Eva Kistrup

Very Far from Denmark

Royal Danish Ballet

June 24, 2019

 

During the last seasons, August Bournonville has been a seldom visitor in the Royal Danish Ballet. However, two groups of RDB dancers are putting their efforts into keeping the creator of our famed tradition alive by performing his works abroad.

 A group led by former RDB Principal Dancer Ulrik Birkkjær, who now is a star in San Francisco Ballet will perform the master´s work on Joyce Theatre Broadway in New York from July 9 -14th (Birkkjær has earlier led another successful international tour). The group will include Ida Praetorius, Ulrik Birkkjær, Jon Axel Fransson, Marcin Kupinski, Sorella Englund, Alexander Bozinoff, Astrid Elbo, Ji Min Hong, Stephanie Chen-Gundorph, Liam Redhead, Emma Riis-Kofoed, Tobias Praetorius and Camilla Rueløkke.

 

 Another initiative will bring Bournonville and Danish ballet to an even more exotic space. RDB´s esteemed Character Dancer Morten Eggert and Christian Hammeken, former RDB dancer has spent three years in preparing and rising finance for a tour to Mongolia. They are now ready to roll out a Bournonvillebased gala in Corporate Convention Center, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia on June 29.

 

The Royal Royal Danish Ballet

 

Royal Danish Ballet at Frederiksborg Castle

Summer tour

June 18, 2019

 

Each year during Nikolaj Hübbe´s reign, the RDB tours the Danish provinces, giving the Danes living to far from Copenhagen a chance to attend the ballet scene and at least a taste of what the company offers.

This year´s summer season consist mainly on take-outs from the 2018-19 seasons plus two recently new pas de deux created by company members Oliver Starpov, who in spite of his youth have a substantial list of creations and Nathan Combiano who is presenting his first work for the company.

The performance I saw last night took place in the gardens of the royal summer castle, Fredensborg, and attended by the ballet loving Queen Margrethe of Denmark. It was a lovely setting that definitely outshined this year’s first performance, which took place outside the Royal Danish Drama House, which unfortunately suffered not only some rain but also an overflow of pedestrians passing through the area, and limiting the audience´s chances of actually seeing the performance. Regarding the take out from John Neumeier’s ”Lady of the Camellias,” a large part of the audience could see either Armand or Marguerite, but hardly the pair together.

Luckily, the Queen could offer a better solution.

The Ballerina Issue

 

 

”The Hübbery”

May 31, 2019

 

John Neumeier:

”Lady of the Camellias”

June 2, 2019

 

Royal Danish Ballet

The Old Stage

 

For the end of the season The Royal Danish Ballet are presenting a myriad of different ballets and programs. A rather impressive run, especially as the company at present is down to two principal ballerinas, Ida Praetorius and Kizzy Matiakis.

 

The Winning Ticket

Ida Praetorius has currently been dancing leading roles in “Lady of the Camellias”, “Etudes”, “Psalm Symphony” and on top of these heavy weight roles, she will participate in the summer tour. It has been a busy, but also glorious year for her, where she has danced the title roles in “Giselle”, “Alice”, “Carmen”, “Cinderella” and “Lady of the Camellias”

This week she won “The Reumert Award” for best dancer. She has previously been nominated several times before for the award. This year she finally got it.

The Reumert Award also nails the fact that Ida Praetorius at 25 is the leading dancer at RDB. Her talent was recognized early and she danced the role of the pupil in Flemming Flint’s “The Lesson” as an apprentice. John Neumeier spotted her talent early and cast her as the female leads in “Romeo & Juliet” and “Lady of the Camellias.”

There are few roles, she has not yet had a shot of and one of these is the role above every role in the RDB repertoire “La Sylphide”.

Maybe this is the reason why Nikolaj Hübbe included a segment in his dance and talk show “The Hübbery”, where he was instructing Ida Praetorius in the role of the Sylph. Casting himself as teacher and James at the same time was not a lucky choice. It has been too long since Nikolaj Hübbe had the technical skills needed.