”Ballet & Bubbles”
May 18,2019
” Dance2Go”
May 2, 2019
Royal Danish Ballet
The Old Stage
One of the major news from the presentation of next year´s repertoire at the Royal Danish Ballet is that the company would no longer continue the reach out program “Dance2Go” and “Ballet& Bubbles”.
Nikolaj Hübbe launched “Dance2Go” several years as an affordable offer for primarily a younger audience. In short a program covering a classical ballet, a modern ballet and a smashing Pas de Deux. The aim was to turn the young audience into ballet fans and there were many fine performances during the years. However, budget cuts and other commitments resulted in less attractive programs and dwindling audiences.
Two years ago, Nikolaj Hübbe added “Ballet & Bubbles” to the reach out activities. The concept was a short ballet, a reading from one of the actors from the drama company and a short live music sequence. The audience would receive a complementary drink.
This became a low point in the company history. Although last year´s performance included the brilliant Akram Khan ballet “Vertical Road” , moving this production to the drama house came with a very a high price. The stage was too small for the ballet, and in reverence to the company actors, the sand, which is an important part of the ballet, was omitted and thereby minimizing the impact of the ballet.
One too many
This year, Nicolaj Hübbe chose an even easier option for “Ballet & Bubbles” by reusing Jiri Kylian´s “Symphony of Psalms” which also was performed in the “Dance2Go” program, in “Ballet and Bobles” as well.
For the last performances of “Dance2Go”, Wilma Giglio and Guilherme de Menezes, who both have been promoted to soloists, got the chance to dance one of the few remaining ballets by Harald Lander: “Dvorak Pas de Deux”. It is not an easy task, and somehow it looked like neither of the two South American born dancers had been told that the ballet needed grounding as well as lightness to get the folklore connection.
Wilma Giglio was light as air and oozed elegance. For Guilherme de Menezes it was the second time this spring, he was cast to match brilliant company star Jon Axel Fransson in a double dose of Lander. He did the best he could, but he cannot yet deliver the skills, elegance and power, presented by Fransson.
The final Dance2Go programme also included “Symphony of Psalms” and Oliver Starpov´s “My Daddy loves Sugar”. The male ensemble danced the later very well, while getting “Symphony of Psalms” twice in two different programs in a short period was one to many for the road.
Photo "Symphony of Psalms" by Camilla Winther. Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet
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