Syrene Hvid

I attended the performance Saturday at noon. The house was completely full, even the standing rows on the top balcony were sold out. It was wonderful seeing the theatre drown in such an influx, doesn't happen very often. I'll give a full review of the performance later, when I'm not so tired (just got home from Copenhagen a few hours ago), but for now I'll just say that this performance renewed my belief in The Nutcracker in general and Balanchine's Nutcracker in particular. I saw the RDB perform it a couple of seasons ago and wasn't smitten at all. This time, I was crying at several points and most of the ballet was a gigantic success. However, the orchestra (or the conductor) made a mess of the music and it was really grating on the ears, not to mention that several of the solos suffered under it, too. First act highlights were: Sebastian Kloborg as Drosselmeyer. He was absolutely amazing and defined the role for me. Andreas Kaas as the soldier, although the music was off, he still managed to create the appropriate wow effect and remind me how great a dancer he has become. Hope he's on his way to (if not principal) then soloist ranks soon. Lastly, the snowflake segment was beyond gorgeous, it was to die for and I was so happy to see the girls be a proof of how Hübbe has brought a great diversity into the corps in term of body types. The dancing was amazing and the entire scene just came together marvellously and ended first act on the perfect note. Second act highlights were: Amy Watson as Sugar Plum (I'd expected and looked forward to see J'aime Crandall, since that's what the official site announced, but I know Alexandra Lo Sardo is out with an injury where Crandall has been covering for her, so they've obviously switched performances around a lot and not changed it on the site yet). I've been ambivalent about Watson since I first saw her, but she truly won me over as Sugar Plum. She has the perfect face and air for the role and especially her PDD with Jonathan Chmelensky was divine. She's lucky that Chmelensky is (in my opinion) one of the best partners amongst the male dancers in the RDB and it showed in their PDD, too. It was absolutely amazing. Other than that, I loved the Spanish dance where the leading pair was Camilla Ruelykke and Sebastian Haynes. I've been a Haynes fan from the get-go, but he rocked the Spanish dance yesterday, showing incredibly energy and intensity - plus some great chemistry with Rueykke whom I was happy to see on stage again, I've been missing her all last season. Finally, my favourite Stephanie Chen was dancing the Arabian solo and she was so intense, I have no words. Her gorgeous body and her incredible facial features just made the dance come to life like I've never seen it before. Stupid headdress aside, she looked fabulous in the costume and it accentuated her movements beautifully. All in all, I think it was a very succesful performance and I am so happy the rest of the run is sold out. Lovely to see the Danes finally take a bit of interest in their ballet company. I know it's just for the holidays, but with quality dancing like this, I am sure some of them at least will find their way into the red velvet seats at the Old Stage.

I don't know if I'm just late to the party, but just discovered Guggenheim's Works and Process videos on Ustream and amongst them, I found two very interesting RDB videos! One is from the RDB tour to the US in 2011, one and a half hour long with Thomas Lund, Alban Lendorf, Ulrik Birkkjær, Susanne Grinder and Amy Watson amongst others. I can't post links here (I think it might be my browser?), but just search for "royal danish ballet" and "ustream" on Google and it should be the first video to show up. It's a lovely compilation of Bournonville stuff, with Grinder and Birkkjær dancing absolutely wonderful excerpts from La Sylphide as my favourite! There's also an introduction to the RDB's La Bayadère, also an hour and a half long, starring J'aime Crandall, Alban Lendorf, Amy Watson, Lena-Maria Gruber and Holly Dorger amongst others. I haven't watched it in full yet, but plan to, because it looks very interesting and Crandall looks AMAZING as Nikiya... This one is a bit trickier to find, but if you look through the Guggenheim channel's videos, it's there. It has less dancing than the other video and more of Hübbe's directing of the dancers as well as introduction to costumes, setting, story, etc. I look forward to seeing all of it.

On the Ballet Stafet tour the RDB went on a few years back, I heard a lift similar to this jokingly referred to as "a classic butt lift". The audience was dying from laughter.

This one has gone straight on my wishlist.

Does anyone know of any novels based on or inspired by ballets? I'm not talking bunhead books with ballerina heroines, but books actually based on the plot of a ballet or inspired by a particular performance? I've heard of Lackey's The Black Swan and Claire Legrand's Winterspell (a Nutcracker retelling), but otherwise no. Anyone here have read or know of any?

It was said during the livestream that the rehearsal would be available on demand later. I was personally very smitten with Cuthbertson's Sugar Plum from what we saw of her in this rehearsal. Gorgous legs, pliable arms, wonderful bearing and Golding partnered her beautifully. They made for a very nice pair. Of Hay and Kaneko, I was mostly focused on Kaneko who I recall having seen used in other of the available Royal media before. She was a charming doll with incredible turns (THAT LEG), but towards the end she seemed rather tired (understandably). Hay had a whole slay of fangirls on the online chat, it was very amusing to watch.

That ballet is my eternal treasure. It's definitely become my favourite Swan Lake that I've seen and the only one I can be bothered to watch from start till finish on recording. I very much hope the Cubus cooperation means we're getting a DVD eventually as was the case with Napoli. I was pleasantly surprised by Lendorf as Siegfried. I've seen very few roles where he truly engages me. Odette/Odile cemented Crandall as a favourite of mine. Fransson as Rothbart was a true masterpiece and all the princess dances in the second act are to die for. All in all, everyone is amazingly well cast and performs their best. This is a recording that the RDB can be proud is available. It showcases all the company's greatest assets.

With Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Golding rehearsing the Sugar Plum PDD (with director Kevin O'Hare). Also, with Fumi Kaneko and James Hay rehearsing the soldier and vivandière PDD (with ballet master Christopher Carr). The livestream is available on youtube and begins in less than five minutes!

I have seen some of her vlogs and in those I've seen, her general tone is a bit on the negative side, but I feel like she tries balancing it out by pointing out career advancements (like solo roles or leading parts) or the support that she feels she receives from friends in Russia as well as at home. All in all, however, I did get the impression that she rarely notes positive or joyous things independently. They are always tugged at the end of something she feels dissatisfied about, as if to remind herself that there's still something "worth fighting for" or something similar.

Casting has gone up - surpringly early, considering the general trend until now... Five Sugar Plums: Amy Watson, Susanne Grinder and J'aime Crandall who have all danced the part before as far as I know. Soloists Alexandra Lo Sardo and Caroline Baldwin will also be dancing the role and I think they're both debuting? Baldwin danced the PDD at the summer tour. Five Cavaliers: Gregory Dean, Marcin Kupinski, Jonathan Chmelensky have all danced the part before, right? As far as I know, both Jón Axel Fransson and Alexander Bozinoff are debuting. I'm really glad to see them make such good use of Fransson this season. Maybe it'll be good for his career that Lendorf is split between the RDB and ABT... Four Dewdrops: Holly Jean Dorger, Ida Praetorius, Hilary Guswiler and Lena-Maria Gruber. I only know that Dorger and Praetorius have done this part before. Anyone know about Guswiler and Gruber? Drosselmeier will be danced by Poul-Erik Hesselkilde, Morten Eggert and Sebastian Kloborg. Anyone planning on going? Which cast will you be seeing or which cast would you have liked to see? I'll be catching the early performance on the 12th which means Crandall!Sugar Plum, Fransson!Cavalier, Gruber!Dewdrop and Kloborg!Drosselmeier - a cast that I'm overall content with. After having seen Crandall as Odette/Odile, I'm excited to see her in more of the classics. I'm very excited about Fransson as her Cavalier, intrigued by Kloborg!Drosselmeier, since Kloborg is a dancer I haven't been able to follow very closely until now. I love Gruber and can't wait to see her Dewdrop. Ideally, I'd have loved to see Baldwin as Sugar Plum. She was amazing when I saw her at the summer tour. As she would be dancing with Dean and have Dorger for Dewdrop, I must admit that I would have loved to see one of their performances... I'm a big fan of Grinder and would always love to see her Sugar Plum again, but I'm getting very tired of how they continue to pair her up with Kupinski. I don't think they match each other very well - neither of them give bad performances, but there's just no real connection. Besides, she would have Guswiler for Dewdrop and while I think Guswiler is very talented, it's not a performance I would give my right arm to attend. Having recently fallen madly in love with Lo Sardo, I would definitely have felt tempted to attend one of her performances. However, if I should see her in a leading role, I'm not sure Sugar Plum would be my first choice for her. She'd make a good Nikiya, I think.

Via Instagram I learned that this book, Double Vu, will be released tomorrow (19th of November). It is a compilation of all the material that Griegst has collected throughout six years with the RDB on and off stage. For me, it's definitely a must have! It will be released in a limited number of book shops, but can be purchased online. I still haven't figured out how to link anything here, but the website is called griegstprinting dot com. The project ALSO has an instagram called doublevu_book. Three pictures up so far, but I suspect there are many more to come. Enjoy!

Prayers for Paris from my end, too.

Due to sickness, CORPUS UNIKA has been cancelled this Saturday. The performance will appear later this year instead. We were given a full, automatic refund.

The RDB has just announced its new project under Corpus, Corpus Unika (you can read more about it under the calendar on their website, though the info is only in Danish so far). It seems to be similar to the pop-up performances they did some seasons go, except these aren't staged by the dancers themselves, but by various especially invited guests representing various arts. All performances are a one-night affair and the first is this Saturday, called "ARS MAGNETICA - a wordance". Special guest is poet Neill Cardinal and the featured dancers are principals Amy Watson, Susanne Grinder, Marcin Kupinski and soloist Alexandra Lo Sardo as well as corps dancer Tobias Praetorius. The goal seems to be an investigation of how poetry and dance can interact. My girlfriend has already secured us tickets for the evening which makes me super happy, these are all my favourite dancers combined with my other favourite art form, poetry. It can only be good. Besides, I still remember fondly Gregory Dean's pop-up performance some seasons ago that was extremely interesting, so I'm hoping for something equally engaging this time. Will make sure to report on the experience. Anyone else planning on going?

I didn't particularly like her Odette, but her extensions make me swoon, especially with her right leg. Was she partnered by the same dancer in Swan Lake and Don Q? Because I thought her Siegfried did her absolutely no favours either... Her Kitri on the other hand makes me wish for a DVD quality release of that performance, because she was perfect. The role seemed to fit her temper much better and she really brought a lot of charm to the bravura.

I really liked it. However, it should be noted that I have never been particular enthusiastic about the original Napoli and actually missed out on seeing Hübbe's re-interpretation when it was first staged, because I'd been so bored by the version (from the 80s) that I had on DVD and thought his new version would be the exact same, just in new costumes... I found the casting solid, especially loved Buza as Golfo. Lo Sardo grew on me throughout the performance and by the end, I thought she was a lovely Teresina, though I must admit to preferring her in the second act. I generally love Alban and he danced the role of Gennaro as well as expected and, on top of that, had some wonderful moments of mime, but out of the three major roles I've seen him dance (Gennaro, Armand and Siegfried), this wasn't my favourite of his performances. I'd heard some criticism of the third act, the first time they staged this production, but I really loved the atmosphere and the technique that the dancers brought to it. I had to get used to the way the recording was cut, but knowing how film-like Hübbe's aesthetic is, I think I understand the purpose of it and have come to appreciate it after a few viewings. I particularly loved Gregory Dean, Caroline Baldwin and Susanne Grinder in their respective solos. I loved the setting and the entire idea of this Napoli 50s style. The costumes were to die for. The weird thing is... In the original Napoli that I have on DVD, my favourite part of the performance (aside from the fourth female solo in act three) is the second act and Hübbe has completely changed it. Not just the music, but the entire aesthetic of Golfo and how he represents something basic and suppressed in Teresina. I really had to get used to Alenius' music, but after a few minutes it had kind of swept me into this other world. It felt very removed from the world of Napoli, at times I was questioning if it was too removed, but... I don't know how to explain it, but I bought it. It felt very fitting, somehow. I adored Buza in this role. It made me very sad that he missed the chance of dancing Rothbart and I, thus, missed the chance to see him perform that role. He'd have been perfect. Lo Sardo also really came alive in the second act. Her stage presence was a perfect fit for this ethereal creature that Teresina had been turned into all of a sudden. All in all, I think it'll take a few more viewings of the DVD to really combine all three acts into a whole, but the idea definitely works for me. Then again, I have yet to see anything by Hübbe where I didn't sympathise with the idea, without necessarily always being entirely convinced by the execution itself. All in all, I hope they'll stage this version of Napoli again soon, this time I'd definitely buy tickets!

Yes, I have been wondering about the many full-length ballets during spring, too. Maybe it was wrong of me, but I sort of assumed it was because Lendorf was engaged with ABT this fall (although I heard he was injured, unfortunately) and Hübbe was hoping to have him dance as many of the "meaty" roles as possible...

Also, had I had the opportunity to go see Matiakis as Odette, I would certainly have paid for my trip to Copenhagen in a heart beat, but the only two dates available to me are both with Praetorius and I've already seen her once without being greatly impressed. Rather wait a few years until she's fully ready and gets the opportunity to dance the whole thing again.

Although I have come to realise that I seem to disagree with Kistrup in most regards, I was very interested in her accounts of the RDB's current financial situation. It is indeed a big, big waste that our politicians don't fully recognise the importance of upholding the quality of our cultural institutions, especially one as old and renowned as the Royal.

What an absolutely beautiful portrait!

Thank you, Sandik. It seems the reviews were generally favourable, that really makes me happy.

Thank you, Sandik. That would be wonderful!

No, I can completely understand how it would be hard to judge if the role didn't make sense to you. I really appreciated Ida Praetorius in the part the night I went, because it reminded me a lot of all her brilliant performance as Lolita... Hopefully Stephanie Chen will get more chances for exciting dancing later this season. I'm really hoping to see her as Dewdrop in The Nutcracker!

Did anyone get the chance to see Watson in Napoli/Sub Rosa? I'm curious to how she did and how the production was. She seemed really enamoured with her collaboration with OBT on her Instagram...

Also, Anne, I wanted to ask, since I gather that you watched the second cast of Death That Best Preserves... How did you find Stephanie Chen as the younger self? She's a favourite of mine and I was sad to miss her in this role. So glad she is getting to try her hands on major parts now, I'm crossing my fingers for her.