Nikolaj Hübbe:
”Raymonda”
Royal Danish Ballet
The Old Stage
November 15 and 18, 2017
When Nikolaj Hübbe and Silja Schandorff casted their production of ”Swan Lake” they chose a mix of mature and younger ballerinas. Three years later with “Raymonda”, Nikolaj Hübbe place the younger ballerinas in the supporting roles and gives the title role to three ballerinas in their mid-thirties. While two of the ballerinas delivers performances on their usual level, the third – and the one who really struggled with the demands of “Swan Lake” - scored what can only be described as an all-time career best.
With a few more performances under their belt, the Royal Danish Ballet is finding their way around the many patterns in the choreography and now present the various divertissements and ensembles on a pleasing and secure level.
The Generation Game
The second cast of the pas de quatre includes young principal Ida Praetorius as Henriette, the friend with the most interesting and difficult solos. Praetorius who already has danced Odette-Odile, Giselle, Juliet, the Gamzetti character in “La Bayadére” and several other leading roles in her bag, was probably expected by many to have a shot of the title role in “Raymonda”. Her handling of the solos, the pas de dix and the many other ensembles confirmed that she could have carried the lead at well. Her presence, elegance and charm makes her a natural focal point.
Her counterpart Clémence was danced by Ji Min Hong, the Canadian educated Korean dancer who joined RDB in 2014. It is one of her first featured roles, which she carried very well. The two girls were partnered by soloists Alexander Bozinoff and Andreas Kaas who both also is cast as Otto (the Hungarian version of Jean de Brienne, the original hero of the ballet). Both Bozinoff and Kaas are struggling somewhat as the leading man, partly because they have very little to work with and spends a lot of time backstage or in a corner of the stage. The costumes for Otto do not really help the young guys looking like experienced battle veterans.
Despite very fine dancing in Act one, Andreas Kaas keep looking like the Nutcracker Prince. He is partnering third cast Raymonda, Kizzy Matiakis, who last year presented a very strong Odette in Schandorff’s and Hübbe’s “Swan Lake”. In “Raymonda” she present a very well executed and touching dream scene. This is a white act indeed. However, she is less equipped for the two following acts challenges.
Outstanding Ballerina
It took the second cast Amy Watson and Gregory Dean to really show us the nuances and strengths of “Raymonda”. Gregory Dean had no problem in placing Otto as the key male figure. His partnering was outstanding and he looks and acted every bit the officer and gentleman. Dean is known as a very good partner who really supports his ballerina. He did offer good support for Amy Watson, without carrying her through the part. Raymonda does much of her dancing herself. Where Watson was really outstanding was in the ability to create a strong and likeable character who also happened to present beautiful dancing in all three acts in all the different styles, without compromising the character. That was all that was needed to change the opinion of “Raymonda” as an incoherent ballet with no real dramatic context. It was Amy Watson´s finest hour of the RDB stage.
Under the Turban
Benjamin Buza was Abderam, the Saracen prince, turned into a Spanish moor for this production. He managed to build a strong and noble character. I could wish for a lighter costume. However, when RDB brings in foreign designers it often happen that they drown the character dancers in fabrics, not taking into account that the Danish dance actors can do the job on their own face and body control.
However, having seen a very god performance of “Raymonda”, It did not stop my speculations whether another approach could have make this a better production. When Silja Schandorff and Nikolaj Hübbe created their “Swan Lake”. they throw everything in the air and created other solutions. Some good, some unneccesary, but at least they tried.
Regarding “Raymonda”, it looks like that Nikolaj Hübbe have bought into the broadly shared view that Raymonda is all dance and no story.
Real People – Real Stories
Alexander Meinertz, the author of two biographies on Eric Bruhn and Vera Volkova, writes in his review of “Raymonda” for Point of View, a Danish net media that opposite the general belief, the original “Raymonda” is not a quickly wrapped fast track production. It is original based on careful research by the Russian Countess and adventurer Lydia Pashkova who studied the middle age poetry that also inspired Wagner and Debussy to some of their most popular works, “Lohrengrin”, “Tristan & Isolde” and “Pelléas et Mélisande”.
He also writes that research also shows that every main character in “Raymonda” is based on a medieval character or artist. Jean de Brienne fought the wars under the Hungarian king Andrej and actually became King of Jerusalem. The troubadours Bertram & Beranger is named after the two leading troubadours of the time. Raymonda herself was the daughter of Raymond of Toulouse and is a well-known character of the time. Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi – Abderame – an Andalusian warrior chief in charge of a Muslim offensive in France in 732 inspires the role of Abderam.
If we look at Languedoc, where Raymonda is set, it was an area with religious tolerance, where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived side by side. Therefore, Nikolaj Hübbe could have stayed closer to the original story and time line, and gained some valuable points. However, his choice was to move to a setting with little relevance for the story and characters. Going deeper in the real story could have made such a difference for this production and the general opinion of “Raymonda”.
Photos of Amy Watson and Gregory Dean by Klaus Vedfeldt
Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
Read Alexander Meinertz review in Danish here:
http://pov.international/kaerligheden-som-religion/
Comments