Silja Schandorff & Nikolaj Hübbe:
“Swan Lake”
Royal Danish Ballet
September 21, 2016
The Opera Stage
18 Months ago Caroline Baldwin and Andreas Kaas had their debut as Odette/Odile and Siegfried in “Swan Lake” as the youngest of the six casts. Last night’s performance showed how much they have developed as dancers in that period. The performance was also characterized by several new casts in the supporting roles.
First out, Silja Schandorff & Nikolaj Hübbe topped the casts as much as was possible. The supporting roles was casted with principals and soloists, and several of the Odette/Odile’s took on Swan duty as well. That made the first seasons “Swan Lake” strong and sharp.
All Hands on Deck
This season the strategy is different. Having brought in +10 new dancers in the corps the game plan is getting them on stage. There is at least three casts for every divertissement and even the corps for First act has an almost double cast. Sorry to say, it shows, especially on the male wing, which for the second performance also had a very wide span of different heights.
I do understand the strategy of getting the new recruits in, but the result was messy. One of the recruits Samuel Zaldivar, who have joined from Boston Ballet even, got a shot at the third largest male role, Benno. He did not do a bad job. He is clearly a better soloist than partner, but surely, there are several long-term dancers in the company, who has deserved the break.
Schandorff and Hübbe has also given bigger solo roles to dancers, who had joined the company in the last years. Wilma Giglio and Heather Dunn found themselves cast as leads of two of divertissements, Russian and Nepolitarian, and both did very well. They have both built an understanding of the company style, here and in other ballets.
What worked even better was to place homegrown Astrid Elbo as the soloist in the Hungarian divertissement. The tall and dramatically gifted dancer added temperament and allure to the role. Elbo has recently, together with Amy Watson, received the Hans Beck Grant. Her future is said to involve a bigger role and she will take a leading role in an upcoming movie, based on “Giselle”. It is about time that company uses her special gifts. The Spanish divertissement was in the safe hands and style of Alba Nadal, who has grazed the company for a number of years and proved her talent in both classical and modern works.
Benjamin Buza was originally the second cast for Von Rothbart, but injury prevented his planned debut in 2015. He finally got the chance playing the villain. The Von Rothbart role is done in very heavy makeup, which helps creates the mystery and evil of the character. That works for most of the casts, but prevents Benjamin Buza to use his own strong dramatic talent.
Caroline Baldwin and Andreas Kaas has never been paired outside “Swan Lake”. The reason is probably that they are not proportionally alike. With six casts in the first run, it seems more like getting the big picture to fit. Baldwin and Kaas was then the youngest and most inexperienced of the casts.
Since then, Caroline Baldwin has done leading roles in “The Nutcracker” and “Theme and Variations” whereas Andreas Kaas had taken on the leading role as Romeo, which together with his turn as Armand in “Lady of the Camellias” has developed his dramatic range. Baldwin has not been tested dramatically and the result here is that while he can deliver a top-notch character, brilliantly danced and easily read and understood by the audience, she cannot match him.
Baldwin’s Odette benefits from her musicality and understanding of Petipa style. However, you cannot bring Odile to life without adding character touches. She is also challenged by the high technical demands of the role of Odile, and is playing a bit too safe. In the fourth act, she cannot match Kaas’ emotional breakdown and she misses the key point moment of the eternal split. She falls far too easily into the line of departing swans leaving partner and audience without the teary moment.
There is nothing wrong by casting five or six leading couples. However, in this production it seems like too few of the casts are really well matched, and that is probably the reason why the magic had not happened yet.
Link to Film with Caroline Baldwin and Andreas Kaas
https://kglteater.dk/en/whats-on/season-20162017/ballet/swan-lake/
Photos by Costin Radu Coryright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
- Andreas Kaas (From "Lady of the Camellias")
- Caroline Baldwin (From Theme and Variations)
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