Anne

Welcome to Ballet talk, Joan. It is great to have another Dane amongst us! I hope you will join the discussions and smalltalks in this little corner of Ballet talk belonging to the RDB.

I agree with every word of Papeetrick! It is a great pleasure to read reviews like this one, well-written and with all the details and background informations which you can only get from someone with a big knowledge of ballet. Many ballet critics in the newspapers are very knowledgeable too, but they are allowed very little space in recent time, at least in the Danish papers, and it therefore very limited what they can squeeze into the few columns they get. I have never thought of the dimension you write about, Papeetrick, that the reviewers are somehow trying to "sell ballet", but of course that must be a schizma in this age of endagered culture. Being an art enthusiast and a reviewer at the same time might put you into a dilemma sometimes.

I wonder why dancers, even those of the highest ranks, have to tolerate this relative anonimousity. I can't find any parallels in any of the other performing arts. (The only ones coming to my mind are those touring opera- and balletcompanies from eastern Europe where you get a list of the alternating casts but no information about who is dancing/singing on your specific evening - at least dancers in more stationary companies are listed quite carefully and detailed when you get the cast list on the evening of the performance). Actors and singers mostly get much more exposure, even on small provincial stages. It is as if the dancers are some kind of property to the company employing them. Why is it so? Do dancers have less opportunities to work freelance than other artists, and do they therfore have to put up with less freedom to obtain the security of being a company member? I don't know the answer, I'm asking, because it has puzzled me a lot during the years. In the RDB they have lately started announcing the cast lists many weeks in advance. You can see who is dancing the leading parts - and that is enough on my part, I don't need to know who is doing the smaller parts.

Yes, I saw her performance during the festival too. They put La Sylphide on the programme twice during the festival, and the other Sylphide was Gudrun Bojesen. It was a great experience to see two extremely different dancers do the same part equally well, each one emphasizing different aspects of the role. I was moved deeply by both of them.

I thought I had missed Cavallo's last performance, that it had happened without my knowledge. Her retirement has been announced long time ago, but apparently her farewell performance has been postponed to this season. I'm glad I still have the chance! She is a very versatile dancer, and it has been very interesting to follow her career. She has grown enormously during the years, starting a bit anonimously, a brilliant technician but no great personality on stage. But that changed! One of her most impressive and moving performances was the Sylphide, which I saw in 2003, where she danced with Nikolaj Hübbe, who was a guest dancer a few times in his own production. Until then I had regarded her as a more modern dancer, but that night it was like seing her in her right element, regarding both style and expression. In the above mentioned interview the Sylphide is listed as one of her greatest achievements on her part, and I can understand why. She was also a very moving Anna Karenina in Ratmansky's ballet, which he created especially for the RDB, and very recently she danced "Les Bras de Mers" with Jean-Lucien Massot, which clearly showed what two mature artists can do on a stage! Hübbe has wisely used this pas de deux by Petr Zuska again in his new mixed bill programme "Dance2go", with Cavallo/Massot and to great critical acclaim.

On the homepage of the Balanchine Trust I found this short notice about the black swans: "In 1986, the production was entirely redesigned to dress the swan corps in black. The idea of black swans apparently started with Balanchine, who purchased 400 yards of black tarlatan before he died." (George Balanchine Trust)

Thank you for that interesting information! I did know that Martins has "stolen" from Balanchine as well as from Petipa - you only steel from the best, as he puts it in the programme note for this production. But I have never seen Blanchine's version and therefore don't know what exactly he has taken from it and what not. Except that I know that Balanchine also had black swans at some time, but from what I know they were all black. As far as I know, Balanchine's Swan lake doesn't exist on dvd or any other available medium - I would love to see it!

On the 5th of October I went with a lot of expectations to a performance of Peter Martins’s Swan Lake with the RDB, which was revived few weeks ago. I was excited for three reasons: I have seen this version many times and every time I have enjoyed it immensely, but last time was nearly 10 years ago, so what would I think of it now? The second reason was, that the revival has beeen subject to a proper beating in the press. The critics (with a single exception) have called Martins’s version undramatic and dull, the setdesigns and costmes by Per Kirkeby partly decidedly ugly. Only the dancers seem to rescue the ballet from total failure. The dancers were, admitted, my third and truest reason for excitement: Gudrun Bojesen as Odette/Odile at the very hight of her carrier, and Alban Lendorf, the young shooting star of the RDB, as her Prince. How was it then? As an overall view I still think this version is one of the most convincing attempts to tell this evergreen story about love and loss. But let me start with the setdesigns and costumes: I agree, 1st act is a mess to look at! Per Kirkeby’s yellow-brownish backdrops and costumes in either strong complementary colours or more subdued nuances look like they are taken from (at least) two different productions. And this medley of colours and styles obscures the lines and formations of the corps (not that they were particularly clean anyway). Another problem is, that the production was originally made for the much smaller stage in the old theatre. The transfer to the new opera house makes the scenery look even more naked. The number of guests for the Prince’s birthday party looks quite small in these spacious surroundings. The same problem returns in act 3, only the eyes can stay more at rest, as the courtiers’s costumes are changed to black. But then: To me the two white acts are still sheer magic to look at. The backdrops are abstract but with a lot of allutions to nature, which allow the eye to wander and the mind to make it’s own interpretations. Odette is the only swan in tu-tu, the corps wear skirts just above the knee, which make them look very swanlike, especially when the dancers fold themselves together on the floor. Towards the end of 4th act black swans appear, and it has an enormous effect, not only dramatically but also visually. I get a shock every time! It happens with great suddenness, and it’s like a black army is taking the stage in control. In the first place there are only four of them, introduced by Rothbart, like they are his own personal guard, but in the end half of the swans are black, which makes the end, where Odette disappears among the retreating swans to enter eternal swan-hood, even more gloomy. The idea of introducing black swans is not new, but I doubt it has been used in this way before. Fortunately most reviewers agree that the ending of the ballet is both highly moving and very original. The way the swans withdraw backwards in a complicated pattern and disappear into the far right corner of the stage is simply breathtaking! And what about Peter Martins’s choreography? As far as I can see, most of the choreography is new except the famous pas de deux’s and solos of Prince Siegfried and Odette/Odile, which are still recognisably Petipa, though varied and twisted in many ways. Especially the arms and upper body of Odette are more natural and less formal, allowing her more real contact – even frontal embracements – with her prince . Martins uses the arms a lot in general, not only as an ornament but as a means of expression. Martins’s swans are the most sorrowfull and expressive lot I have ever seen. With the arms they describe everything from anger over fear to imaginary tears streaming down face and body. That is not new, but I haven’t seen it done more expressively anywhere else. That is one of the reasons why I can’t understand the many critics who claim, that Martins reduces Swan Lake to pure dance à la Balanchine. And for the courtdances of act 1 and the national dances of act 3 I haven’t yet seen any production where these dances were anything else than entertainment. Not that there is nothing to critisize or to question. The entrance of the swans, for example, is strangely military, they almost stamp their feet into the ground, which goes a bit against the music. I wonder why? Are these swans a more heroic or angry sort than we normally see? As the hunting party lift their weapons against them, the swans give them a hard time, making a collective threatening move towards them, which forces the hunters to lower their weapons and retreat temporarily. And what about Benno? He does nothing but dance and stand around in 1st act, and after his short reappearance as part of the hunting party in the 2nd act he disappears completely. The court jester has taken over his place as friend and helper (though not a very sincere friend), and Benno could as well have been left out completely. An absolutely astonishing thing about this version are Martins’s many swan formations. If you ever go and see it, remember to buy a ticket in one of the upper ranks where you can overview the stage. It is amazing how they can do these patterns, which kind of grow out of each other in never ending circles, spirals and crossing lines, without loosing orientation – and they do them so fast! It is a marvel to look at. Among the dancers three of them tower over them all: first of all Gudrun Bojesen as Odette/Odile. After having seen her Giselle this winter I wasn’t in any doubt that she could do a marvelous Odette. She can be etheral and human and warm at the same time, and this makes her ideal for this enchanted creature. And technically she is at that point of her developement, where she has so many resources that she can concentrate on filling every step and movement with meaning without ever giving the technical struggle away. And what I like so much about her, is that she is never showy, only as a means of characterization, as is the case when she turns into Odile. And here came for me the big surprise: As smooth and tender her dancing had been when she was Odette, as razorsharp and fast was her Odile, and sensual in a very chilly way. Her prince was the 21 year old Alban Lendorf, who had his debut as Prince Siegfried at the first night of the revival few weeks ago. This evening was his third performance. Being a prince has it’s own difficulties, because much of the time you just have to BE on the stage and fill it without really doing very much, and thereby still make the audience believe that you are the most imortant person on that stage. Lendorf has this natural stage presence, and he made a very convincing personality out of this brooding prince, who doesn’t want to take part in the festivities around him, especially not after his mother has introduced the idea of matrimony to him. Lendorf still has to make this prince his very own, but he wisely chooses not to overdo anything, and it looks like he tries out the role from inside out. Technically he is overwhelming. There has been written a lot about his jumping skills which are truly remarkable, but here he showed another skill which at least I haven’t yet seen unfolded in that rich measure: He is an excellent partner, which is astonishing for his young age. Gudrun Bojesen was lifted, transported and turned around with extreme ease and elegance. No trembling knees or shaking arms, only smoothness . She was lifted into the air and put down again as a delicate piece of china. Bojesen’s way of dancing has always had the air as if she had plenty of time (by that I mean that nothing ever looks rushed), and in that respect she and Lendorf suit each other very much. They both are calm and strong dancers with a quick technique. I think they will make a terrific couple and I hope they are going to do many things together in the future! The third star of the evening was Tim Matiakis as the court jester. He could jump and turn with such speediness and ease, that the audience gasped for breath and applaused spontaneiously on several occasions. In 1st act Nicolaj Hansen was cast for the Pas de trois with J’aime Crandall and Lena-Maria Gruber. He is a very sympathetic dancer with a nice stage presence, who did a very charming figure in many character roles during the Bournonville festival in 2005. But he has disappointed a bit in later years, and he shouldn’t have been cast in a role like Benno, where he has to do a lot of bravoura dance. He is simply not that kind of dancer. The ladies did well. Especially the Austrian import Lena-Maria Gruber is an utterly charming addition to the corps. A tiny dancer with a lot of character. Among the dancers in the many national dances of 3rd act I was happy to see the sweetfaced corpsdancer Elisabeth Dam again, whom I haven’t seen since the Bournonville festival in 2005. She was refreshingly cast against her natural type as the leading female in the the Hungarian Dance together with a fiery Constantin Baecher. In 3rd act Peter Martins has interpolated a new Pas de quattre with three women (Jodie Thomas, Kizzy Matiakis and Diana Cuni) and one man (Marcin Kupinski). The choreography is charming, and especially Diana Cuni impressed with her great musicality and phrasing ability, and I simply love the way she can make the choreography significant. She is never anonymous, and neither is her dancing. Marcin Kupinski is light as a feather and jumps meterhigh, but somehow he lacks grounding. Lightness without it’s counterpoints, weight and shadow, is at length not interesting. Lloyd Riggings, a former principal at the RDB who is of the same slight build as Kupinski, had this problem too in his youth. In an interview some years ago (I’m sorry I can’t remember in which paper anymore), he said something interesting about this: When he did Albrecht for the first time, he had to learn to walk properly, which was about the most difficult he had ever tried. I think it was Kronstamm who coached him in this, and from him he learned how to get ”weight”, so that he was no longer just a ”bouncing ball” (he actually used that word about himself). And he did learn and was suddenly much more interesting to look at. I hope Kupinsky will learn as well, because he is no doubt a talented dancer, if not gifted with the highest acting skills. The RDB is certainly in a very intersting period at the time being, with many talents popping up everywhere. My only fear is, that Nikolaj Hübbe is promoting too many of them at the same time. 5 different Siegfried/Odettes are sharing 18 performances, among them several debutants (4 of the Siegfrieds are new to the role!). That doesn’t give any of them a chance to grow naturally into and with their role. The same is the case with Napoli, which runs again now, and I fear that it is a principle for Hübbe, maybe one he has brought with him from New York. I’m not sure that is healthy for the company, and it must take a lot of resources to teach the part to so many people.

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to seing more of this talented dancer with the delicate technique and an intelligent approach to all she is doing.

Yes, these Google translations can really give you some good laughs! I just tried it out myself, curious to see what solutions the machine had chosen for some of the difficult passages in the reviews (Danish is an anarchic and very flexible language, which struggles heavily against being translated!), and I especially liked this one about the pale and delicate Gudrun Bojesen: "the beautiful tanned dancer". Tanned in this context just means highly experienced. Apart from some good laughs it gives you the comforting insight, that the human brain is still not completely replaceable by machines!

Thank you for all these tips, checkwriter! You are right, there have been a lot of new initiatives on the homepage lately, which makes it more interesting to visit. It also seems that they try seriously to complie with some of the wishes from the audience, for example by announcing the casts long time in advance. Thank you for that RDB!

Peter Martins version of Swan Lake from 1996 is back in the repertoire of RDB after many years absence. It was repremiered last Wednesday on the 15th of September. It seems again that either you loath or you love this version, and that goes for Martins part in it as well as for the decors and costumes by the Danish painter Per Kirkeby. The reviews of the first night differ so much, that you wonder, whether they are talking about the same performance: Some excerpts from Henrik Lydings review in "Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten", one of the big national papers (in my transation): "It is hopelessly undramatic and on top of that extraordinarily ugly wrapped up. The costumes at the prince's court are shrill and unflattering. "Per Kirkeby's pathetically amateurish costumes", "Showdance without feelings, without substance, without meaning. And everybody dance in the same way. Human beings and swans seem made of the same choreographic material, that is swaying arms, which apparently is the favorite motion of Peter Martins. (...) Paddling arms like swaying seagrass. Seasick choreographic boredom". The full review (in Danish!) can be read here: Jyllands-Posten In another of the big national papers, Berlingske Tidende, Vibeke Wern tells of a completely different experience (again in my translation): The abstract universe of Per Kirkebys forest, which is the setting for the many spectacular and symbolic formations of the swans in Peter Martins version of the Swan Lake from 1996, is of marvellous beauty. It is magical already from the first act, when the young Siegfrieed stands in the forest and discovers the beautiful white swan princess, Odette, who dies her headfeathers. The party in the second act offers both good choregraphy and dance, among other things in thesophisticated pas de quatre, and there are fiery temperament in the hungarian dance and sensual fervour in the russian dance. The full review (in Danish) can be read here: Berlingske Tidende Fortunately they are completely unanimous when it comes to the dancers: Alban Lendorf as Siegfried and Gudrun Bojesen as odette/Odile get all the praise possible: Henrik Lyding: Gudrun Bojesen dances the swan princess with striking selfassurance, as if she were born on tiptoe. And sensitive as the white swan and icy as the black swan. Here you get all the bravoura you can ask for. And young Alban Lendorf as the prince proves once more that he is made of star material. Vibeke Wern: It was a delight to watch the lovely, experienced principal Gudrun Bojesen and the young shooting star, soloist Alban Lendorf, pairing as Odette and the Prince. (..) The charismatic Alban Lendorf, who danced the Prince for the first time, has the the most beautiful clear lines and epaulements in his dancing. He is an outstanding, precise jumper and without doing a lot of mime he is able to give character to the remote and dreaming prince (..). In their thoroughly musical phrasing one gets the feeling, that Bojesen and Lendorf have listened their way into the very soul of the music (..). A new promotional video can be seen on the homepage of the RDB: Swan Lake trailer

The RDB has now released the castlist for the 8 performances of Napoli in the fall on the homepage: Napoli cast list

It's funny, how little succes Kirkeby's costume and set design for Peter Martin's Swan Lake have had in the states. In Copenhagen, where it was first produced, it has been very much loved, by myself included, and it is being repremiered this season in order to drag a reluctant audience into the theatre. Apart from the misch-masch of colours in the first act (with blue and orange colours crashed together that it hurts one's eyes) and some unhappy costumes in the national dances of the third act, I think that both the costumes and the gloomy sets are interesting to look at. I love the discreet, spraylike colourpattern which spreads over the black or white costumes and which corresponds with the patterns of the sets. Maybe we are so used to black and grey colours in Scandinavia, that we only need small colour nuances to make us happy Costumes which have embarassed me are the ones for NYCB's Mozartiana, which in my eyes look both outdated and cheap. It looks like their look and shape hasn't been changed since the seventies. A bit off topic: Some costumes for modern dance puzzle me, because in my eyes they shorten the dancer's arms and legs and make them all look chunky and very much alike: baggy trousers and loose shirts blur the difference of man and woman, of tall and short, of long and short legs. I have difficulties seing the point in that, as the limbs of the dancers are what it is all about. Probably I'm just old-fashioned, but as I generally like modern dance, I simply get annoyed by costumes which go between my eyes and the dancer's movements.

Thank you for posting this lovely clip!! I have been looking for that pas de deux on youtube ever since I saw Kobborg and Cojocaru peforming it at the Bournonville Birthday Celebration in August 2005 in Copenhagen.

Sorry, wrong date! Of course it should have been August 31.

Yes, I can follow that!! Thank you for explaining.

The famous Danish ballet critic and ballet historian Erik Aschengreen, lovingly called "Doctor Dance", will be 75 tomorrow, August the 30th. Congratulations! Erik Aschengreen has done more for Danish ballet than any body else: as a reviewer in the national paper Berlingske Tidende, as founder of and teacher at Dance Studies at the University of Copenhagen, as a teacher of dance history at the balletschool of The Royal Danish Ballet, and not least as the author of a series of books on ballet, especially the handbook "Balletbogen" has been an invaluable companion for the balletgoer for decades. Aschengreen often appears on television, too, where one of his biggest talents come to it's right: he is extremely entertaining - and at the same time never compromising with quality.

You have done some detective work there! Though tempting it is hard to believe that all these Bjarne Hechts should be one and the same person! But it is even harder to believe that there should be more than one person in Washinton and New York with this rather unusual combination of a German last name and a very Danish/Norwegian first name.

I went straight away to see this last chapter of the film again, as I have never thought of it in that way (though I have watched this part several times because of Villumsen's perfection in his solo). I can't quite figure out what you mean by "the film dies"? Do you think of it as an intended or an unintended effect? I think it is a beautiful but very quiet way of ending the film with Villumsen and Hindberg ending up in a typical and gracious Bournonville pose. I'm really glad that you enjoy this film so much. The film has this rare quality which is so seldom in today's docus: to let things speak for themselves and give them time and space to enfold. The speaker is very discrete and withdraws as soon as the scene is set, and leaves the rest to the camera's eyes and ears.

No, I have never even heard her name before - which seems to be a great fault of mine! I saw that she has her very own tread on this board: Jurgita Dronina on Ballet talk She is going to be partnered by Thomas Lund. It is the only two performances he dances in this production (he now dances so seldom that you have to be more than usually lucky to get a glimpse of him. So you are right: the choice among the casts can be a really tricky one!!) It is certainly a very positive thing that the RDB announces the casts already now. I hope it is the start of a new practice, and I wonder if it is, too, a sign of a new strategie: They have to give in to the fact, that the audience is not only going for a special balletprogramme, parts of the audience come specifically to see a certain dancer, especially the truest fans of the ballet who happily go to the same ballet many times to see different casts. It might highten the competition inside the company, which is both a bad and a good thing: the dancers will not only have to please the ballet master, they'll also have to please the audience, and the ticketsale might reveal who is more popular. That might not be pleasant, but that is somehow the way it is in the rest of the world of art. And I think it is right that the dancers come out of that relative anonymity which artists in other branches wouldn't tolerate.

That makes 5 different casts for 18 performances! But apart from that I think Gregory Dean is a very obvious choice for the role of Siegfried, tall and slender and with a very princely look, and he has developed a lot during the last season, not only technically but also in his stage presence. I haven't yet had the chance to see much of Hilary Gusweiler. The Royal Danish Ballet has announced the casts for all performances except the last one already, which is quite extraordinary! (Sometimes you wouldn't know the cast until you opened the printed programme on the evening of the performance.) Alban Lendorf is cast with Gudrun Bojesen on the first evening. You can see the rest of the couples here: Siegfried/Odette

Many thanks for the news Jane! Most browsers will allow you to save the image. I clicked on the Google site, and through Firefox, right-clicked on the image and then "Saved Image As". That suddenly makes Google much more sympathetic to me!

Thank you for linking to this beautiful slideshow! The two other dancers are Elna Jørgen Jensen Lauesgaard and Emilie Smith. Originally this fountain from 1910 was placed in the King's Garden in central Copenhagen, but in 1933 it was moved to Elsinor, where you can find it today, not far from Kronborg Castle.

Thanks, Alymer!