Syrene Hvid

First, raw impressions... I saw Holly Dorger's debut last night and I personally found the entire performance a perfect Giselle. I'm not sure I really appreciated the new sets until second act, but in retrospect they made perfect sense in first act as well and were very beautiful. The costumes were all around gorgeous, especially the willi ones, wow. Yesterday's main cast were, of course, Dorger as Giselle, Ulrik Birkkjær as Albrecht, an amazing Magnus Christoffersen as Hilarion, Amy Watson as Myrtha and strong powerhouses Caroline Baldwin and Jonathan Chmelensky in the peasant pas de deux, with Emma Håkansson and Kaledora Fontana as first willis. An all-over very strong cast. I loved Dorger as Giselle, she created the most coherent picture of the character while also dancing the role beautifully. She was Giselle, not Giselle the girl in first act and Giselle the willi in second act, but throughout just WAS Giselle, I can't say it any better. In first act she was completely smitten and smiling and hating her heart condition, because she just wanted to dance. She was so charming to look at, if you ask me. Her variation was just beautiful with some very swift, floating turns at the end, earning one of the biggest applauses of the night. Her mad scene was its complete opposition, jagged and full of anger and hurt. The two juxtaposed perfectly and created a full circle of character development, leading up to the second act. Opposite of Giselle stands Birkkjær's Albrect. A real sleak one. All throughout first act I kept thinking I didn't like his portrayal, but when it all came together and it turned out to be a maturing arc for Albrecht too, I realised that I actually loved his portrayal, even if I hated the character himself. They had the most solid partnering and really fit each other, I bought their bond one hundred percent and in the second act, I was even rooting for the both of them, together. He danced wonderfully, especially when Albrect and Giselle danced for Myrtha, so much power and feeling - and he must have springs under his feet! Those jumps up and down... Watson was a perfect Myrtha and this is the best I've seen her dance ever! The role fitted her so well. Every part with the willis was amazing, very eerie and atmosperic. At times even scary. The corps did very well, as did the two first willis in their debut. Separately I thought they did well, although they weren't always in sync, when dancing side by side. All in all, I was floored by both acts, but sit with most vivid memories of the last part of the second one. It was full of emotion, really tore my heart apart. The moment where Dorger threw the lilies was jaw-droppingly stunning. As was the entire section where she was turned into a willi. I was crying a little at the end, when the sun rose and Dorger's face lit up in a smile, knowing Albrect was saved. It was a poignant scene and as Albrect was left behind with the flower from act one, I was done for. I loved it.

Having had the morning to digest "Sleeping Beauty Must Die", I think I'm ready to share the experience. A little of it. I don't think this will be a review in the traditional sense, but since the performance itself wasn't ballet in the traditional sense either, maybe that's alright. Stepping into the set of Tornerose was a bit like stepping into a parallel universe, a universe that mirrored ours, but laid the "beneath" bare. We sat down in marked chairs placed in a three-sided square-ish shape around the center stage and immediately, we were getting pulled into this world. The seven dancers prepared around us, in full view, as they walked by us some nodded and greeted us, we were part of their world now. The dancers in this production were Susanne Grinder, Benjamin Buza, Eliabe D'Abadia, Alexander Stæger, Julien Roman, Cedric Lambrette and Samuel Rees. Some of them danced specific "characters" throughout the evening, like Buza dancing the prince, Grinder danced Aurora, D'Abadia the lilac fairy and, I think, Julien Roman the king and Samuel Rees Carabosse, but I couldn't say for sure which hardly matters anyway, because much of the time, they all jumped in and out of character, speaking and acting as themselves, commenting on crucial points in Sleeping Beauty as a ballet and their thoughts and feelings on dancing it specifically, but also the dancer's life in general. It was very intimate and vulnerable. I felt truly touched and included by these seven people. They granted me a taste of their lives. But this concept was presented in dance, in a full deconstruction of the Sleeping Beauty ballet. They led us through the ballet act by act, danced out important parts, constantly commenting in meta on aspects of their lives that it represented or affected. Issues such as aging (Grinder was wrapped in clingfilm and put in a freezer to preserve her for a hundred years), injuries (two of the male dancers listed their various injuries and almost tried to out-injure each other), gender roles (the focus on the ballerina; at some point after everybody in the audience had been invited into the middle to dance at Aurora's "sweet sixteen" party, Grinder jumped onto the table and yelled "It's my party, mine!") and sexuality (homosexual men being represented as lonely nymphomaniacs lurking in the deepest forest where they attacked the prince until the lilac fairy intervened, as if these men stood in an impossible contrast to the prince role of classical ballet). All of these topics were presented wrapped in acid-colour or metallic costumes, the colour scheme was "pastel tripping" all-around and after a while, I sunk into this universe of stark impressions and soft admissions. The audience was constantly invited to engage and there was a lot of laughter. Trying to decode mime. Mimicking the final scene along with the dancers dancing it. Rising for the king and Aurora. It was truly like sharing the stage for an hour and a half with these dancers and I started wishing them well in their mission of "killing Sleeping Beauty", because I for a brief moment got to know them as more than ballet dancers and dancers I admire, but as real flesh and blood people. When we clapped for Grinder and Buza who danced the traditional wedding waltz at the end, I was a bit teary-eyed. To this moment, one of the strongest impressions left with me was Grinder talking about being a ballerina, about dancing princess roles although she didn't feel like a princess and about not really identifying with the perfection of ballet while pirouetting past all the audience rows, faster and faster and "with control now" as she commented, all while moving. Because this wasn't a "talk show", there was dancing. The men danced the various fairies in the prologue, in sneakers and with all the acting of a real performance, elevated. It was hilarious. Grinder danced the Rose Adagio (on a table!) and the wedding pas de deux with Buza's prince. All the way through the ballet was dismantled and put in perspective. It must have been a "destruction ballet" for the dancers, indeed, but for me it was like being served "Sleeping Beauty" re-interpreted and deconstructed on a golden platter. It tasted like reality and everything that lies beneath. It was an amazing, touching performance and I can only recommend it. I still feel slightly fried mentally and emotionally in the aftermath now.

Corpus' newest project, Tornerose skal dø (Sleeping Beauty Must Die), has its premiere tonight at eight, in little under an hour! Official photos have been put up in the website's gallery as well as a trailer, they can be found here: https://kglteater.dk/det-sker/sason-20162017/ballet/tornerose-skal-do/#galleri I'll be seeing the performance tomorrow and simply can't wait, in the intro it's called a "destruction ballet" that deconstructs everything we know about Sleeping Beauty and the reality behind the costumes, touching upon such themes as sexuality, gender roles, injury and aging. I personally think it sounds like one amazing ride! I'll report back once I've seen it. Anyone going tonight?

Drew, I too really adored the interview with Dorger. I'm seeing her debut on the 2nd and feeling very excited about it. I'll make sure to report back.

Ooo, thanks for the info. Very excited for Matiakis in first cast. Looking forward to seeing her in the broadcast! I'll be seeing both Watson and Guswiler, since I'm seeing the show on the 2nd and 12th. Especially very excited to see Guswiler in such a big role! I always loved her first sylph.

More than how different the two shows were, of which I saw both, and what their weaknesses might have been, I'd rather focus on how much they had in common and how these common features made them individually very strong performances, at least in my view. From my seat, both nights' main couples had amazing, strong chemistry with each other that helped the storytelling be more than simply beauty or simply tragedy, but created coherence in the full picture as well as in the little details of which both combinations had woven in plenty. On both evenings, the love felt undeniable and true to me, the main difference being what sort of shade it had been dyed in, with Dorger/Haynes' being brighter and wilder whereas it was in some way more glowing and had matured with Matiakis/Dean. The same goes for the individual dancers within the constellations, all four delivered fine performances. Both Haynes and Dean were amazing princes, I thought, who brought out more than the stereotypical walk-and-stop stick figure that the character easily becomes. Each they gave him a fleshed out personality and hinted at a background story in the storyline-given elements, plus they both danced some of the best I've seen from either of them! Haynes seemed in his portrayal more freedom-yearning than the more romantically focused Dean, but both interpretations felt well-grounded and the two dancers furthermore seemed to put equal amounts of story into the relationship with Rothbart, for example, and defined themselves strongly in these interactions, too. Both Dorger and Matiakis should receive praise for both their Odettes as well as their Odiles, if you ask me, because they both made very beautiful portrayals of both characters, even if their respective nights' biggest wow-moment came in different acts for me. With Dorger her entire Odile scene was such a blast, from a thrilling pas de deux and variation full of sculpted attitude to the culmination in some very swift fouettes that really left me mindblown. For Matiakis her Odette's entrance scene in the first act was a thing of beauty that showed itself all the way out in the tiniest tremble of her fingertips, spread out very feather-like and fragile, and continued on into a lyrical presence throughout the mime scene also. But, really, for me, both ballerinas showed their wide range by also conquering the ground in contrasting colour, white for one and black for the other, and created a full experience through their different takes on the double role, deep drama as with Dorger and pure poetry as with Matiakis, both amazingly exciting to watch for me. And that's really all I have the brains to write right now. I'll hopefully be able to write more about the other aspects of the performances over the next couple of days.

Fully deserved promotion, at long last! Congratulations!! Her Odette was a true dream.

The 30 minute broadcast can now be found on the Royal Danish Theatre's official Facebook.

Tomorrow from 2.45 PM to 3.15 PM, the RDB will livestream a Giselle rehearsal session with Ulrik Birkkjær and Andreas Kaas on Facebook, this has been announced on their Facebook page as well as on Instagram. I'll personally be checking in on it, definitely, but I could imagine the time must clash with quite a lot of people's work schedules. Will anyone else from BA be watching?

Main couple casting up for Giselle. They're really beginning to publish these in good time this season. Now we just need supporting cast... First cast: Ida Praetorius as Giselle, Andreas Kaas as Albrecht. Dancing on 29/10, 10/11 and 15/11, meaning they will be the cast broadcasted to cinemas. Second cast: J'aime Crandall as Giselle, Gregory Dean as Albrecht. Dancing on 30/10, 12/11 and 19/11. Third cast: Holly Dorger as Giselle, Ulrik Birkkjær as Albrecht. Dancing on 2/11 and 17/11. I'm so fortunate that I get to see all three casts (one in cinemas), very excited about this!

Attending the performance last night was a thrill. I had expected and looked forward to seeing Ida Praetorius and Marcin Kupinski, but what seems very last minute, Holly Dorger and Sebastian Haynes took their place. Two of my favourite dancers and what a combi they made! Strong, emotionally loaded chemistry that translated vividly in their body language to the balcony where I was sitting. There was a clear feeling in their respective portrayals that Siegfried and Odette mirrored each other, Siegfried as entrapped at court as Odette is as a swan and both of them freed in their love for each other. It worked as a beautiful link that only helped making the romance feel more real and endlessly human. I really loved it a lot. Their partnering looked solid to me, but especially the intensity of feelings was sublime between Dorger and Haynes - their PDDs were incredible, almost explosive. Especially the entire last lake scene which actually had me in tears. The performance in whole also received a standing ovation.Individually, they had amazing moments, too. Dorger's adagio and coda in the first lake scene rank among my favourites now, she portrayed an incredibly powerful and stark Odette with larger than life movements and long sweeps of her arms. She wasn't a weak, entrapped princess. Instead she was desperate and frightened, indeed, as it seemed to seep through into the quick, sharp flick-like movements of Dorger's hands when Haynes lifted her up. Her arms in particular were insanely dramatic and captivating to look at - at one point in the first lake scene PDD where Haynes gently sways her back and forth, Dorger spreads her arms wide and whenever she reached a particular angle, her arms really WERE wings and she truly did look like a large bird on the brink of death.As Odile, Dorger had an entirely different way of moving and looked like an entirely different bird, so to speak. Interestingly, to me the movements of her Odile were somehow softer than her Odette's movements that were strong and large. As Odile, Dorger was sumptuous and playful with a tint of mockery, but no clear-cut evil, for which I'm glad. She was a real femme fatale, larger than life. All in all, her Odile kept me mesmerized throughout and what an applause she received both after her variation and her fouettes, we applauded long into Haynes' spins which were, however, also amazing.Haynes' second solo especially where he expresses his joy and relief to have found Odette was stellar and also received a great applause. It was full of bouncing, high leaps like he was really reaching for the sky. His dancing in the second lake scene with both Odette and Rothbart was tender and desperate respectively and he channelled both emotions extremely well. A particular image that has etched itself into my mind is the start of the final PDD between Odette and Siegfried. He finds her lying hidden amongst the black swans and as the music halts, Haynes managed to conquer the silence with his own motionlessness so the moment almost felt as if it were vibrating all on its own. Then the music picked up and slowly Haynes walked over to the still Odette and carefully helped her to her feet. It was so simple, yet so touching and immensely tragic.The finale where Siegfried is made to marry Odile was, as a consequence of this tragedy, just heart-breaking. When Dorger came back onto stage clad in black, he looked away from her and with his head turned, he took her hand and that was the last image in the audience mind before the curtain went down: Siegfried looking away from the fate he made by his own folly. A true and clenching tragedy that Haynes really made come to life with his three-dimensional portrayal of the prince who could too easily be rendered an empty mannequin otherwise. Sebastian instead showed his coming full circle as he walked solemnly around in the first act, unsure of Rothbart and court in whole. Then he experienced true love and true freedom with Odette and yet, because of Odile's allure, ended up broken and even more entrapped at court than he was to begin with. It was excellent.In the role of Rothbart, with the heavy facial makeup, Jonathan Chmelensky really let his body talk and let his body shine. Wow, the leaps and jumps he could do. His solo in the first act, before the lake scene took its course was amazing. Yet, he wasn't all technique and power - he also portrayed a very sophisticated, manipulative genius who had taken over court and kept luring people into his games, as shown with the jester and Benno. Not to mention that his interaction with Dorger both as Odette and Odile in the second act was perfection. Pure perfection. As Rothbart and Odile, they were weaving a web together during the entire court scene which culminated at last on the other side of the final lake scene, as Odile took her place next to Siegfried and the two who looked at each other in victory at this ending were Chmelensky's Rothbart and Dorger's Odile. In contrast, as he tackled - and there's no better word, I think - the heartbroken Odette and swings her up, away from Siegfried, it was with great force and an finally unleashed want that Chmelensky showed in detail despite the heavy makeup. The harshness of his features could be seen even from the balcony. With how he danced opposite both Dorger and Haynes, one shouldn't have thought they weren't usually in cast together.In the supporting roles of jester and Benno were Tobias Praetorius and Andreas Kaas. Both were great. Kaas brought high spirits and some amazing jumps to the pas de trois and T. Praetorius had the perfect build for the character - not to mention that his jester brought some Russian flair to the choreography with endless turns in the first scene. In the pas de trois also danced Caroline Baldwin and Kizzy Matiakis, both beautiful dancers who each shone in different parts of the choreography. Baldwin was precise and sharp in her variation while Matiakis started out the final coda (I think it is) with a series of very stunning jumps that just looked so effortless to my eyes.Other than the pas de trois, though, the first scene in the first act didn't come off as quite as clean and striking as the rest of the ballet and despite some changes to the choreography that has made the plot more transparent, it still feels a bit weaker than the rest of this otherwise perfect Swan Lake production where the fairytale aspect was really allowed to burn through yesterday without losing its political twist at the end.The swan scenes were amazing to watch. Seeing them from up high gave an entirely different experience of patterns and togetherness of the many swans. They danced beautifully and in perfect sync, as I saw it. The feeling of watching a whole wave of arms and tutus was very stark and the changing lights cast all these swan maidens in changing colors as the scenes progressed. It was gorgeous. Mikki Kunttu has really worked some serious magic with the lighting.All three group of swans, the small swans, the big swans and the black swans were excellent, but I was especially pleased to see the big swan choreography danced as beautifully as it was by Astrid Elbo, Stephanie Chen Gundorph, Emma Håkansson and Elenora Morris. The black swans choreography as well, one of my favourite parts of the entire ballet, was amazingly well performed and looked much darker and sinister than I remember it, like an open field at night under the stars. From now on, I'll remember it this way instead, it was quite perfect. Beautiful. Like something out of a gothic fairytale.Speaking of gothic fairytales, the four princesses in the second act court scene all had good moments, too, the Hungarian princess Christina Michanek capturing some picturesque poses and Spanish princess Alba Nadal doing great bull's horns, but my favourites were Russian princess Stephanie Chen Gundorph who conquered a slightly altered choreography by Oliver Starpov and really danced with force and temptation, her bright red lips sending smiles all the way up to the balcony while she caressed her male ensemble with intensity as well as abandon, moving from one to the other. I really adored her performance of this amazing choreography and the feeling of a clockwork was even more palpable than before. These new changes only did good things.As the Italian princess, Heather Dunn was a true ace out of the sleeve. She was so fast and spunky, charming and also entertaining to look at. She danced in perfect tune with her ensemble, Alexander Bozinoff and Alexander Stæger. I've honestly never enjoyed this piece of choreography more than I did last night. It was an amazing act and it was probably one of my favourite parts altogether, although it's difficult to choose with the entire ballet being so fantastic. It deserved its standing ovation and I am so glad I'll be seeing it again twice more.

Thank you for sharing these links, Jane. I look forward to taking a closer look!

I was particularly happy to hear that both Wilma Giglio and Astrid Elbo seemed to do well in their princess dances. I would have given a lot to see Wilma in the Russian choreography!

I wasn't sure where to post this question, so it went here, if the moderators should want to move it, please feel free! After I started delving into the activity of "reviewing" (I take the liberty of using this particular word, knowing it doesn't necessarily cover what my writings actually are) the Royal Danish Ballet's performances I attend, I have found myself curious as to what incites or inspires other "non-professional" (again, I use this word broadly to mean "not writing official reviews for newspapers or magazines") reviewers to review ballet performances on their blogs, websites or here? When it comes to reviewing performances here, I started doing it as a way of keeping the experience more sharply in memory, because getting things out in words helps me remember better - but also for the sake of letting people who don't get to see the RDB follow things here, there are a very limited range of voices on the RDB available in English, so one more couldn't hurt, I thought. Being able to partake in a debate about the performances I saw only made things better! As for the writings I do in Danish, it's a mix of a "getting better at writing" project and being an audience voice on the Internet where very few people talk about the RDB, besides the reviewers from the newspapers and even there, it seems to be the same two-to-four people with the same two-to-four opinions. I particularly wanted to focus on the good aspects of every performance I saw, even those performances I didn't think of as the greatest of them, because I know it'll probably mostly be non-balletomanes who read my writings and I would definitely love to be the incentive for more non-balletgoers to try dipping their toes into the world of the RDB. In my experience the greater a range of people who come to see ballet, the better. Everyone should be allowed to share in these potentially very touching experiences. Not to mention that I've discovered for me personally, focusing on what works for me rather than what doesn't has allowed me to remember every performance I've written about with a greater fondness than many of the performances I haven't reviewed - I think, because I see them in another light. I know this isn't the way for everyone, but it works for me, it probably also helps that there aren't any dancers at the company at all that I don't as such like to watch!

This morning as Hübbe was wishing the company pøj pøj with their premiere of Swan Lake, he also named Sebastian Haynes new solist! There's a heart-warming video of it right here on the Royal Danish Theatre's own instagram: This promotion makes me so happy, I've been waiting for Haynes to become solist in forever and finally seeing him getting this recognition makes me feel so fulfilled. He's a dancer who's definitely destined for some big things, so this is a new step in the right direction, I think.

Beautiful video up on Instagram from yesterday's Brunch 'n' Ballet where Ida Praetorius rehearses the white swan adagio. https://instagram.com/p/BKLXMB8jyw7/

Remaining casting up and there's a surprise in there, at least for me! Caroline Baldwin: O/O, Andreas Kaas: Siegfried, Benjamin Buza: Rothbart - Oct. 5 Holly Dorger: O/O, Sebastian Haynes: Siegfried, Benjamin Buza: Rothbart - Oct. 7, 12, 26 and Nov. 4 Kizzy Matiakis: O/O, Gregory Dean: Siegfried, Jonathan Chmelensky: Rothbart - Oct. 8, 25 and Nov 3 I had not seen Kizzy Matiakis coming, but I am so happy to see her listed for O/O, she looked beautiful in the pictures from last season's Dance2Go White Act. Absolutely stunning. I'm so fortunate that I'll both get to see Dorger/Haynes on the 7th and Matiakis/Dean on the 8th and I'm sure it'll be the ballet weekend of my life!

Jane, I too think Dorger/Haynes is an interesting and very promising combination. I thought they did well with the Coppélia extract on summer tour and I'm confident the tragic drama of Swan Lake will fit them even better. Luckily I get the chance to see them on the 7th, so that's a great casting catch.

Fluorescence by Starpov is part of the company within the company, Corpus and is one of their minimal pop up performances. For me, it is one of those performances that will be hard to review in detail, simply because some performances are too deeply personal to review and rather needs to be recalled. I'll try to recall the parts I liked best, perhaps out of order, perhaps without too much sense, because Fluorescence was the kind of art that was in your mind, flowing with your emotions through your system. In the printed piece of paper that introduced the evening's concept, Starpov wrote that it was a work about being young today, about feeling alone and misunderstood, about having a horrible view on your own body and on yourself and about having suicidal thoughts. He also wrote that a big part of the evening would be improvised, because it creates moments that can feel more honest and true than choreography. And that his aim wasn't to choreograph something beautiful and amazing, but to face himself and prove that he had moved on. As someone who has and is still struggling with mental illness and has continuously used ballet as medicine for the soul this entire concept intrigued me and I was very excited to sit on first row in a completely packed A-sal. I can also happily announce that the 40 minutes the performance lasted were well spent and in good company. Besides Starpov himself who took centre stage, the dancers were Viktoria Falck-Schmidt, Stephanie Chen Gundorph, Sebastian Haynes and Andreas Kaas from the RDB as well as modern dancer Rune-Frej Stenholt Mortensen whose duet with Starpov finished off the program. So, if I can't review it, what can I say about Fluorescence? I'll list things that spoke to me so deeply that they're still lodged in my memory now. - The first part of the performance was a video montage featuring Starpov moving with a pair of antlers strapped to his head. As silly as this may sound, it was absolutely beautiful, not only because of Starpov's absolutely artful way of moving himself, but because of the psychological depth to the image of this mostly undressed man using the antlers to keep the space closest to him safe and void. Very effective. - The T-shirts scene with Starpov scrambling around the stage to collect all the strewn out T-shirts there to carry on his back and cover the target board painted on his naked back with fluorescent paint. Meanwhile the four RDB dancers walk in straight lines between the dropped T-shirts and forcefully point to them, causing Starpov to hurry over and later throw them at him hard - reminding me of my own inner voices in the depth of my worst periods and I was crying, I admit it, at this point. - The window scene where a window has been placed on stage and a new video montage is rolling in the background of a streetview seen from up high. A crying Starpov, and the scene really gained its emotional punch from his strong and honest presence, sits before the window. Opens it and leans out to look, then hastily shuts it again after a moment of seeing what waits down there. -The final scene of modern dance between Starpov and Stenholt Mortensen which felt like a love duet and improvised into some strong, almost iconic moves between the two. Difficult to describe as they were created in the moment, but the dancing ended with the music and with a kiss, before the lights went out. I felt personally how it was a testimony as to how relations and love can heal and help us move on to become better versions of ourselves. All in all, the evening was a success in my view. It delivered what it had promised and then some. What was most amazing about Starpov's project was how it was so firmly lodged in his personal story, but he made great parts of it take on a firm air of "human". An experience shared. Rather than only an invitation into his private sphere, although in part it was that, too. In his way of arrangement, I kept thinking "movement art" - like an installation piece fron AROS or one of the other big contemporary museums. And that made it beautiful to me.

Thank you, Jane. Very interesting read. Also, lovely to see the main casting given away already, some surprises in between. Very intrigued by the Dorger/Dean pair-up, I would perhaps have expected Dean to go with Crandall instead, I found them perfect together for the Romantic style in La Sylphide this spring, but I have high hopes for his may be partnership with Dorger as well.

Further casts up. Caroline Baldwin: O/O, Andreas Kaas: Siegfried, Benjamin Buza: Rothbart - 21st, 23rd of September, 1st of October. Ida Praetorius: O/O, Marcin Kupinski: Siegfried, Jonathan Chmelensky: Rothbart - 22nd and 24th of September. A long stretch of just these two casts, I must say. Fortunately I'll be seeing Praetorius/Kupinski on the 24th, so definitely looking forward to that. Also waiting to hear about the still unannounced casts and the Crandall/Lendorf cast, to see if they are getting more runs. Other than that, very pleased, although these two casts are definitely getting work to do. Shows with only a day of rest in between. Ugh.

Hi there! Glad to see you online, finally. Let's share our adventures this season!

I'm glad you liked the clip, Anne.

I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread for this or if I could continue here, although the performance wasn't strictly part of the summer ballet tour. But as the programme of the "Hübbe and the RDB at Aarhus Festival" was the exact same as for summer ballet, with some introductions and commentary by Hübbe himself in between excerpts, I think it's safe to say that the performance was an extension of the summer tour. If this is considered wrong, please feel free to delete/move this comment. Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of attending the mixed bill performance of the RDB as part of the annual summer festival in Denmark's second-largest city, Aarhus (where I live). The commentary of Hübbe was at times funny, at times educational, at times a swipe at the approach to culture in broader society and politics, but continuously he was very engaging to listen to and he has really grown into a fine speaker over the years that I've followed the company. Otherwise it was the same program as at Ofelia Beach, starting out with Coppélia and ending with Napoli. Maybe due to the breaks in between every other section, I noticed that the structure of the programme, the order in which these segments were shown, were one of contrasts. First the joyful Coppélia opposite the tragic drama of Romeo and Juliet's bed chamber PDD. Next the modern touch of Cacti contrasted with the classic bravura of Don Quixote, whereas the classic Swan Lake's gentle romance stood out starkly against the pure sexiness of Come Fly Away's showdance and the other way around as well. As such each individual excerpt of dance was turned on its head either in the choreography that followed or the one that came before, thus fitting the theme of the Aarhus Festival which is "Upside Down" this year. It was very cleverly done. The entire affair started out on a happy note with Coppélia. I don't know whether it was the fact that I didn't have to stand or sit on the ground, but was instead in my beloved, soft theatre seat - or whether the dancers were just totally on point yesterday, starting out with Holly Dorger and Sebastian Haynes in Coppélia, but whatever the answer might be, it was a treat. Especially Dorger just shone like a star yesterday. In the Coppélia variation (and Hübbe answered my question, unknowingly of me having asked it - it was the PDD from third act!) she went beyond just cute smiles or just strong dancing skills, she added so much character to the movements that although it was just one PDD, when Haynes and her finished, it actually felt like a micro-showing of an entire story. They were storytellers in their partnering and Dorger especially also stayed strongly in character in her solo parts. She was really nothing less than a joy to look at. Haynes came through in the turns and in his partnering, the last half of the PDD especially was very nicely danced with wonderful, soft but full poses. He and Dorger have a great connection and I still wouldn't mind seeing them dance something full-length together, wouldn't mind it being Coppélia either... In the wake of this joy followed the bed chamber PDD from Neumeier's Romeo and Juliet. With its much more tragic feel and intense drama, it really contrasted with Coppélia and gave me in the audience a feel of the emotional extremes that ballet can encompass. As it was, I still think that this PDD is difficult to watch out of context, but it was nonetheless danced beautifully last night with especially Andreas Kaas as Romeo impressing with amazing lifting, he basically threw Ida Praetorius' Juliet around like a feather, but a feather with weight. The most beautiful part of this PDD to me yesterday wasn't the otherwise strong presence of both dancers, but the pure art of Praetorius' body when moulded right. Over Kaas' shoulder, between his hands, over his knees she looked truly heavy with sorrow and grief. Her body in itself was moving by way of how Kaas swung her around and how their directions, movements, lines and gazes kept pointing in opposing directions. Very effective. Here Hübbe came back and introduced the following two segments, Cacti and Don Quixote. Here he noted how Cacti was one of the dance world's "rare attempts" at self-irony. The explanation really opened me eyes to the real intention of the piece and maybe for that reason or again, maybe because the dancers were just on top of their game last night, watching Kizzy Matiakis and Sebastian Haynes throw each other around and then abruptly stop their movements was perfection. There was no lack of humour or chemistry, just a very impressive speed and lots of laughter. They really had the audience with this one, it seemed. Enormous applause. Myself, I really noted that Matiakis was in a zone yesterday and it especially showed here, her strong mimicry which usually reflects so well off of Jón Axel Fransson was here sucked in by Haynes and almost spat out with his more aggressive, but also - yes - really self-ironic approach to the role. There was a particular move where Matiakis had to stuck her head through a loop he formed with his arms that was very, very funny to look at. The same goes for the understated moment where Matiakis indicated the size of something with her hands ("This big") and he just strides past nonchalantly while the male voice of Riley reads: "I've seen bigger, I could show you sometime." It had the entire hall completely dying from laughter. There were also some kicks to the head that looked dangerously real... I love this piece. One day I need to see the entire thing. Then came Don Quixote. There really were some standout performances tonight in this part. Jonathan Chmelensky almost pushed the roof off the building with his immense leaps and his dancing from PDD to variations to PDD was really strong. Especially in the last section of the PDD, after the second bridesmaid dance, his chemistry with Crandall was full of passion and some southern-spirit arrogance. Crandall delivered a beautiful fan solo, but struggled with the fouettes. The audience clapped her through the turns, while she had to jump back into it twice, not that it had any effect on the finale which was delivered with a great fierceness both from Chmelensky and Crandall. In the bridesmaid variations, Praetorius delivered hers very securely, but one of the great joys for me personally last night was to see Wilma Giglio again. It was almost like she'd read my mind on her performance last Saturday. Wow, she was on fire. She danced the variation with strength, attitude and a fierce expression, looking absolutely gorgeous in her red lipstick and with that little hairpiece. Very, very beautiful. Another pause where Hübbe came in. He made a wonderful speech about the presence of foreign dancers in the company, really addressing the political winds of the current times that don't always seem too pleased with this. I loved a comment he made that if a dancer, even if trained somewhere else originally, now trains under the Danish aesthetics and adheres to the Danish way of training dance, being able to perform in the style of the company when it's called for, then they can call themselves Danish dancers, no question. It earned a tentative applause at first, but after a second or two, it picked up. No need to say that I was clapping like mad. After this Dorger came back to perform the white swan PDD with Ulrik Birkkjær. These two were in Nairobi this week to perform this exact PDD at a gala and the extra work showed in the best of ways. It was the most amazing performance of this choreography I've seen yet. Birkkjær delivered a very warm, longing, but also strong prince who embraced and held Odette firmly. While Dorger as Odette came in full acting armour. The ranges of expressions she delivered was amazing, there was quite a lot of pain in her gaze, but also love, mature forgiveness and hope. So much hope. The lifts suddenly struck me as something close to awe-inspiring while the finish was so in tune with the music that it almost felt like Tchaikovsky's score had been embodied. I was amazed. I just watched speechless until I realised my breath was hitching. I'm a crier, admitted, but things need to really be insanely beautiful or insanely emotional to get me sobbing. Yesterday, Birkkjær and Holly were both. This match was made in Heaven, I tell you. In the wake of this intensity, it was time for Come Fly Away. This showdance duet was a very nice way to wake up from the blues of Swan Lake and the floor was bathed in a heated orange-red light for contrasts. As soon as Gregory Dean and Wilma Giglio came out, I knew I was in for a treat. I wrote about being a bit disappointed last week - well, this week made up for that in spades. As soon as the music started, you could tell they were both on their game. Dean was extremely umph and masculine in his vest and demonstrated a smouldering aggression and complete intensity. Opposite of him stood Giglio and just umph'ed right back. She was fierce, she was unstoppable and certain of her moves looked like the mastery of the form of kicking Dean away, only to end up right back in his arms. The audience absolutely loved it and I did, too. I was so pleased to see Giglio not only back as I'd seen her in Sønderborg, but on a whole new level. Very deserved, they got the biggest applause of the evening. It was amazing and so well-deserved. After an introduction of Bournonville and of Napoli, the last part could begin. Once more Napoli was a joy to watch. Everyone were in wonderful sync when dancing together and there were real stand-out variations. I personally really loved Praetorius' third female variation and Matiakis' fourth which she aced with precision and spectacular swiftness, but they all danced beautifully, there really wasn't anything to marr the image. It felt like something picture perfect, I really did feel like I was looking at one of those old, dusty postcards found between the pages of a book - a postcard of Napoli maybe less like it looked and more like the interpreter had wanted it to look. Pas de six'en was just that kind of pure beauty and then the tarantel, once again in contrast, followed to liven us up. In sprang Jonathan Chmelensky and Giglio and danced with a lot of fire and heat to get the party started. Andreas Kaas danced some stand-out solos and Giglio just continued her great partnering moments with Chmelensky. Chmelensky himself delivered leaps and jumps out of this world and the finale was a piece of art. Once more, I got teary-eyed, because it was just such an unspoiled beauty. It was really a very great performance, not just of Napoli, but of everything. I was very happy that I got to experience it.

So far, only the three first dates are noted with casting and Praetorius/Kupinski will dance on the 16th of September. I could send you a message when the rest of the casting goes up and let you know when they are also dancing?