A crisp, clear Danish export
is an exemplar of the Danish school of ballet. But, finds Nadine Meisner in The Independent, he very nearly became a singer:

There is more to Johan Kobborg than meets the eye on stage, even though what he offers there is already quite an eyeful. It's not that he has a towering, chiselled physique, because, although no gnome, he doesn't. But search for the Royal Ballet man with the most gleaming technique and the chances are you'll home in on him. His effortless buoyancy makes the stage look like a trampoline. The shape of each phrase has a musical pulse and clarity that suggests all other dancing is flaccidly approximate. And when he applies his deft speed to the crisp beats and lacy steps that are the traditional trills of ballet, they are transformed into exciting moments that oxygenate the dance.

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<small>[ 07 September 2003, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I enjoyed this interview - I really have not focused on Kobborg's dancing - I think because he is understated both on stage and off - but I will be studying him from now on. Interesting that he has been paired with Tamara Rojo - one would have thought she would have been paired with Acosta having danced the excerpt pas de deux with him last season. I assume that Senorita Rojo will have the most to offer in the role so it is a testimony to Kobborg's dancing that he has been paired with her. I now know which cast to try to see!

The first paragraph of the interview is really one to be enjoyed! What I'd give to be able to write like that.<P>Kobborg himself has always been at the top of my 'must-see' list so I'm really pleased he's been first cast with Rojo for Don Q. I expect nothing less than fireworks from the both of them.

Well then I will be definitely be purchasing a ticket.

A right royal pair
Kobborg and Cojocaru show off the first great ballet partnership of the 21st century in Out of Denmark. By Clifford Bishop for The sunday Times


The relationship that exists between two performers is usually described as chemistry, but really it has more in common with alchemy. Just ask the people who thought that J.Lo and Ben Affleck would set the screen alight in the excruciating Gigli — a great partnership can’t be designed, it has to be discovered. When the former Royal Danish Ballet star Johan Kobborg took his first rehearsal at Covent Garden with a young Romanian dancer called Alina Cojocaru, in February 2001, he was coming back after a month off with an injured foot, and intent on little more than easing his way through Romeo and Juliet.

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