Interview with Gregory Dean, Principal Dancer and Choreographer
February 19, 2019
As a young dancer at Scottish Ballet, Gregory Dean took part in Ashley Page´s version of “Cinderella”. When he joined Royal Danish Ballet some years later, he had one of his first featured roles in Tim Rushton´s version. On top of that Gregory Dean is very well versed in many of the productions made to the Prokofiev score, which comes in handy as he will premier his own version of “Cinderella” for Royal Danish Ballet, the company he has served as a leading dancer since 2008.
Leading Man Aboard
Joining Royal Danish Ballet catapulted Gregory Dean´s career to the highest level. He was promoted to Principal dancer in 2013 and has danced a score of leading roles including Romeo, Lysander and Oberon/Theseus in John Neumeier´s Shakespeare ballets as well as Des Grieux in his “Lady of the Camellias”.
He also made his mark on the classical Tchaikovsky repertoire including Siegfried in “Swan Lake”, the cavalier in “The Nutcracker”, Albrecht in “Giselle” and the lead in Balanchine´s “Diamonds” as well as several ballets by Wayne McGregor and Liam Scarlett etc.
Still Gregory Dean found time to choreograph. Following a few smaller creations for the in-house company Corpus, Artistic Director Nikolaj Hübbe and Deputy Director Silja Schandorff asked Gregory Dean and budding choreographer Oliver Starpov to choreograph the four national dances in their production of “Swan Lake”. Both turned out outstanding works, and Nikolaj Hübbe decided to give the two choreographers more opportunities.
Taking the Chance
Gregory Dean creates the very successful ballet for the pupils of the company’s school “The Forgotten Children” as well as choreography for the movie “Walk with Me”.
Another work for the RDB School was “When Hans Chr. Andersen meet the young Carl Nielsen”. He has also choreographed “On The Feeling of Light”, “L’amour fou”, “Arabian pas de deux” as well as as his earliest work “Träume” for the Scottish Ballet, in 2008.
Gregory Dean took the opportunity and presented Nikolaj Hübbe with the possibility of creating a full length “Cinderella” for the Royal Danish Ballet:
“I made a presentation covering almost every aspect of the production, the narrative, how and where I would use the music, the numbers of dancers etc. He seemed very impressed and gave me the green light, scheduling the ballet for the earliest possible time slot.”
Making the hard decisions
Gregory Dean has certainly done his homework. He has the big advantage of having danced in two productions and he has studied practically every other “Cinderella” available. That has helped to make some very hard decisions:
“Prokofiev´s music for “Cinderella” is outstanding. However, I have decided to shorten and cut some of the divertissements, as they slow down the narrative progress. I have also cut the role of Cinderella´s father. It is inconceivable to me that a father would do next to nothing to help his own child when they are being maltreated. Sir Frederick Ashton omitted the character of the evil stepmother, so I know that the ballet can function with only one parent.”
Gregory Dean is aiming to show Cinderella as a strong and caring person, who even when treated badly has the inner strength to help her less gifted and ungrateful step sisters. She will not be portrayed as downtrodden:
“In my version the mental strength and kindness of Cinderella highlights even more the clumsiness and incompetence of the step sisters.”
Returning Torsos
Gregory Dean loves the Ashton version with the stepsisters, performed originally by Sir Robert Helpman and Sir Frederick Ashton himself in a famous nod to the British pantomime tradition of men performing female role. However, Dean has chosen to cast the stepsisters with young female stars. Actually, the three ballerinas chosen for the title role will also take turns as the stepsisters.
“I am a great believer in using the hierarchy in the company,” explains Gregory Dean and this manoeuvre will assure that these leading roles are cast from the top.
It has been some time since the RDB audience has seen Gregory Dean on the stage as he has taken paternity leave with his baby daughter.
During his leave, the RDB scored a major hit with Liam Scarlett´s creation of “Queen of Spades”. This production had outstanding costumes and décor by the British designer Jon Morell. The good news is that Jon Morrell is also designing the costumes and décor for Dean´s “Cinderella”.
“I did have my own vision of what I wanted décor wise and I am pleased to say that we found common ground,” Gregory Dean explains.
One more for the Road
Gregory Dean will soon return as a dancer in the upcoming spring season. His schedule is not quite clear yet, but it could look like he will return in some of his danseur noble roles.
However, he will continue choreographing as well. Nikolaj Hübbe has asked him to create yet another full lengths ballet for the next season.
It is early days. However, I cannot remember the last time an in-house choreographer was offered to create two full-length ballets in so short a period. Potentially it could give the Royal Danish Ballet something they have not enjoyed for a very long period, an in-house choreographer who can create good three act productions. A must for big classical companies like RDB.
The Royal Ballet of Covent Garden have a program for developing new choreographers, and one of the demands is that they should create full length ballets. It is a very wise decision as the full length ballets remain the core repertoire of a large classical company. Wayne McGregor and Liam Scarlett are two of the choreographers from the program and have both created strong full length ballets.
I know that Nikolaj Hübbe is keen to develop talents like Gregory Dean and Oliver Starpov. Giving Gregory Dean not one, but two shots at creating full length ballets in a short time frame shows Hübbe´s commitment to the dramatic tradition of the RDB. We may be on the brink of a great phase in the company’s history.
Photos:
- Ida Praetorius as Cinderella by Klaus Wedfelt
- Gregory Dean in "Raymonda" by Natascha Rydvald
- Scene from "The Forgotten Children" by Klaus Wedfelt
- Nikolaj Hübbe and Gregory Dean by Christian Als
All photos copyright(c) by Royal Danish Ballet
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