Effy

I recognise myself that I have some bias regarding Caroline Cavallo, who may also be one of the dancers I have seen most frequently over the last ten year. I may also add that the view among a large group of steady attendees at the Royal Ballet is less positive regarding Caroline Cavallo. It is not that she is disliked, nor not respected as a strong dancer, but that people, including myself feel that she gets more leading roles than what her talent - or any talent can honour. Without doing a statistic count, she seems to get more part than Silja Schandorff, Gudrun Bojesen, Gitte Lindstrøm, Rose Gad, Christina Olsson, Marie Pierre Greve, Tina Højlund and Amy Vatson. Her repetoire include Sleeping Beauty, Lilac Fairy, 5 fairy, Swan Lake, Manon, Onegin, Romeo & Juliet, Etudes, La Sylphide, The Nutcracker, Napoli as well as a large number of shorter ballets. How any casting director can choose Cavallo befiore Schandorff for the premiere of Manon simple goes over my and even the critics understanding. I even asked a dancer I know privately why Cavallo gets such a large repetoire and she told me, that especially anglo-american directors choses Cavallo because she dances each step very academically correctly and that seems to appeal espcially to the group of second hand directors RDB seems to get. It may also be a factor that she is hardly ever injured, nor has she had periods of maternity leaves as other principals. My personal view is that Cavallo lacks the dramatic qualities a Danish audience so cherish and personally I think she lacks charisma and line compared to the other Danish ballerinas. I would often rather see their take on the role and as long as Schandorff and Olson do not dance Onegin, Bojesen and Lindstrøm do not dance Manon and Bojesen Romeo & Juliet etc. I cannot help myself wishing for another casting. Being aware of my bias, I try to see Cavollo with fresh eyes each times but have so far not really been changed re. my opinion. Re. Piano Concerto I think she does what she can, but she has nothing to add that changes my feeling it is a somewhat dated ballet, which is an unusual view on a Balanchine work from me. I look forward to see Bojesen in the part. Re. Clair Still she is meet with equal bias from a large part of the audience, and when questioned it is often explains as she is not pretty (We are use to very beautiful ballerinas in RDB). I myself am very fond of her light style

I am pleased to learn that Cuni was a "right" choice for the part. I will look forward to see her. Could you also give more impressions from the "scond" casts af all three ballets as we cannot catch them before january

Strangely enough it looks like she is cast as the third girl The angel, whereas the Russian girl is danced by Diana Cuni, who is not as strong or as vibrant a dancer as højlund

I was going to write myreview, but I must admit that I to a large extend agree with Kay. Serenade was great, Oktet as expected and Piano Concert not really that suited to the company, allthough it remains one of the most repeated performance by Balanchine here. In Serenade you can learn everything you need to know about choreography, it is a splendid work. However, I continue to be displeased with Rose Gads bad habit of lifting her tulle instead of her legs. Otherwise I think she did an ok performance for a dancer no longerin top gear. I demonstrated how good she is at all the trimmings of a role. Christina Olsson, whose career has mirrorred Rose Gads is the opposite type of dancer, who focuses on the dance and less on the trimmings. The russian girl in Serenade has always been one of her best roles and one, which looks like Mr. B made it for her. Gitte Lindstrøm was a strong Angel, but could be as well placed in one of the other roles. Re. Oktet allthough Silja Schandorff was effective in the role, there was very little role to be effective in as the mood changes was not accounted for by Martins and Andrew Bowman is not an equal partner for her like Greve or Blangstrup. I must say it was the strongest performance I have seen by Christoffer Sakurai. I initally got the same idea as Kay re. the casting but realisted that Thomas was the intended casting. Regarding Piona Concerto, I would have preferead Theme & Variation, Symphony in C or Who cares as the closing ballet. Piano Concerto needs not a good corps (we have that) but a uniform looking corps (which we can never provide). There is a lot of posing in the ballet which has never been a force of RDB. The dress/tiara combination is odd and Cavallo and Still both ended a bit on the scataco sites. Mads Blangstrup was impressive, but that was more a result of his princely look and elegant bearing than actually dancing, which there is too little off. It may be a masterpiece, but it does not really suit RDB. I am hopefull that Gudrun Bojesen may be able to make the ballet seem less dated.

A few words on the repetoire: The Wish was danced by Greve and Gitte Lindström a few years back. Nomads has also been in the repetoire with Tina Højlund as the female lead. Neumeier Adagetto was performed mostly as part of his Mahler Ballet but sometimes as a galla piece. It was the one where Arlene Croce reviewed as Middleaged dancers dance when it was made for Erick Bruhn and Makarova. It has been danced ny Schandorff and Greve last time around. Claire Henriksen is Claire Still, who got married recently

On Friday the mixed Balancjine/Martins programme will premiere with the following cast: Serenade: Rose Gad/Marie Pierre Greve Christina Olsson/Diana Cuni Gitte Lindström/Tina Højlund Jean Lucien Massot/Julien Ringdahl Peter Bo Bendixen/Byron Mildvater Thaikovsky Piono Concert: Caroline Cavallo/Gudrun Bojesen Mads Blangstrup/Jean Lucien Massot Claire Still/Amy Vatson Oktot (Peter Martins) has not been published yet but it was stated as the introduction that it mainly will be a piece for a male ensable and that Silja Schandorff and Andrew Bowman will dance a pas de deux. The music is Mendelsohns oktet for strings. The pas de deux for the second movement was presented and it look like Martins n in the conservative, romantic mode as opposed to his brazzy modern chic. I do not recall that he has other colours on his palet.

I totally agree. La Sylphide should be the last ballet on the program. I fear that it may be the fact that the decor for the first act is so heavy and diffucult to mount that have been the decisive factor for the planning of the program. As itist now the intermissions are to long and it is a strange sensation to see the Sylph rejuvinated as an Italian gypsy girl after her tragic demise

I caught a performance last week with Silja Schandorff, Mads Blangstrup, Mette bødcher and Nicolaj Hansen. I was pleased to see that both Hansen and Bødcher are getting stronger in their parts as Madge and Gurn and that Schandorff has returned to her original and stunning take on the Sylph, rather than the sweet young girl approached she was coached to by Hubbe. The combination Schandorff/Blangstrup is the stongest and most interesting of the ones present, and I sincerely hope that this will be the premier cast at the festival next year. Silja Schandorff has just been norminated for a Danish Drama award for the Sylph. She also won another Danish award last year for the same part. This time La Sylphide was paired with Napoli III act and allthough this is an ok combination for a festival performance I do not think it work for repetoiry use.As both stagings are big and complicated we end up with 2 X 30 minutes intermissions. The company has problems because of injuries and sickness to get a well matched cast on Napoli. For this performance Silja Schandorff had to dance Pas de Six and solo to cover for another dancer. And a young dancer Kristoffer Sakurai danced the Gennaro solo while Jean Lucien Massot danced and played Gennaro. I do not like to see the split in the role, even though it might be forced by injury. But what I in particular missed in this performance and in other recent Napolis is a common and clear perception presented by all the dancers (and mostly the director) on what and how Napoli III act should look like. You see in the small things as the cannot place the dancers rightly in the combinations so th small guy ended up lifting the tallest girls while the tall andrew Bowman lifted to tiny girls and the larger view on how this should be performed. castingwise the first male solo has been the archilles heal for Napoli Act III. ever since Ib Andersen departed the company in 1980. On a good day Thomas Lund can handle the solo well. Otherwise it seems like they have decided that if you are slightly build, you get that solo and that looked like the main qualification for this nights offender. Giving so much problems to get the ballet on, the amount of casts, costumes, make-up, extras etc. and the missmatch with the tone of La Sylphide my advise would be to do another ballet before la Sylphide or conclude with an abstract ballet with little scenery demands.

I can follow Hockey-fan some of the way regarding Gudrun Bojesens sylph. She is still partly in the one end of the scale, where the sylph is presented as a lovely girl in love. This was exactly where Rose Gads interpretation originated som 15 years ago. I would like to see her move more in the fairy/illusion direction. However, it is my opinion that Hubbe has directed the Sylphs to on the sweet and girlish side, as Silja Schandorff whos sylph is usually on the other side of the scale than Bojesens has also become sweeter and more girllike. The roles as James and the Sylph can be interpreted in as many ways as Hamlet. As James You can be poetic and a dreamer (a male sylph), you can be lord of the manor, arrogant, passionate, young, mature etc. The Sylph can be girlish, dramatic, ice queen, fairy, aloof, wicked, young, eternal etc. Each dancer is supposed to find his or hers own take on the part. However it should be Man meet Sylph not Boy meets Girl.

Hubbes James as well as the Apollon I caught in aarhus both showed very intelligent and musical interpretations by the mature dancer. For me this James surpassed all his earlier effort. I must agree that there was plenty of time to read his mimes. However I cannot fully agree with you regarding the growing tendency from others dancers and friend to form a claque (I think it is called. In Danish the word is klakør).I think they should join an entusiastic house but not try to build one. bournonville was very opossed to claques, and I mustagree with him. No one espicially people on the payroll of the theatre should engage i that sort of activity

An older and Wiser James Last time Nicolai Hubbe danced James he was presenting the ultimate Turbo James. Evening little gesture pumped to the max by the man who rightly claimed I have never underplayed anything on stage. It was a performane almost killing the performance. This times around as the the director and still not back in top form after injurys. Hubbe in my mind managed to perform a much better James, by being more subtle in his approach. The dancing may be a little weaker than before, but his interpretation won big by being more nuanced and clearer. Gudrun Bojesen has a wonderfull lightness and sweetness as the Sylph, but could be more dramatic. It is almost a seduction by change. Lis Jeppesens Madge is still a work in progress. She has changed hair and make up, but is still a bit of mark. Christioa Olsson was powerfull and sparkling in Etudes supported by three men Massot, Thomas Lund an Mads Blangstrup, who seeamed to have divided the difficults bits between them.

When I attended Neumeiers introduction to the ballet, I got very positive. Seing theperformance I realized that he had chosen the three best bits for the introduction. I was very surprised hearing all about his aim to create a modern ballet to realise that he has instead created a pastice of 1970ties agit prop theatre and even I am a classical scholar and have reread the Odyssen the week before, I had difficulty making sense of the storyline. Re. Neumeier and RDB he has been a popular choreographer here, based mainly on the smash hit Romeo & Juliet 1974 which made stars of Ib Andersen and Mette-Ida Kirk and to some degree A Midsummernightsdream from 1980. He was later commisioned to create a ballet on Hamlet, which never had more than 13 performances. We have later had Knaben Wunderhorn/Mahlers 5 and he will also create a new work here next year. Romeo & Juliet has been the singulary most succesfull production in the last 30 years, and the parts as Romeo & Juliet is coverted by every dancer (Save Kenneth Greve, who withdrew from the production). It was also a very good performance with a model cast in 1974 which showed the companys streght and introduced a new post-Flindt generation. It was said to be the biggest hit and biggest failure for Flindt (as he would have prefered one of his own productions). I would say that you cannot understand the RDB without understanding the importance of Neumeiers Romeo & Juliet. When Peter Schaufuss entered his production of Ashtons Romeo & Juliet which was coreographed on RDB, it was rejected by audience, critics and I think dancers as well due to our attachment to the Neumeier Romeo & Juliet. As Frank Andersen is a firm believer in the myth of Neumeiers R&J (he had pronounced the 1974 premiere as the greatest artistic impression in his life) he has therefore continued to play the Neumeier card. My opinion is that one man can very well make a great R&J and an awfull Odysseen.

I am pretty sure that we are talking about the work, inspired by Napoli, created by Tim Rushston for his own company NDDT and performed by that group on TRT. It was not such a big succes that RDB is likely to perform it themselves

Regarding repetoire. Giving the current resources RDB has almost constant problems fullfiling the repetoire as planned. The reasons are few dancers, injuries and the fact that the corps include many foreign and young dancers, who would not like the old days know a lrge number of ballet by heart. It is therefore difficult to change. Also the subcriptions system limits the possibilities, as the audience is promised certain ballets at certain dates. A reason for the growing number of injury is that there is little precautinary measures in the form of ongoing fysioterapy and when certain dancers are injured, other dancers is over worked to compensate. As the talent pool is limited, there is no significant number of bursting young ballets to draw from. When you compare to earlier times, yes the repetoire was bigger, but there were fewer new productions and a steady corps, who knew the repetoire in details. It was easier to change. Also most ballets depended more on solo dancers and less on ensemble, which made last minuts changes easier. Today most ballets are cast with 3 -4 teams of dancers, but due to injuries and lack of rehersal time, it is seldom than more than 2 teams actually gets on stage. Dancers have danced major roles like Aurora and Bluebird without having one stage rehersal. To cure the problem RDB needs more dancers on all levels. Currently Solo dancers like Thomas Lund is doing corps duty in Odysseen as well as dancing James in La Sylphide. In Manon he has the small role as head beggar, where he could have been an interesting Lescaut. In short he spends too much time doings roles, he has outgrown and risks unneccesary injuries while doing them. But untill more corps dancers are hired and more soloists developed, he cannot be a full time star.

With Niels Mathiasen as Minister for Culture, the RT was the top priority. Since there has been little or no government support, no matter what party where in government. The post as cultural minister is usully handed to the weakest, less experienced minister, who is not able to obtain more funding. Re Michael Christiansen. He used to be the head of the defense ministry and is a stong figure in public government. Siding his artistic abilities, which are very limited. His political strengh may indeed have saved RT for more budget cuts. Denmarks riches man have donated a new opera house and this will force the government to spend more money, even thoughthey at the moment think that two opera houses can be be run by the resources of one. Current management will sit untill 2008, where Michael Christiansen probably will retire. But it is a far way yet. And I see very little growth in the artictic abilities of either him or in the Ballet master currently. At best they have stopped experimenting big style and stick to proven succes formulas. But when those are not working there is a big void.

The Royal teatre is speciel holding four artistics units. Much could be said for spliting into totally separate units, but it will also be a break with tradition and probably not wise for the ballet as the majority of the spectator are teatre goers who do not mind an odd ballet or so. Each artistic division is then led by a chief. I would say the greatest problem with the current system has been that neither the chief of the theatre, the minister for culture, nor several of the ballet masters were top notch artistic leaders. There has been a large difference compared with the opera, who for several years have been lead by an artistic capability and a dynamo and pr -oriented figure. There is nothing he will not do to to spread gospel. i can see Frank Andersen taking one or several conceps from Kaspar Bech Holten. The difference remains that Kasper is on top of his artistic game, where as Frank Andresen is a Try- and error man. When the chief of the teatre do not really knows the difference either it is difficult to move forward. When Michael Christiansen appointed Frank Andersen, after nobbing him previously, it was considered a cautious move, after four (five if you includes Frank Andersens first tenure) appointment mistakes, the known quantity became a desirable solution. Backing up with lloyd Riggins as crown prince was a wise move, as those who could not support Frank, would likely support lloyd riggins, who enjoyed large popularity internely and externally. no Lloyd sems to have decided to continue his dancing career and the running much be considered open.

Probably not. What I would like to see is more money for the ballet department, better marketing, employment of an inhouse corographer, as they have lost the services of both Tim Rushton and presumebly Alexey Ratmansky, better teacher, directors and deeper undestanding of casting as the sucess parameter. At the moment RDB is suffering at the box office. There is little or no buz around the company. There is only a small group of constant attenders. When I started out at ballet fan, the ballet was king with the opera as the poor cousin. Now the roles are reversed. It probably makes sense to spend the most money on the most popular art form. But we all hope that the new Opera and (ballet) house will allure more people to attending performances. What the company need is another Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer nights dream or Onegin to pull in the crowds. Neither a very fine Manon nor a less than stellar Odysseen have managed to do that recently. I must also ask, as a professional marketeer, why the thetre understand so little of audience behavour, that the constanly put the potentil bestseller by the endd of the season. Instead the should put the big new productions early in the season and milk them for the whole period. Instead it is like they cannot understrand why a premiere in May do not sell in October. They should also use the stars better as the drawing factor. At the moment it is almost impossible to find out who will be dancing when and the dancers are not used as a marketing pull.

Off caurse they did not came from the head of Zeus, but was created not by the institution but by excellent teachers, Vera Volkova, Henning Kronstam, Stanley Williams. Where the institution played in was the fact that it was a respected part of the Danish cultural establishment. It really was something to be a solo dancer at RDB - almost like making the national football team. If the institution itself could create great dancers, we would have seen a constant ongoing supply, like in Paris og Kirov. In Denmark the situation has alway been that we exist on good yearligs. I think it was in 51 that five male dancers was made solo dancers, that group plus especially Henning Kronstam who came a few years later was the foundation for the succes of great male dancers in the 50ties. Another group exploded in the mid70ties with Arne Villumsen, Ib Andersen, Frank Andersen, Annemarie Dybdahl, Mette-Ida Kirk, Lis Jeppesen, Linda Hindberg and Heidi Ryom who are all born between 1950 -56. And then there was a waste talent gab untill the arrival of Hubbe, Kølpin, Greve, Aage Thordahl, Peter Bo Bendixen, Schandorff, Olsson, Gad. The group also included dancers like Niels Balle, who got injured at a crucial time, Michael Weidinger, who also was injured out of a promising career, Nilas Martins and caracter dancers Petruska Broholm, Henriette Muus and Mette Bødcher. Since then wehave only managed to produce 4 solo dancers out of the school, Mads Blangstrup, Thomas Lund, Gitte Lindstrøm and Gudrun Bojesen, plus soloists Morten Eggert, Tina Højlund and Diana Cuni. And they are al in their late 20ties. After them it looks pretty empty. We should see at least two generations approching (we see dancers from the age of 16 on the stage). It may have to do with the recruting activities, which I know is supported by varous activities. But at the moment it lookes like the are focusing on the recruitement, but is oblivious to the quality of the teaching. I can only join Alexandra in her view that it is sad that the major stars like Arne Villumsen and Ib Andersen is not part of the process. I know that youlearn more from someone who has gone all the way than from someone who was just looking on. For an insight view I can recommend Anne Flindt-Christensens book of interviews with dancers from last year and may I qoute the late great critic Henrik Lundgreen who during Frank Andersens last tenune said: Frank Andersen is not the course of the RDBS problems - but he is not the solution either. Frank has returned an older, and wiser ballet master, but at best he can reproduce old success formulas. he has so far been unable to define new ones or to do the necessary changes to the management of the ballet school. Any other institution which has performed so poorly over so long a period would be subjected to a change in management.

The problemwith RDB is that it is still to good to stop caring. When you feel you have reached a low point,. they will suddenly of of nowhere make a star performance, a fantastic Sylph a great Manon and you stay hooked. The root of the problem is that RDB is not a strong company because of the tradition but the strenghs is really down to a group of very good dancers and a few good directors. It is not the company who created Kronstam, Villumsen, Hubbe, Ib Andersen etc. It was in fact them that created the company. At present we have, as has been the case for a number of years a company consisting of a few but very good leading dancers, a unexperienced corps the ballet and a growing import of foreign dancers. When you see the line of home grown talents, there is no solo dancer under the age of 27. I do not worry about the 2005 festival I vorry about the years ahead. We have been in the situation before and each time we have been saved by a sudden burst of talents and a few good enclaves of dancers It my fail to happen. Thre strenght of the company is primarily in dramatic works even though the current crop may be better in Martins ballets than in Bournonville. At present Frank Andersen is building a repetoire of trying to repeat proven succes formulas. We have had succesfull Neumeier ballets before. Lets try a few? We had a hit with Martins, Lets bring him on, and so forth

Regarding Mette-Ida Kirk at the Sylph, a part she got too late, but was wonderful in. She was the first one I have seen who managed to convey the fact that TheSylph is not human, but a fairy and a creature of nature. Having wanted to see her Sylph for years it was a true revelation, She was also the first Sylph for a number of years to really dance the part and I remember vividly her fantastic jetes. When she jumps the stages diagonally after the divertissement she was actually flying. Due to the casting decitions of RDB in Frank Andersens first tenure she had three different James for her first thrre performances, Arne Villumsen, Fernando Bujones and Johnny Eliasen. I remember her dead scene vividly. again she did not die as a human being, she whitered as a true sylph. Part of her performance can be seen in a film by Jørgen leth, I think it is called Stories of Love. For good Mette-Ida Kirk dancing I can also recommend Jørgen Leths Dancing Bournonville and Anne Vivels Henning Kronstam movie where she dances Myrtha. Seing the snippets as Myrtha you will get a feeling of how she would appear as the sylph. There is also a solo as Myrtha preserved on The Queen of Denmarks birthday gala. When she is finiehed you can see tears in the eyes of Her Majesty. Mette-Ida did not get the recognition she deserved, nor did she get all the parts she should have had even though she was loved by public and critics. Some may have to do with the fact that she had long and hard injuries, but like no dancer I have ever seen, she managed to come back each times on top form. For the first part of her career she was frequently paired with Ib Andersen, and when left for NYCB there were not many suitable partners save Arne Villumsen, who had to partner everyone. I know she had an offer from NYCB following being spotted by Mr B, but declined probably realising that her psycique was not up to it. In generel I would say, that I have never seen any dancer, not even Silja Schandorff be better than Mette-Ida in any parts she hasdanced. Unfortunately she never got the chance with Giselle, Onegin, Thersipchore and others. But everytime I see the last solo in Napoli or the first Sylph I am allways made aware of her wonderful style and made too aware how difficult it is to achive. At least I have never seen its match. It is a similar experience to the first male solo in Napoli Act III and La Conservatory. No one since Ib Andersen has been able to conquer them

As I predicted others dancer would change the performance. Due to injury, Kenneth Greve did not dance James on tuesdays performance, but the lead was danced by Silja Schandorff and Mads Blangstrup, who have danced the parts previously together and has proven themselves a killer kombination in this ballet. On Tuesday Mads Blangstrup did a particulary fine James. His dancing was superb. He jumped well and even though he is in the Erik Bruhn school of tours en airs (doing all three in the same direction as opossed to going both ways - the more difficult version) they were spot on. The special quality of Mads Blangstrups dancing is how well he gets the dramatic context interfused with the dancing, which is so crucial for La Sylphide. Another feauture with Mads is, that although he is not the greatest technician in the RDB, his teqnique always raised to the challenges and perform on the required level. Unlike Thomas Lund he never disappears or is overshadowed by the noisy colours and clansmen. He is so much the focal point that Silja Schandorffs La Sylphide is delegated to second place. She had very beautifull jumps and danced well but it looked like Hubbe has coached her to perform a more innocent and sweeter Sylph. I prefered her normal fatal ice maiden interpretataion and hope she will return to this interpretation as it does makes the drama stronger with Blangstrups passionate, young and wild James (as opposed to Thomas Lunds innocent James). Blngstrup has the glamour and hunkiness, that is needed for James. He is born leading man material and has a certain resemblance in his dancing and acting to Henning Kronstam, although he is fair and Kronstam dark. Mette Bødcher as Madge was not a revelations. She seems more like a ghost than like a witch. Bøtcher specials has always been an ability to get the audience to like her. She is so likeable and positive a performer. When she dances one of the sylphs in Etudes, she overshadows Caroline Cavollos ballerina woth her personality. But she cannot use this ability in Madge and is therefore rather bland. I thhink she would have been better placed as Effy, as thes teams is set to match the tower, that is Kenneth Greve. This is probably the reason for giving Maria Bernholdt the parts as Effy. The costume does not become her and she lacks the that cute girl next door, that has worked so well for previous Effys. Hans Brenna in particular used a certain type of girl Arlette Weinreich, Eva Kloborg, Ann Kristin Hauge for the part. Young Nicolai Hansen is obiuosly considered a coming Bournonville man danced Gurn, but he still has some maturing to do. Marie Pierre Greve was an elegant 1. Sylph and is one of the best to dance this part since Mette-Ida Kirk, who had to make do with this untill she, quite late in her career finally got the chance to show how stunning a sylph she was. Re. the decir. I asked Frank Andersen st the introduction whether the decor is idetical with the Stockholm, and he assued me that there were significant changes. Allthough he could not really recall what they were.

She did and with Mads Blangstrup. I am posting my review in the la Sylphide folder

I have heard that he has had a minor operation, and will most likely be out for at least a month, so I guess he will not be doing James tonight. I hope that Silja Schandorff will still do the sylph as I have splashed out on the most expensive tickets. Lloyd Riggens will cover as Odysseus for the first two performances

I am certain that The Lesson was a well chosen piece for him, because he canuse not only his tecnique but acting abilities as well. in Denmark Morten Eggert who is somewhat similar to Kobborg, was also very convincing in the part. For a dancer of Kobborgs ability it has proven a challenge to find a repetoire and a partner. I am very pleased that he has found both in Royal Ballet. Of the ever changing line of Ballet Masters in Copenhagen the last years, none were really able to chose a repetoire that really suited Kobborg and injury periods made him an infrequent performer. Regarding the change from Etudes to Un a pays sage, they were forced by injuries to Kenneth Greve and Andrew Bowman, who shares the most diffucult mens solos in Etudes.

Well lets remember that I actually enjoyed the performance, Yes Kobborg was regarded and cast as demi caracter in the rather rigid Danish ballet tradition. He has done some demi caracter parts very well, but overall it was limiting him as a dancer. James and Gennero was not really the answer either as both roles demand a glamorous dancer, who can act as the hero. One of the strongest performances Kobborg had made on home turf was as the unplesant husband in Flemming Flindts otherwise forgetable Legs of fire. I would also ad that he seldom had a god partner, as the major ballerinas were considered to tall for him and the smaller girls not in his leque. Thomas Lund has shared some of the same problems in building a career and a partnership. The frequency is to low between the really good and well chosed part. Now Thomas Lund get Nutcracker and James, where he too lacks the glamour and they still fail to get the works that would really suit him. After Kobborg left he has to wait even longer. When Kobborg was in the company they at least now and again had to chose a suitable ballet. Behind Lund, Morten Eggert has the same problem. To little and too infrequently. On the other hand dancer like Mads Blangstrup and andrew Bpwman, tall classical dancers gets a lot of parts, good partners and stage time because they suit the repetoire and with Kenneth Greve as lead dancer, the focus is on the taller, classical type