Interview with Thomas Lund & Charlotte Falkentoft,
Royal Danish Ballet School
November 17, 2017
As the director of the Royal Danish Ballet School Thomas Lund is fighting a hard battle. He is responsible for the primary feeding line for Royal Danish Ballet at a time where parents are bend on high-level academic educations for their children.
In order to continue the supply. RDB School started a three-year high-level education program, which will bring the school´s apprentices on level with their non-dancing contemporaries. Now the first batch of the programme is out. Academically it has been success. The dance students more than passed the academic exams. They are all in the top of the class. However, only one student were offered the full standard contract. Two were offered 6 months contracts. The other three will have to find employments elsewhere.
Attracting more students
It may look like a failure. However, if you look back in the records, as I have done, you will see that Thomas Lund’s track record in producing dancers for the company is a little bit ahead of the average for the last 28 years.
However, Lund has a few more battles to fight. The most important of this is a draught in the production of male dancers. Royal Danish Ballet has always been celebrated for the high quality of male dancers, a feat often linked to the famed Bournonville tradition. Over the last decade, the school has produced over the high-level dancers like Alban Lendorf, Ulrik Birkkjær, Sebastian Kloborg, Jon Axel Fransson, Sebastian Haynes and Andreas Kaas. However, at present, three of this group is currently on leave and dancing at ABT, San Francisco Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theatre and Kloborg has left to pursue a career as choreographer. At present, the corps de ballet only include four male dancers produced by the school, of which one is on leave.
Comparing that against the corps in 1979 (the year of the first Bournonville festival) there were 27 male dancers educated at the school. In fairness, it must be stated that there were no soloists nor character dance categories and the pension age was 48.
When Frank Andersen took over in 1982, he had to employ a group of eight foreign dancers, four male dancers and four females. Since then the company has employed foreign dancers in increasing numbers to fill out the ranks and to make it possible for the company to take on the biggest production available, like “Swan Lake”, “Jewels” and “Raymonda”.
Send more Boys
Looking at the school today, the apprentice classes are down to one male apprentice, after not prolonging two other boys. There will be at least a four-year draught in the production of male dancers, depending on whether the one guy in the apprentice program makes it.
Thomas Lund and head of administration Charlotte Falkentoft are fighting to bring in more boys:
“Currently we have a fair amount of boys at the school. Therefore, we are very positive about the future and believe that new stars are in the making. Of course we would be thrilled to have even more boys and we hope that the school and our associate schools can both develop and attract dancers based on the quality of the education that we offer”.
Ballet and Sports
Lund and Falkentoft are not only working to bring in more Danish boys to the school. They use at lot of time and effort to get as high a quality in the ballet and academic schools as possible. In order to do so they have chosen to engage experts that work with high performance sports to help and inspire the Ballet schools employees and pupils. . Charlotte Falkentoft has her background from Team Denmark, the organization for Danish elite sport, where she worked as Team Leader and Consultant. She was also an active figure skater in her youth, so she bring very relevant experience from the sports discipline, probably closest to ballet:
“Figure skating is very much a girl sport. However, the few boys involved generally did much better career wise. The Ballet school have the same gender pattern and have also succeed developing high-level male dancers. . It definitely proves that it is not only the size of a gender group that is the determinator,” says Charlotte Falkentoft. “We are inspired by how the sports environment works with talent development and are trying to see where we could learn from talent development within high performance sport. At the same time, the ballet environment also has a lot to offer. We can also be a source of inspiration for the world of sport. We´ve had several visits from talent developers who work with athletes in different sports. They´ve left the school with a lot of inspiration and also with great respect for the work that is being done here by the teacher, pedagogues’ and pupils”
Dual career
Working with the sports environment, the RDB School is able to share their experiences and learn new methods. The RDB apprentices take their academics classes at Falkonergården, a school that includes a program for sports students. This is the programme, the dancers attends.
“Our apprentices are used to compete and perform on the highest level. Therefore, at school they also aim for the highest grade. When they first started, we actually have to tell them that a slightly lower grade is also ok. We can definitely see that the studies makes them more reflective and analytic. Traits we are sure will benefit them much as dancers and in other areas,” says Thomas Lund.
Another game changer for the students have been their work with choreographer Ann- Crosset in the children’s own ballet Company B.
“Ann has very cleverly involved the children in all aspects of running a company. They participate not only in choreographing but also in planning tours and making PR. When I was in ballet school, I was told when the bus would leave. They are much more aware of what it takes to make a good production and give their viewpoint when working with a choreographer. I would say that the students are much better prepared both for a life on stage and elsewhere,” Thomas Lund explains.
Stage Time or Quality Time
One of the critical comments of the new apprentice program from dancers and commentators is the worry that the apprentencies will get too little stage experience during the education. Thomas Lund does not agree:
“They may get less stage time with the full company than before we implemented the new program. The reality of the old apprentice program was that they were often stand-in’s for the last row, and that there was nothing that assured that they would get a set portion. Now they have a number of set performances pr. year. They have choreography made for them to suit their needs and ensure their development. They have performed in f. instance the solos from “Napoli”. They have performed solos and extracts from ballets like “Symphony in C” and “Paquita”.
They have also participated in international events with other leading ballet schools. Actually they have built so much confidence that they even at an international get-together will stand in the first row at school and have received a lot of international acknowledgement in both Paris and Toronto this year.”
Going International
Over the years, the RDB School has over-performed in bringing out many first rate dancers. The output of the school is much bigger than what a country of five millions people could be expected to produce. Still the company is dependent of hiring foreign dancers. It is therefore a logical step to consider opening the school for foreign students:
“Our main focus is to strengthen the apprentice programme for the sake of the students, the school and the company. It could be interesting to be able to recruit international students that can contribute to this goal. Currently we´re not able to recruit students from outside the EU. Maybe we can solve this challenge in the future. Bringing the foreign students into RDB upper school, we could also align them to the Danish style and company culture at an earlier age,” says Charlotte Falkentoft
Another issue targeted is the education of the teaching staff. Thomas Lund explains:
“We spend a lot of time with our teaching staff and upgrading their skillset and teaching methods. Most of our teacher are former RDB dancers, who can give a lot of their experience to the children. They´re very ambitious and willing to develop as teachers. Together with the rest of the staff at the school, they thereby contribute to our ambition of creating a contemporary artistic school at high international level coordinated with society.”
There is no doubt that Thomas Lund and his team have a big challenge ahead of them. They would also like more media attention in order to reach more potential students. The next few year will be a crucial time for the school and the company. It will be difficult to continue the celebrated Bournonville tradition without a strong contingent of homemade dancers.
Of the current 12 Danish male dancers, two will reach the pension age within a few years. Two principal dancers, one soloist and one member of the corps is on leave. Luckily, the current group is one of the most talented groups, the company has ever produced. Adding the skills and talent of adopted Principals Gregory Dean and Marcin Kupinski and Soloists Jonathan Chmelensky and Alexander Bozinoff, the immediate future is bright. However, the continuity of the linage is depending much on the school. The strategy to broaden the intake may be a vital part of the solution.
Photos: (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
- The first batch of RDB Schools academic students by Camilla Winther
- Thomas Lund and Charlotte Falkentoft by Rosenfeldt - www.rosenfeldt.nu
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