The company has started to update the website for the 2009-2010 season, and there are some new faces and some old faces gone.

New soloist:
Jodie Thomas (from PNB)

New corps:
Alexandra Lo Sardo - Royal Ballet School, then Dresden Ballet
Carling Talcott - SAB, then apprentice at Miami City Ballet
Caroline Baldwin - YAGP 2008 scholarship to RDB school
Shelby Elsbree - joined spring 2009 from SAB

New aspirants:
Oda Grøner - from Norway via the Royal Ballet School
Andreas Kaas - from the RDB school
Oscar Nilsson - from the RDB school


Departures:
Silja Schandorff (retired, now a company teacher)
Rose Gad

Kenn Hauge, Alexander Sukonnik and Ann Kolvig are no longer listed as character dancers, though Kolvig and Sukonnik are on the list of teachers at the school

Henriette Brondsholm (I believe she turned 40 this year)
Sarah Dupuis
Meaghan Spedden
Sigmund Hegstad
Iain Rowe

Three aspirants appear not to have been given corps contracts, though in the past, the website has not been fully updated and so they may well still be with the company: Anna Kolfina Kuran, Emilie Schack and Eliza Mulholland

The press release on Jodie Thomas:

Amerikanske Jodie Thomas solist ved Den Kongelige Ballet
Det danske balletpublikum kan godt begynde at glæde sig: Fra begyndelsen af den kommende sæson vil den amerikanske balletdanser, Jodie Thomas, nemlig være at finde på det Kongelige Teaters scener. Jodie Thomas er indbegrebet af amerikansk ballet: Uddannet ved Pacific Northwest Ballet School i Seattle og efterfølgende ansat ved kompagniet, hvor hun har været solist siden 2000. Thomas fremhæver selv Balanchines balletter som noget af det, hun allermest holder af at danse. Men Thomas har danset balletter af en lang række koreografer – bl.a. Tharp, Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon og Petipa. Jodie Thomas har desuden tilbage i 2001 gæsteoptrådt på Det Kongelige Teater, hvor hun dansede i blå fugl pas de deuxen i Tornerose.

Udover ansættelsen af Jodie Thomas tilføres der i alt fire nye korpsdansere: Caroline Baldwin - oprindeligt fra Chicago - der fuldførte sin aspirantuddannelse på Det Kongelige Teaters Balletskole i foråret, Shelby Elsbree fra School of American Ballet, der tiltrådte i foråret, Carling Talcott fra Miami Ballet og Alexandra Lo Sardo fra Dresden SemperOper Ballett.
Herudover bliver Andreas Kaas og Oscar Nilsson 1. års aspiranter ved Den Kongelige Ballet sammen med norske Oda Grøner, der har været ansat ved The Royal Ballet School indtil denne sommer.

På instruktørsiden ansættes Silja Schandorff, ligesom Eva Draw nu knyttes permanent til Den Kongelige Ballet som instruktør og lærer. Draw har tidligere været ansat som lærer ved National Ballet School of Canada og har det sidste år været gæstelærer hos både Det Kongelige Teaters Balletskole og Den Kongelige Ballet.

Soloist Ulrik Birkkjær was one of the two recipients of a grant/award from the Queen of Denmark. This was the third year the award has been made, and it's worth 250,000 DKK ($49,000 US).

Congratulations!!


http://www.berlingske.dk/article/200909 ... 709200063/
http://www.kulturplakaten.dk/dronning-i ... letdanser/

Christina Michanek and Yao Wei have been past recipients of the award.

The company and the ballet school company performed at the Opera House in a special gala to mark the opening ceremonies of the IOC meeting. Guests included Pele, the Danish Royal Family, the King of Spain, Princess Anne, the president of Brazil, Chicago Mayor Daley, Oprah Winfrey, Prince Albert and Michelle Obama as well as various athletes and former athletes who are on the IOC commission:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/0 ... 06856.html

The ballets included Jockey Dance (Chris Rickert and ?), Flower Festival pdd (the American partnering of Cavallo & Kish - perhaps a little boost to the Americans who are hoping to get the Olympics in Chicago) and Symphony in C.

The company in Symphony in C: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/0 ... 06856.html

Ellen Green on the left, possibly Diani Cuni to the right of her



http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow ... 74974.jpg/

I think that's Christina Michanek to the far left, then Diani Cuni with Ulrik Birkkjær on the far right. And to the right of the central man looks like Alba Nadal.



http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow ... 410011917/

Possibly Jodie Thomas and definitely Ulrik Birkkjær in the front