20 replies to this topic

[Hans]

I read that Tomasson was trained at the RDB starting at age 15...?

[Alexandra]

Hans, I'm 99% certain that's not so. At the time, the Danish ballet school was closed to foreigners, and he's an Icelander. (I also interviewed Tomasson for the Kronstam biography and we discussed his training, so I guess I'm 99.99 percent sure )  Both of his teachers in Iceland, however, were Danes trained at the RDB, and so he has Danish training.

Tomasson danced at the Pantomime Theater in Copenhagen as a young man, but never with the RDB (again, because of the prohibition against foreigners, not because of any lack of talent).

[Hans]

Ok, that makes sense, because I could have sworn I read in an interview with him that he went to Denmark at 15--it's in the book "State of the Arts" which is about California & has interviews with various artists in the state.  I'll have to go read it again.  Apparently, if he did to go Denmark at that age, it was not to train at the RDB!

[Alexandra]

Yes, I believe he did go to Denmark at that age and I don't know where he took classes.  The choreographer Birger Bartholin had a studio and was a very respected teacher during that time; a lot of people taught there as guests (including Danilova!) and many dancers would take classes there.  Or perhaps he started at the Pantomime Theater at that age.  I've always wanted to learn more about his teachers in Iceland -- they did a very good job! He's as much a Danish dancer as if he had been trained there, to my eyes.

I should add that the Danish ballet did take non-Danish dancers beginning in the mid-1960s, when Flemming Flindt took over, but it was made clear to the foreigners that they would never become solodancers.

[Effy]

I think I should add that we still have some of the finest male dancers available in Copehagen Kenneth Greve, Mads Blangstrup and Thomas Lund can hold their own against anybody. Kenneth Greve is the classical Danseur Noble, Mads Blangstrup is the romantic poetic dancer and Thomas Lund the brilliant demi caracter dancer.

[silvy]

Effy
thanks!!

How I wish I could be in Denmark now!!

Silvy