it is a struggle to conquer not only the dramatic repertoire, tied to the Bournonville tradition, but also the modern dance repertoire, Building partnerships can also be a problem. Dorger probably missed the chance of doing Kitri due to height issues. Fellow American principal J’aime Crandall is casted broader. However, her greatest successes tends to be in the pure classical roles and the Balanchine repertoire.

The Right Mix

Even with the resent promotions both the principal and soloist categories are mainly staffed with dancers in their 30ties. That is of course related to the staff policies of the company, which is based on offering dancers constant employment. In no way do I want to change that principle. It remains the backbone of the RDB uniqueness and strengths. However, the relatively new soloist category (introduced in the late 1980ties) have a weakness. Not all dancers who has been promoted to soloists moves on to the principal level and some of them do not keep up their technical level. The permanence of the soloist employ means that there is not room to promote the talented young dancers, who actually do the soloist roles. It could be considered to change the soloist’s appointments to a three-year period, which off course could be prolonged. There is still the character dancer category for the gifted mimes.      

When Nikolaj Hübbe took over the company, he dared to cast young. Over the last seasons, he has been more – and maybe too - conservative in his castings, especially with the female roles. The extraordinary talented Ida Praetorius is in constant demand and get a full set of roles. Surprisingly she has not done the Sylph or Hilda in “A Folk Tale” yet, but with eight leading roles this season it is difficult to complain.

However, the other talented girls in the company, who has proven their skills, are standing still rather than moving. In a few year, more than five female principals and soloists will reach pension age, so it is now that this talented group, including Stephanie Chen Gundorph, Astrid Elbo, and Hilary Guswiler etc. should get more and bigger roles.

In Fransson, Kaas, Haynes and Tobias Praetorius, he has the male heritage for the next generation in place. It is high time to focus on the girls.

Luckily, next season will be rich in roles and challenges. It should allow for new challenges and development for the stars of tomorrow.

 

Photos:

1. Pas de six in "Napoli" by Costin Radu (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
2. Jon Axel Fransson in "Etudes" by Costin Radu Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)
3. Ida Praetorius promoted to Principl by Christian Als (Copyright (c) Royal Danish Ballet)

Comments

[Susie Q]

Holly Dorger is only 26