Kate, I've really enjoyed all your reports from Denmark. RDB receives little publicity in the UK and single-handed you have made a significent increase to the coverage they receive here.

Looking forward to your future ballet travels.

<small>[ 19 April 2004, 05:13 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

More on the årets reumert...

The official webpage has been updated, and there is a now a picture of Thomas Lund with his award on the site.

Kate

More RDB news

The Copenhagen Post reports that Frank Andersen will receive the Danish American Society's "Man of the Year" Award tonight in New York City. The dinner and award presentation will take place at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park. Previous awardees include Peter Martins. More at the Copenhagen Post website.

Denmark.dk's article on the subject.

A press release about the award.

The Danish American Society also sponsors the Danish American Nationals Cultural Exchange (D.A.N.C.E.) through which many students at the School of American Ballet and the Royal Danish Theatre's Ballet School have studied at the other school during the summer.

<small>[ 23 April 2004, 06:36 AM: Message edited by: ksneds ]</small>

Greetings!

The Danish American Society has posted a selection of pictures from the 'Man of the Year Award' ceremony. Click here to see the photos.

Recognizable faces include Frank Andersen (of course!), Eva Kloborg, Darci Kister, Peter Martins, and I think, Nina Ananiashvili. If anyone can identify the ballerina or any other faces, please post!

Kate

The schedule for the Command Performance on May 13th - part of the festivities prior to the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik - has been released.

The complete program can be found on the Royal Theater website, but below is a summary of the ballet offerings.

*Balcony Scene from Neumeier's 'Romeo & Juliet' - Margaret Illman (an Australian) & Mads Blangstrup

*World premiere of a new John Neumeier ballet created for the occasion. The ballet is set to the music of Outlandish, a Danish hip hop group with roots in Morocco, Honduras & Pakistan.
Dancers: Marie-Pierre Greve, Kenneth Greve, Thomas Lund & Morten Eggert.

*The evening, will most fittingly, conclude with the Wedding Waltz from 'A Folk Tale' : Mads Blangstrup & Gudrun Bojesen

The Command Performance will be broadcast live on DR1 from 18:45 - 22:45.
Kate

<small>[ 02 May 2004, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: ksneds ]</small>

Greetings!
Casting for 'Abdallah' , which closes out the 2003-04 season, has been posted:

The first cast performs on May 7, 18 and 21 (evening) , the second on May 8, 21 (matinee) and 22

Abdallah: Thomas Lund, Morten Eggert
Irma: Gudrun Bojeson, Amy Watson
Fatima: Kirsten Simone, Jette Buchwald
Palmyra: Gitte Lindstrom, Haley Henderson
Irmas 2 veninder: Diana Cuni og Cecilie Lassen, Esther Lee Wilkinson og Julie Valentin
Hassan: Gabor Baunoch, Asger Schlichtkrull
Cabidgi Bachi: Mogens Bosen, Niels Balle
Sheik Ismael: Kenneth Greve, Andrew Bowman
Omar: Poul-Erik Hesselkilde, Alexander Sukonnik
Sadi: Oscar Nilsson, Paulo Andruszkov
Selim: Yao Wei, Susanne Grinder
Gulnare: Femke Mølbach Slot, Camilla Ruelykke Holst
Arzeli: Camilla Ruelykke Holst, Elisabeth Dam
2 sønner: Nicolai Hansen og Vincent Can Webber, Cedric Lambrette, Julian Ringdahl

Hi
wauw a lot of young dancers on the abdallah casting... glad to see that they finally give challenges instead of just casting the same few people...
It seems there is a general concern (among the public) that there is NO new talent among the corps.... I REALLY dont think so, ive seen alot of talent but ofcourse the talent needs to be challenged and to be seen.... lets hope that this casting policy will continue...
BUT what is Bowman and Greve (both principals) doing as "Sheik Ishmael"?? are they past 40 yet????

Welcome!

I too am excited by the 'Abdallah' casting, though am too far away to be able to see any of the performances. Perhaps next year at the Bournonville Festival...

Neither Bowman nor Greve are anywhere near 40 (25 and 35, respectively, I believe), but is there any reason a younger dancer can't play the role of the Sheik? Character dancing is all about tranforming oneself into the character, and with good make-up & costume, age is usually pretty irrelevant. Ballerinas in their 30s & 40s dance the role of Juliet, and younger dancers have stepped into the role of older Kings & Queens in many productions.

It may be that other dancers were hurt or unavailable (it is the end of the season) or that the company wanted to give Bowman & Greve time on stage and/or experience in the role. Younger dancers are the next older dancers, so they've got to start in the "older" roles at some point!

I would definately agree that there is a great deal of talent in the RDB corps. Sakurai, the Kupinskis, Hansen, Slot, Holst etc. etc.
And while corps dancers aren't often cast in major roles, the company certainly hasn't been hiding them either. They've been in solo roles in the Bournonville rep and had chances in the more modern rep as well. I think most people don't tend to notice the lesser known dancers unless they are cast in big roles, so don't see the talent developing in the little roles or as part of the corps.
But since the company usually doesn't promote dancers until they are 22-23-24, there's no rush to cast them in huge roles. Small roles and corps work can be as challenging as the major roles, and it's better to build an emerging talent slowly, rather than overwork a dancer to the point of exhaustion and/or injury. Plus, with only so many roles, they can't give every dancer a major role!

There will be a good deal of coverage on the company -reviews, interviews and articles - in the upcoming May issue of Ballet-Dance Monthly!
Kate

<small>[ 07 May 2004, 11:39 AM: Message edited by: ksneds ]</small>

Kate, thanks for your casting information on "Abdallah". I didn't expect Morten Eggert to be cast in the title role. When I visited Copenhagen several weeks ago, I was impressed by him in the tarantella in "Napoli". That performance was led by Mads Blangstrup and Gitte Lindstrom. The Royal Danish Ballet is dancing in good form at the moment. I also admire Alexei Ratmansky's choreography for his new ballet "Anna Karenina". I saw the second cast - Caroline Cavallo and Andrew Bowman.

<small>[ 08 May 2004, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

Greetings!
It's not listed as a debut, but I'm not sure when Morten would have danced the role before. He was rehearsing it back in March, so it's certainly not a last minute change in casting.

The casting makes sense though - i don't know much about 'Abdallah' - but dancers like Greve, Blangstrup & Bowman seem a bit "tall and blond" for the lead role and Jean Lucien Massot is probably still not fully recovered from his injury. Also, between 'Anna Karenina', 'Napoli' and his two appearances in the upcoming Command Performance, Blangstrup has/ has had a pretty full schedule. (Lund and Eggert are in the new Neumeier ballet, so a busy month for them too!).

I do agree that Eggert is quite an impressive dancer - I saw him in 'Napoli', 'A Folk Tale' and in (rehearsals of) 'Anna Karenina'.

Speaking of 'Anna Karenina' - I preferred Blangstrup & Greve to Bowman & Cavallo, but never saw the latter pair in a complete run-though so am probably a bit biased. Hopefully I'll see both casts in performance this fall.

I do like Ratmansky's choreography, but agree with the critics who feel that the ballet seemed a bit rushed - I'm not sure why Ratmansky felt he had to limit the ballet to two hours.

Kate

Thanks for your well-informed comments on the company. I would be interested to see Neumeier's new ballet too, as much as the reconstructed "Abdallah". I should try to visit Copenhagen more often in future. Certainly next summer's third Bournonville Festival is a must.

Greetings!
Unfortunately, I suspect that the new Neumeier ballet is going to be a one-time-only piece de occasion. Plus, it's fairly unlikely that Mads Blangstrup and Margaret Illman will be dancing Romeo & Juliet together again in the future.

Luckily, I did get to see Blangstrup & Bojeson in a stunning 150th anniversary performance of 'A Folk Tale' - with the Queen present - last month. Yet danicng the Wedding Waltz on the eve of the Royal Wedding, in front of royalty & dignitaries from around the world, has to be an experience to be remembered!

Thankfully, the entire event will be shown live on TV, so one might be able to obtain a tape of the performance. And, if anyone will be watching on TV, do post comments!

Please do post if you have any interesting impressions of performances you saw this year, questions or comments.

Kate

Kate, how lucky you are to have seen the 150th anniversary performance of A Folk Tale. And I read your interviews with the Royal Danish dancers in the magazine with interest.

I wrote about the performances of Anna Karenina and Napoli which I saw in late April, for Ballet.co magazine.
http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_04/jun04/kn_rev_royal_danish_0404.htm

<small>[ 12 May 2004, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

Greetings!
I watched the beginning of the Command Performance via the webcast this evening. They did an amazing job at sprucing up Kongens Nytorv, which has been under construction.
I'd hoped to see the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet as well as the new Neumeier ballet, but the peformance was running close to an hour late, and I had to leave halfway through the onscreen Romeo & Juliet to go see another version of Romeo & Juliet live!

The theater and all the various dignitaries & royalty were decked out to the max, and looked fabulous. I've never seen so many medals, gold trim, tiaras, sashes, ballgowns and military uniforms in one place.
It seemed like there was a symbolic passing of the torch, as the Crown Prince & his fiancee had the royal box to themselves, with the Queen sitting with other royalty and family in another box.

Unfortunately, the dancing I saw did not come off well on the little itty bitty webcast "screen" on the computer. Not sure whether it was the telecast itself, or watching it via computer, but the lighting and the angles did not flatter the dancers. Having seen Mads Blangstrup in person, I know that he is elegantly proportioned and a skillful dancer, but that did not come out in the webcast.

Hopefully, I will be getting a tape of the telecast, and can see the performance in it's entirety. If anyone did watch the actual telecast, do post!

Kate

Kate visited the Royal Danish Ballet and produced a wealth of material about this historic company:

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200404/articles/images/RDB3_000.jpg" alt="" />

A Day in the Life of a Royal Danish Ballet Dancer
by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

For many people the life of a ballet dancer remains somewhat of a mystery; a distant world of rehearsal studios and classes. Though so little understood by most ballet-goers, this offstage existence makes up most of a dancer’s life, as performances are but a small fraction of the hours a dancer puts in each week. Following is a brief background on the Royal Danish Ballet and a glimpse into its dancers' world when they are not on stage.

click for more

**********************************

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200405/articles/images/rdb-balletskolen-5.jpg" alt="" />

The Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School
(Royal Danish Ballet School)

by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

Founded more than two hundred years ago, the Ballet School of the Royal Danish Theatre is one of the oldest ballet schools in Europe, and it remains a unique and inspiring institution. Each year the school provides ballet training and academic education for just 60-70 talented young dancers. It is still the training ground for most of the Royal Danish Ballet dancers, and so the quality of the school is reflected in the successes of the company.

click for more

***********************************

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200405/articles/images/cvb_niels-balle.jpg" alt="" />

Guiding the Next Generation

An Interview with Niels Balle, Deputy Director, Royal Danish Ballet School

by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

For Royal Danish Ballet (RDB) dancers, turning forty is a major milestone – it’s the time when pensions begin, and most dance careers end. Preparations for this transition begin years earlier, when many dancers begin to experiment with coaching, choreographing, character roles or even non-balletic interests. Others, like Niels Balle, look towards the RDB School and the next generation of dancers for career inspiration.

A twenty-year veteran of the Royal Danish Ballet, Balle was recently named deputy director of the Royal Danish Ballet School, and is in charge of the training program for the company apprentices (aspirants).

click for more

**********************************

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200405/articles/images/Thomas1.jpg" alt="" />

Bournonville Emissary

Interview with Royal Danish Ballet Principal Dancer and Coach, Thomas Lund

by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

Still six months shy of his thirtieth birthday, Royal Danish Ballet principal Thomas Lund has already made a lasting impact not only as a dancer, but also as a coach, teacher and conservator of the Bournonville legacy.

How did you start out dancing?

I started, actually, ballroom dancing. The first year my mom brought me I didn’t like it and the only one I wanted to dance with was my mother.

click for more

************************************

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200404/articles/images/napoli2.jpg" alt="" />

Interview with Tina Højlund

by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

Acclaimed for her performances in both traditional Bournonville ballets and modern works, Tina Højlund is one of the Royal Danish Ballet’s most experienced soloists. She joined the company as an apprentice in 1989, entered the corps in 1998 and was promoted to soloist in 1998.

click for more

***********************************

<img src="http://www.ballet-dance.com/200405/articles/images/KristofferSakurai1.jpg" alt="" />

Interview with Kristoffer Sakurai, Royal Danish Ballet Corps Member

by Kate Snedeker for Ballet-Dance Magazine

At just 23, Kristoffer Sakurai has already emerged as one of the top young talents in the Royal Danish Ballet, drawing particular praise for his interpretations of Bournonville roles. I caught up with him after a busy day of rehearsals, just two days before his major debut in the lead role of Bournonville’s classic 'Napoli'.

click for more

<small>[ 18 May 2004, 03:35 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>