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"Portrait of a Danish Dancer"


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There has been a well-deserved chorus of praise for “Henning Kronstam: Portrait of a Danish Dancer” by Alexandra Tomolanis. Alexandra makes the subtitle clear in the Preface, but like any good biography of this type, this one illuminates the artistic climate around Kronstam, both during his development and his maturity. That environment, how it helped shaped the dancer and how the dancer helped to shape it, is an integral and most welcome aspect here.

Alexandra’s prose style is very clear, almost transparent—in other words, perfect for a work like this. She tells what happened to Kronstam at different times, often from several points of view, and allows the reader to draw conclusions. While I have no idea of how Alexandra works, I would think that a style this clean and clear takes a lot of work to accomplish—making things look easy is often quite difficult. The style reminds me of the two-volume “Otto Klemperer, His Life and Times” by Peter Heyworth. Heyworth was a music critic for the “Times” of London for many years—perhaps there is something about writing on deadline about many different performances over the years that helps to hone such a clear style.

Alexandra describes many emotional or touching scenes from Kronstam’s life—one in particular is the funeral of Vera Volkova, an extremely important person in his artistic development and in the survival and development of the Royal Danish Ballet. It is a very moving account, told from the point of view of both Kronstam and also of a third-party observer. The account begins simply but powerfully: “At the end of the season, in May, Vera Volkova died.” This sentence explains volumes—most importantly, a revered teacher had died, and when. But the “when” is not only in May, but at the end of the season, making it clear how time is measured in a ballet company, performing season by performing season. It also sets the stage (if you will) perfectly for the account of the funeral which follows, how Kronstam acted during that funeral, what he expected of others and why, and how he responded when those expectations were not fulfilled. That is just one sentence in one paragraph of a work of over 500 pages, but the book is full of such gems.

It is the type of book that has become scarce—one written for the normally literate layperson with an interest but not much specialized knowledge in an art form. There are now many more books devoted to science that do this than the performing arts. The reader doesn’t have to know much about the technical side of ballet to appreciate this book—although those with that knowledge certainly may have a more profound understanding of it.

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As Alexandra describes him, Henning Kronstam must have been one very special artist.

A friend of mine who recently staged "Prodigal Son" for Ballet Arizona told me how incredible Ib Anderson is at directing rehearsals. It must come from the tradition of great direction set by Kronstam.

Thank you for the wonderful book Alexandra. I was turned on to a whole world of art that I will miss.

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Thanks again Glebb -- I'm glad to hear that about Andersen, as I think he's one of themost gifted people directing a company today. I think Andersen is carrying on Kronstam, but Kronstam was carrying on Lander and Brenaa, who were carrying on Beck, who was carrying on the first Mr. B. Each changing a bit and incorporating things they learned and observed from their own careers, but sticking to the detail and the sense of making it live, living rather than acting on the stage.

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Update and fyi:

According to our web stats, people are still clicking on the link to the photo of Kronstam in the Ashton solo from Sleeping Beauty (thank you!). When I redid www.danceview.org this week, I moved all of the Kronstam pages on to a new site -- www.kronstam.com (yes, yes, a year late, but what they hey. This isn't to sell books, but to have material about Kronstam on the web.)

Here's the url to the cabriole photo:

Kronstam as Florimund

Also, fyi, the Kronstam site is only about half-finished, so if links don't work, or if one page is a different color from the rest, I know about it and will get to it some day. :)

I've corrected the url in the initial post about the photo.

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I am in the final pages of this wonderful book. I do not want to finish it, because I do not want to lose Kronstam.

Thanks for a book that is meticulously researched, fascinating, heartfelt and beautifully written, Alexandra. How often do we find a work like that?

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I'm almost half way through this book and I, too, love it. I just read everyone's posts and they're all very heartfelt and I find myself nodding throughout.

As Ed Waffle wrote

It is the type of book that has become scarce—one written for the normally literate layperson with an interest but not much specialized knowledge in an art form. There are now many more books devoted to science that do this than the performing arts. The reader doesn’t have to know much about the technical side of ballet to appreciate this book—although those with that knowledge certainly may have a more profound understanding of it.
Even the "normally literate layperson" can not only read this book - but fall in love with Henning Kronstam as well. And the photographs within the book are fantastic, too - they're a great touch stone and show the maturing process of this dancer from that of a young boy to a man, as well - very important.

Speaking of photos - I love that picture of a 10 year old Kronstam as McDuff's son. :):D

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Unabashed commercial (not that you have to buy the book, but your library should have this by now, and I hope some of the people who are new to the board will see this, will be inspired to READ it). My book was reviewed in Dance Magazine this month, so this is a reminder for anyone who's looking for something to read in the summer.

Also, I've been meaning to post this for awhile, I put up a site for the book. There are a lot of photos there. Go look: Kronstam There's also a chapter from the book there.

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I am in the final pages of this wonderful book.  I do not want to finish it, because I do not want to lose Kronstam.

That is exactly how I felt while reading Alexandra's book. It is great to begin a book that is both a joy to read and is really long--at first it seems like you will be able to read it forever. But the more you read the more you realize that you are approaching the end. I try to slow down then--ten pages a day, for example--but it only works for a few days, since getting caught up in the narrative makes me forget that I had wanted to stop.

If that makes any sense at all. :wub:

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I am in the final pages of this wonderful book. I do not want to finish it, because I do not want to lose Kronstam.
But the more you read the more you realize that you are approaching the end.

Even though I knew I was coming to the end and started rationing the pages to keep Kronstam alive that much longer, I forgot that most of the remaining pages were index and bibliography. In about three paragraphs, he was gone! I had to reread that part several times before I actually believed it.

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Why thank you! That's exactly the effect I was after, since the death was such a shock to everyone who knew him.

I didn't put this in the book, but he had been hospitalized on the last day of the season It was Mette-Ida Kirk's farewell performance and he'd intended on going, and bought her flowers (which I presume he sent). The dancers were off to Orange County for a brief American tour. Kronstam was adamant that he didn't want any of the dancers to know he was in the hospital (he was afraid of more rumors starting). He died the morning of their last day and the dancers were told 30 minutes before curtain. (I think the company was worried that, because a lot of the dancers were rushing to the airport right after the performance, they wouldn't have a chance to tell them otherwise.) A friend of mine who was backstage said it was awful -- there were dancers collapsed in the corridors everywhere, crying, and several dancers mentioned in later interviews that they were crying on stage. Vivi Flindt was on a plane, going back to Copenhagen, when she learned, from the front page of Politiken. She walked in her door, turned on her answering machine, and there was a message from him asking her to come see him that week; she'd been asking for two years and he hadn't been up to it. But now he was getting better. For weeks everyone did the "but that's not possible, I just saw him yesterday" thing.

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One of the many agreeable aspects of the book, as I noticed during a recent re-read, is that the structure enables you to "dip into" various sections without losing anything in the way of clarity; the reader knows exactly where s/he is. I'm also struck by the stunning amount of reseach and detail worn so lightly. Even as a ballet is examined in the minutest detail, we never lose the forest for the trees.

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Glad you revived this thread, dirac. My copy is much underlined. Not only did I learn a lot about a great (and fascinating) dancer I knew little about, but there is so much ballet lore, information, and wisdom in general.

As I read it, I felt tremendous involvement with the world of Danish ballet and also with the beginnings -- opportunities and challenges -- of a truly international ballet world. I found myself regretting that I had not actually been part of those remarkable events and performances. As I read along, however, I started having the feeling that I HAD been there, something that doesn't always happen for me with ballet writing.

And there's a definite personal and aesthetic point of view. Not an axe to grind -- but an intelligent and consistent sense of what great dancing, coaching and artistic direction involve.

Not to mention the many, many photos, which are (miraculously, in this age of publishing short-cuts) completely integrated throughout the text. Thank you University Press of Florida.

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This quote from an interview done in 1977 says so much about Kronstam, the man as well as the dancer. And those two sentences of his made reading about his final years all the more poignant. After all he had given where was the compassion he needed in those last few years?

"Ninka's final question was, "What is the result of, so far, thirty-four hard and good years in ballet?"

Few would have predicted Kronstam's answer: 'In the end it is probably that you have been good to the people around you--that you have had compassion. An the times when you didn't, that is actually what has been the hardest....'" page 176 of
Henning Kronstam

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