The Royal Danish Ballet in China

[Syrene Hvid]

I've been following the Chinese tour online and so far, the shows (Hübbe's Napoli and a mixed bill of La Sylphide/Balanchine's Theme and Variations) have been tremendously well received. Very lovely to see.

As far as casting goes, there seems to be two casts for each performance. Napoli was danced by Amy Watson (debut as Teresina, I really would have liked to see her in this role) with Ulrik Birkkjær as Gennaro and almost the same third act variation dancers as on the DVD, with a few exceptions. Caroline Baldwin, Holly Dorger, Susanne Grinder and Ida Praetorius dancing Watson's variation. The male variations were danced by Gregory Dean, Marcin Kupinski and, most excitingly, Alban Lendorf, on stage for the first time in ten months! I couldn't see who the fourth man was, unfortunately. It might have been Jonathan Chmelensky. He debuted as Gennaro in Napoli in the second cast, I think, dancing with Alexandra Lo Sardo as his Teresina. I've seen her on the released DVD and she's a joy - and after having seen Chmelensky as Basilio, I believe he'd make a wonderful Gennaro. Hopefully he'll be cast again, next time they're staging it here, now that he's been taught the role!

La Sylphide first cast was Susanne Grinder, Marcin Kupinski and Sebastian Kloborg as James. Very solid group and I was particularly pleased to hear the amazing reception Grinder received as the Sylph from the videos from curtain call. She so deserves this recognition also internationally - she danced the role in a traditional production with the National Ballet back in November, with Birkkjær as her James and the Chinese really seem to have been smitten by these two. They have been used as figureheads for the tour, have been interviewed for China Ballet Magazine and Grinder was brought along by Hübbe for the official press conference, too. Opening night the supporting cast were Kizzy Matiakis as Effy (lucky Chinese!) and I think, Alexander Bozinoff as Gurn? It was hard to tell. First Sylph was definitely Stephanie Chen and I'm happy to see her back in her old roles again, hopefully they'll either use her as second cast Effy or bring her back to the role next time they stage La Sylphide in Denmark. Second main cast of La Sylphide, I'm not as sure about, but I believe I read somewhere that it would be J'aime Crandall, Gregory Dean and Sebastian Haynes as Madge. Amazing cast, one of my absolute favourite combinations, so I hope they are well received as well!

Theme and Variations was danced by Holly Dorger and Ulrik Birkkjær on opening night. Second cast will be Ida Praetorius (dancing the ballet on stage only for the second time! She stepped in as an understudy on the Jutland tour once, but hasn't danced it otherwise, very exciting that she's given this opportunity - although I do wonder why she wasn't taught any of the Bournonville leads, she'd have made a lovely Teresina and since they did let Watson debut, I am a bit perplexed as to why they couldn't have done the same with Prateorius) with Jon Axel Fransson. I'm very sorry I won't get to see them, I believe Fransson could be a good partner for Praetorius, maybe even as good for her as Andreas Kaas has been in the Neumeier repertory. She needs a very strong technician for support in these more virtuoso ballets and Fransson fits her in build. The reception of Dorger and Birkkjær on opening night was also very heart-warming, Dorger herself mentions this in her most recent update on Instagram.

Some links:

Official Facebook page with pictures and updates, plus some Chinese reactions: https://www.facebook.com/events/501976466679592/

China Ballet Magazine Facebook, the latest four updates about the RDB, mostly press conference and Napoli coverage, but also a nice photo set from backstage: https://www.facebook.com/chinaballetmagazine/

Some videos from Instagram (curtain calls):

NAPOLI:

https://instagram.com/p/BGuCbUrK4DR/

https://instagram.com/p/BGt90GjD1XM/

https://instagram.com/BGuNdUVJVWt/

LA SYLPHIDE:

https://instagram.com/p/BGzGuBDq4Pm/

https://instagram.com/p/BGzK9MuD1S8/

THEME AND VARIATIONS:

https://instagram.com/p/BGzLzBfj1Ve/

All in all, it seems to be going really well for them and it makes me so happy on their behalf. Always nice to be recognised for their immense talent and to show off Hübbe's genius outside Denmark, too.

[Syrene Hvid]

And for those who haven't seen it, here is the official "trailer" video for the China tour, with comments (in English) by Hübbe, Birkkjær and Grinder and some nice footage from all three ballets.

http://video.kglteater.dk/the-royal-danish-ballet-china-tour-2016

[Drew]

Thanks for information about the tour--nice to learn that Lendorf is back on stage.

[Helene]

Congratulations to the company -- this must be exciting and gratifying for them.

[Jane Simpson]

Thank you for the links, Syrene Hvid - but just for the record, it wasn't Amy Watson's debut as Teresina - she danced it some years ago, in the second run of this production I think, with Alexander Stæger

[Syrene Hvid]

Oh, Jane, that's good to know. I thought it was her debut because a couple of her rehearsal videos were tagged with #debut, but it might have been about Jonathan whom she was rehearsing with.

[Syrene Hvid]

None of this is confirmed officially, but looking around pictures on FB and Insta, it seems Amy Watson MAY have danced Teresina with both Birkkjær and Chmelensky, instead of Alexandra Lo Sardo.

I still can't find out who danced the Sylph in the Dean/Haynes cast, but China Ballet Magazine has put up a picture of the final kiss between Dean's James and Haynes' Madge on their Insta account, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they may put up more pictures from the performance, so I can see if it's J'aime Crandall who filled the spot.

Picture of Dean and Haynes: https://instagram.com/p/BG32CyJEoVI/

Also, I had my doubts whether they'd include the kiss between Madge and James while in China, considering the current political situation, and maybe make the relationship between the two characters more ambiguous as was the case with Kloborg's Madge and Kupinski's James in the first cast, but it certainly seems that they kept it as originally envisioned.

IMO, Haynes and Dean really brought magic to these two characters and I do hope for more pictures!

Especially if Crandall was the Sylph - this combination was a masterpiece when they danced in Holstebro in February... One of those magical performances.