Silja Schandorff & Nikolaj Hübbe:
”Giselle”
Royal Danish Ballet
November 17, 2018
The Old Stage
Since Silja Schandorff and Nikolaj Hübbe presented their version of “Giselle” two years ago, their first cast Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas had only three performances, including a recording for television. Up to this week, they have not had any chance to revisit their great hit.
This month they were awarded two performances, of which I saw the last.
“Giselle” will tour the Danish provinces later in the season. Seeing “Giselle” again with the first cast not only confirmed how good the production is, but also how much the two stars have matured and developed over the last years.
From Good to Best
Andreas Kaas has developed his acting skills and can now express the harder edge of Albrecht. Ida Praetorius is making her Giselle even more fragile. She is almost living Vili. This combination makes the story even more heartbreaking. Dancing wise, they are stronger and lighter than ever.
Together they really nails the fact that RDB is essentially a ballet company based in the period of the romantic ballet. They are matched well by the female corps de ballet in Second Act and with fine performances by Emma Riis-Kofoed as Myrtha and Guilherme de Menezes as Hilarion. A special mention for Benjamin Buza as The Prince of Kurland, his fourth dramatic role in two weeks.
It has been a nice surprise to see how well the dramatic mime roles have been handled lately in “Napoli” and “Giselle”. Following cutbacks on the budget for mime artists, it was easy to worry for the future, but now I am breathing easier based on the fine work by Buza, Starpov and others.
Therefore, the Royal Danish Ballet is still standing strong on their heritage repertoire. However, it is still too early to celebrate. The reality is that these natural highlight productions are performed rarely.
Still Waiting
Looking at Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas´ brilliant careers, there are still major roles, they are born to dance that they have not had the chance to perform yet. While Ida Praetorius is up for impressively five title roles this season, there are still key roles she has not had to chance to perform. The same goes for other leading young stars like Andreas Kaas and Jon Axel Fransson.
Neither has yet had the chance to dance the Sylphide or James. “A Folk Tale” has not been performed since 2014. From the international repertoire, RDB has productions in store from “Manon”, “Onegin”, Wheeldon´s “Sleeping Beauty” and Rátmansky’s “Anna Karenina”. There are also Nikolaj Hübbe´s own productions of “La Bayadére”, “Swan Lake” and “Raymonda”. We will get John Neumeier´s “Lady of the Camellias” later this season. More fine Neumeier works are in company storage. I could also mention Liam Scarlett´s outstanding “Queen of Spades” as a possible long-term hit.
Accepting Bournonville
I do not expect all of these milestones every season. However, what I will argue is that these ballets displays the quality of the stars and the company to the max. They develop dancers and they develop the fan base. Since the Festival earlier this year, Nikolaj Hübbe´s relationship – or lack of it – to the Bournonville repertoire has been discussed in several forums. Wildcard productions as the recent “Carmen” has not won the audience or reviewers respect.
It could be so easy. Matching the best dancers with the best ballets in repertoire would strengthen the ensemble and the box office. It would demand so little – simply accepting that Bournonville and the romantic ballets is not only the strong point of RDB, but also the basis for future development.
Photos by Costin Radu (Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
- Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas as Giselle and Albrecht
- Ida Praetorius as Giselle
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