Twyla Tharp with Frank Sinatra:
“Come Fly Away”
Royal Danish Ballet
September 3th 2021
In 2013, Artistic Director Nikolaj Hübbe made a smart decision by bringing Twyla Tharp´s musical ballet “Come Fly Away” based on Frank Sinatra´s repertoire to Royal Danish Company.
The Copenhagen run proved that the Royal Danish Ballet could attract a broader audience, whom had previous little interest for ballet. Since then, “Come Fly Away” has been performed several times at the Copenhagen Scene.
“Come Fly Away” had a run last year, however with limited seats due to the Cowid crises.
Now the production is back – and so is the audience.
Where are the Girls?
Sitting comfortable in my chair at the Old Stage and enjoying the performance, I realized that this specific production seemed much more beneficial for the male dancers than for the girls. Especially Benjamin Buza made an outstanding performance as Sid (Here we got the real Sinatra performance).
Normally putting Principal Gregory Dean into the role as Hank in the “do they or don´t they Pas the Deux” brings down the house. However, not quite this time.
The role as Dean´s partner in the Pas de Deux was Principal Holly Dorger, who is known for her high technical skills. She has prepared very well, and even died her hair red. However, the couple did not really match each other.
I started wondering why and came up with certain issues. One of these may be the fact that several leading dancers, who has previously performed outstanding in “Come Fly Away” has retired. I talk especially about principal dancers Kizzy Matiakis and Amy Watson, two dancers educated abroad, who really grow into the RDB skillsets in character development. We may hope that other dancers coming from abroad, can learn from their integration in the company skills.
Bring In the Talent
Another reason for why the performances seams less that previous other performances may also be found in the fact that this run is now based on three casts, a rather unusual practice at Royal Danish Ballet, whom hardly uses tree casts or sometimes even two. In this case, the talents is spread too thin.
Loosing long time stars like Kizzy Matiakis and Amy Watson is a challenge for any company, especially as prima ballerina Ida Praetorius will spend a year as Principal with the Hamburg Ballet.
Her term in Hamburg will start at January 2022. She will therefore be able to perform the leading role in John Neumeier´s “Romeo & Juliet ”in Copenhagen this fall.
Yesterday, Nikolaj Hübbe also announced that Ryan Tomash was appointed to soloist. The Canadian dancer joined RDB last year and is also up for some very meaty roles.
There were other treats as well. A number of Ballet School pupils were appointed to dancers in the company, including the talented Shonan Greve, son of RDB Star Kenneth Greve, who took his own career abroad.
Another treat was to see Alban Lendorf taking school with the RDB cast as well as instructing Soloist Tobias Praetorius in the role as Mercurtio in John Neumeier´s”Romeo & Juliet”. Alban Lendorf has been hit by several injuries over the last years, so see him dancing and teaching was a great surprise. I hope that he will continue his contact with RDB in a beneficial role for the “Royal Danish Ballet”.
Photo Credits (c) Camilla Winther
- Benjamin Buza and Camilla Ruelykke Holst as Sid and Babe
- Gregory Dean and Holly Dorger as Hank and Kate
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