Eva Kistrup

Delivering a Dream

 

Tim Rushton:

Carrying a Dream

Danish Dance Theatre

The Old Stage, April 26 2019

 

When British dancer and Royal British Ballet School alumni, Tim Rushton joined Royal Danish Ballet in 1987, only few expected that Tim Rushton would be a key figure on the Danish ballet scene. They could not be more wrong. Now 32 years later, he is leaving Danish Dance Theatre, the company he has led for 17 years and build into a stable and successful company, performing home and abroad with big success.

Along the way, Tim Rushton has also received four “Reumert Awards” for his works, including the key award “Reumert of the year”. He was also awarded the prestigious title of MBA in his homeland for services to his home country and art form.    

Some of his first creations for Royal Danish Ballet, included ”Nomads” and “Requiem”.  After taken over Danish Dance Theatre, he created his own version of “Cinderella” in 2008, where the RDB and the DDT ensemble performed together at the Royal Stage.

Still, most of his creations were made for DDT and mainly full casts productions. Under Tim Rushton’s management, the DDT grew to be leading modern companies and toured regularly to Europe and USA.    The DDT also arranged an annual, almost free for all, summer event in the beautiful Police Headquarters Court Yard, which became necessary for all Danish balletomanes, as the event also included members from the RDB, the Pantomime Theatre and international choreographers and ensembles.

Pomp and Circumstance

 

Presentation of the Royal Danish Ballet season 2019-20

April 25, 2019

 

 

The Royal Danish Ballet returns to the old values for a season including Balanchine, Neumeier, Petipa and even some Bournonville.

Over the last seasons, Royal Danish Ballet have spent a considerable amount of their repertoire focusing on bringing new audiences to ballet. There has been a growing number of new concepts targeting new groups including” Dance2go” , a little bit of this and that at a very competitive price tag, “Ballet & Brunch” and other outreach concepts including “Ballet & Bobbles”, showing very little ballet, bits from the opera and drama departments and free drinks. The floors are swept and now only “The Hübbery”, Nikolaj Hübbe´s contemporary talk show hangs on.

 

Strange Bedfellows

 

Wayne McGregor:

”Afterite”

 

Harald Lander:

”Etudes”

 

The Opera House,

April 13 – 14 2019

 

 

Approximately once a year, the Royal Danish Ballet leaves their home stage to present a program on the larger Opera Stage. It could be Silja Schandorff and Nikolaj Hübbe´s “Swan Lake” or Twyla Tharp´s “Come Fly with Me” etc. This season Nikolaj Hübbe has opted for a combo of Wayne McGregor´s “Afterite” and Thomas Lund´s production of “Etudes”.

“Afterite” is the third Wayne McGregor ballet in the RDB repertoire. On paper, it looks like a smashing idea, a time-travelled version of “Sacre de Printemps”. When I read the summary, I expected that I would cry during the production. The storyline, where a mother will have to decide which of her two children should be sacrificed, is the stuff that governs my tears. Still no tears appeared. Instead what really happened was a standard McGregor ballet with barelegged dancers (a McGregor trait, used in all three of his ballets danced by RDB) moving in-group and pairs. J´aime Crandall was impressive as the mother figure having to make the “Sophie´s Choice” and deciding which child to keep and which child to sacrifice.

I believe one of the reasons the ballet did not create the experience of horror and rites, usually attached to “Sacre”  is somewhat related to the fact that the décor, including a significant glass house, limits the dancers space, so most of the ballet is danced on approx. half the stage.

On paper “Afterite” looked like an outstanding project, unfortunately even a strong cast could not counteract a blurred storyline nor make the macabre ending relevant.

Breaking News - Jón Axel Fransson appointed Principal Dancer

 

April 14, 2019

 

When I interviewed former RDB principal Ib Andersen in 2013 regarding his production of “The Kermes in Bruges” he was all praise for the  young dancer, Jón Axel Fransson, who danced the pivotal character role as Gert, the kind and clumsy of the three brothers. The word genius passed Andersen´s lips.

Soon after, Jón Axel Fransson was cast as the opposite of Alban Lendorf in “Etudes”, as young as Fransson was then, he was the only dancer in the company that could match Lendorf´s pyrotechnics.

Yesterday, he finally got the appointment to principal dancer in another production of “Etudes”, this time in the greater role, dancind the mazurka solo.

In the period between the two Etudes productions, Fransson has not been waiting in the wings. He has danced an incredible numbers of leading roles and characters from the high pyrotechnics roles like “Pas de Classique” and Harald Landers: “Dworak pas de Deux” to modern works.

He has created the leading male role in Cathy Marston´s “Dangerous Liaisons”, Nikolaj Hübbe and Silja Schandorff build the role of Von Rothbart in their “Swan Lake” on Jón Axel Franssons technical and dramatically skills.  When RDB took on “Jewels” his performance as the male lead in “Rubies” brought down the house. Basil in “Don Quixote” was another testament of his skills.

Earlier this season he presented his outstanding Gennaro in “Napoli” again putting his own interpretation on the Danish classic.

Over the last few seasons, the RDB has lost several strong male dancers, who has decided to try their luck abroad on top of the company being hit by several injuries as well as the ballet schools has produced very few male dancers over the last decade. Under these circumstances, a star like Jón Axel Fransson becomes even more valuable, as he has such a broad skillset covering dancer noble, character dancer, modern dancer and demi character.

He has been invaluable for RDB for almost a decade. He will be as invaluable for the next many years and maybe one of the key factors in upholding the Danish tradition for strong male dancing.  I hope that the appointment is a testament that Nikolaj Hübbe understands what a gem he has in Jón Axel Fransson as the key player in upholding our renommé as the ballet company with the strongest line of male dancers.

 

Photo by Henrik Stenberg. Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet