Royal Danish Ballet - The official blog

Press photos from the tour

2011-06-25T13:06:00.004+02:00

The Danish daily, Politiken, covered the tour - Click here to watch the amazing photos;

Guest Blogger: Holly Dorger, dancer

2011-06-22T16:01:00.005+02:00

And here's a final word from Holly Dorger - dancer in corps de ballet. Enjoy! :-)

"All the girls are getting ready in the dressing rooms at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, NYC. Our last stop on this four week American tour. The voice of Thomas, one of our stage managers, comes over the loud speaker with a wink in his voice announcing that it is the half hour call to curtain for our last show on tour! Several sighs occur, as enthusiastic smiles break upon the girls faces. The words of, "We can do it," is on everyone's tongues.

So dear America... the United States of America. It has been wonderful to be back on your soil. The ballet company has hit four major cities and each location was unique with its own flare, strong American touch and lots of variety. Denmark is calling us home now.

But don't worry our bags are stuffed with all our favorite American goodies and souvenirs.

One thing though that cannot be packed or physically packaged in any form is the audience's applause and reaction to us, as a company.

The shouts, the bravo's, the noise and the enthusiastic faces standing up will have to become an engraved memory. From the first show in Orange County, California there was a warmth from the applause saying welcome. There was an undertone of surprise and not quite sure what to think about us Danes but by the time the curtain came to its final close they seemed pleasantly impressed. Then the crowd in Berkley, California embraced us with an open minded response.

As we traveled East to Washington D.C. the cosmopolitan, political and formal side of the United States stepped away from the boiling heat to join us in the theater for a true Bouronville week. With three shows of a Folktale and four Napoli's back to back. There was even time for a special visit from the Danish Queen . The audience filled the huge theater with a proud and humble thank you to be stepping into these precious fairy tales.

Finally back to the closing curtain in the Big Apple. The sense of making it in NYC puts you on the map, pushed every dancer in the final week. Despite being exhausted, the company as a whole stepped up and performed so that everyone was proud to be a part of this company. In a huge world, Denmark isn't the biggest country but we proved size isn't the most important. We were all so proud to be bowing in front of the audience knowing that Copenhagen was where we were going home to. In the end the Royal Danish Ballet was shining. The audience could see it. The dancers could feel it. And if I could I would have captured that light in a jar and brought it home so that those who couldn't be with us could experience the gleam too.

Fresh off the plane in Copenhagen, 8:30 in the evening and the sun still hasn't set. The light makes me think that maybe the sparkle is already here. Maybe we just shared it with another country. Welcome back everyone! Thank you."

Going home!

2011-06-20T23:10:00.000+02:00

Kids and company ready to go home. Stay tuned for photos from the last party and a tour summary from a dancer ... this blog continues ...

Merde! From a very special person ...

2011-06-19T23:04:00.002+02:00

Tour diary from a dancer (video)

2011-06-19T00:08:00.000+02:00

Dancer with The Royal Danish Ballet, Jonathan Chmelensky, created this video about the first 2 weeks of the US Tour '11.

Get a unique insight ...

La Sylphide dress rehearsal just started

2011-06-17T19:00:00.001+02:00

Photographer: Rasmus Schou

A historical moment

2011-06-17T18:45:00.000+02:00

During the dress rehearsal Tuesday this photo was taken. It assembles a whole lot of ballet history in one snapshot!

From left: Gudrun Bojesen, Vivi Flindt, Johan Kobborg,
Anne Marie Vessel Sclüter og Mette Bødtcher.
Photographer: Rasmus Schou

Trivia about The Lesson:
Flemming Flindt’s The Lesson was created for Danish television in 1963. It's based on the play La Leçon by writer of absurd drama, Eugène Ionesco. The play is a demonically captivating tale about an insane teacher of mathematics and language who kills his pupils. In Flindt’s version the insane teacher is a deranged, sadistic dance instructor. The ballet – as with all Flemming Flindt’s ballets – anticipates the advent of the international World Theatre wave, which indeed is far more obvious today than it was when his ballets were created. This wave implies, among other things, that the genre – in this case ballet – overflows its boundaries and engages with and is inspired by other genres.

Guest blogger: Shelby Elsbree, dancer

2011-06-16T23:39:00.019+02:00

And now to one more guest appearance. This time it's Shelby Elsbree, corps de ballet, who's from New York. You can follow Shelby on her great blog: http://www.tutusandtea.wordpress.com

"It's funny how life can catch you by surprise when you least expect it... If someone had told me I would be performing at the David Koch Theater 5 years ago, I would have humbly dreamt up the opportunity under far different circumstances.

As a student at the School of American Ballet, I frequented the grand audience at Lincoln Center to see countless performances of New York City Ballet. I even had the honor of performing George Balanchine's Nutcracker, and the first movement of Serenade there some six, seven years ago as an ambitious, high-bunned student of the company's official school located across the plaza.

...Little did I know it would take a move across the Atlantic and two seasons with one of the world's oldest ballet companies to find myself back on that beguiling stage, further educated in a different style of dance (Bournonville), proud of my path and humbled by the possibility to perform for friends, family, respected colleagues and idolized performers of my past.

The thing about New York City is that it simply doesn't stop. It is wide awake when you leave it, and it is wide awake when you come back... Consistently crazy and contagiously energizing.

I am simply beyond grateful for the chance to perform here in a different light. The past month of touring America has been blissfully rewarding in more ways than I could ever imagine and finishing our season here, the cherry on top of an infamous slice of NY Cheesecake.

Here's to the unpredictable paths of life... reflection on the past, opportunity of the present and spontaneity of the future.

This is New York!"

Amazing Sylphide exhibition at the Lincoln Center

2011-06-15T18:24:00.003+02:00

If you’re in New York don’t miss this amazing photo exhibition by Paul Wesolek La Sylphide - Still Life at the Lincoln Center. The theatre is open to the public Thursday June 16th from 1-9pm and runs till June 19th.

GO! It’s beautiful!

Bow rehearsal ...

2011-06-14T23:58:00.012+02:00

Before a performance the dancers always decide how they bow. Here it's the 'bow rehearsal' for Bournonville Variations ... supervised Nikolaj Hübbe.

From left: Eliabe d'Abadia, Alban Lendorf, Alexander Stæger, Marcin Kupinski,
James Clark, Julien Roman, Andrew Bowman and Nicolai Hansen.
Photographer: Rasmus Schou

Opening in NYC tonight!

2011-06-14T23:57:00.000+02:00

None of the dancers has performed at artistic director Nikolaj Hübbes old ‘hood’ Lincoln Center before. So you can imagine how excited they are to be here.

Tonight we’re opening in the big apple with a mixed program with The Lesson, Bournonville Variations, Lost on Slow and Napoli 3rd act. Later this week it’s time for La Sylphide.

Tickets available here

Photo: Rasmus Schou

The very last dance

2011-06-12T23:48:00.003+02:00

The last performance in DC was very emotional for us. After 52 years as a dancer with The Royal Danish Ballet, Character Dancer Flemming Ryberg appeared on stage for the very last time.

Photo: Rasmus Schou

Ryberg was trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School. He became an apprentice in 1957, and in 1959 he joined the corps de ballet of the Royal Danish Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer in 1966 and became a character dancer in 1989.

He’s not just a dancer in the RDBallet, he’s an institution.

Troughout the years he has danced all leading roles in the repertoire of the Royal Danish Ballet, including James in La Sylphide, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Prince in The Nutcracker, Albrecht in Giselle, the Teacher in The Lesson and the title role in Petrusjka.

Besides that he’s a dedicated guardian of the Bournonville legacy, he has directed Bournonville-ballets such as La Conservatoire, La Sylphide, the Flower Festival in Genzano, Napoli Pas de six and Abdallah.

Today, in Napoli, the 70 year old Flemming Ryberg stepped his last steps as a member of the RDBallet. He will be missed!

Photo: Rasmus Schou

We will be famous!

2011-06-12T17:11:00.000+02:00

Guest blogger: Thomas Mieth, stage manager

2011-06-12T17:00:00.000+02:00

Hi!

I am the virgin writer on this blog today, and apart from a few angry outbursts at multinational companies, I don’t go around writing stuff on the internet. I am certainly not the kind of guy, who writes every move I make, or any emotional state I would be going through on Facebook, though I must admit that I have a profile there.
I was however challenged to write a few words about what I - as a stage manager - experience during our American tour, and I chose to pick up the glove.

Stage manager Thomas Mieth getting ready for an evening with Napoli

This is my first trip to the states, so coming here with The Royal Danish Ballet is of course something I have been looking forward to with great anticipation.

I have not actively read this blog before, but I am sure all the glamour surrounding the Queens visit has been eagerly described, so I am going to give a behind the scenes view, at some of the heroes behind the scenes.

First up is my main man Owen. On Monday this week, a selected group was invited to a reception at the Danish embassy here in Washington. At this reception, Tina Højlund was to perform ”The Egg” by Esther Lee Wilkinson.

Somebody had to get the actual Egg Chair there, and that somebody ended up being me.

The Kennedy Center supplied a van and a driver. That driver was Owen. When we were first introduced by the Godfather of the Kennedy Center, Mickey Berra, who I will be coming back to later, he said:” This is Owen, he’ll go with you and give you a hand. If you shoot him, use two bullets”.

Luckily I never had to bring out my gun, and Owen showed to be the perfect help. We went to the embassy in a rather scruffy looking van, and at first they didn’t seem very keen on opening the gates at the embassy. We did eventually get in, and had a brief discussion about where to set up”The Egg”. Knowing that it wasn’t the perfect spot, Owen and I laid out the marley and placed the chair. Then Owen went for a nap in the van, while I waited for Tina and other assorted characters to arrive.

When they finally arrived, Tina expressed kindly that the first position of the chair was not suitable for the performance (I knew it!), so I went and woke up Owen in the van. But with great patience he just went in with me, and we moved the set-up, and also installed a sound system. We made an appointment about the get-out of the gear, and Owen where to arrive at the embassy, shortly after the performance on the veranda, that Her Majesty and the Prince Consort enjoyed.

My esteemed colleagues Brian ”The Violin”, Vagn ”The Outlaw” and Ole ”O.J.”, and me, got the gear out in the parking lot, so we could quickly stick the stuff in the back of Owen’s van, and it would be out of our hair. But needles to say, Owen and his scruffy, black Dodge, was not admitted to the embassy by Secret Service.

We eventually persuaded ”the suits” that Owen was a cool guy, and had no intension of fowl play, and he was admitted to the parking lot. And what sight met us there? Owen stepped out of the van in black slacks, white shirt and a tie, not at all looking like the stage hand he did in the afternoon. He did this for us, even though he just made a pick-up at the embassy parking lot.

Owen! If you ever read this, you were the hero of the day, and a funny and cool guy with it. I hope you don’t get so surprised, next time you see a Danish toilet flushing the opposite direction as an American one ;-) Word!

As a stage manager Thomas Mieth makes sure that
everything runs smoothly during performances.

Another funny guy was the stage hand, whose name I unfortunately forgot, who taught me what the best American lager was. I asked him on stage which was the best lager, and he responded”Yuengling”.

I immediately took off for the liquor store, but was caught up on the way by my new friend, who said to follow him.

We ended up in the garage below The Kennedy Center, and after walking around a bit, he suddenly opened the trunk of a car. In the trunk was a picnic cooler with ice, and of course a couple of Yuenglings. He offered me one, but I guess I was so stunned by him, and also deep down so stringent about not drinking during working hours (even though I wasn’t calling the show, there was still a performance going on. And at home we’re not allowed to enjoy alcohol before after the final curtain), that I declined it.

Ever since the incident, I have felt really bad about it, so dear friend, whose name I will certainly learn, during the Napoli performances: I didn’t mean to be rude, and I should of course have accepted your generosity. I hope I can make it up to you one of these days.

Thomas Mieth talking to a technician during
the Napoli intermission.

Finally I promised to tell a bit about Mickey. He is the VP for production at the Kennedy Center, and a great guy to be around. He constantly spreads good vibes backstage, and that is always needed, especially when you are on tour.

I will let a video piece from YouTube describe Mickey, and you will know exactly what kind of guy he is. Follow this link and be entertained.

With the words of this weeks “Hooters Girl, I will pass the torch to the next in line. She said: It’s never too late to have a happy childhood”

Kindly
Thomas Mieth
Stage Manager with The Royal Danish Ballet

PS. Of course I don’t own a gun!

Morning class with Nikolaj Hübbe

2011-06-12T03:48:00.000+02:00

Every day - except Sundays – the dancers are attending the morning class. To do barre work, jumps and get the body ready for a day of rehearsals and shows. On tour no exception …

Watch how artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe ran the morning class a day at the Kennedy Center

Great review from NYTimes

2011-06-11T17:18:00.000+02:00

This morning started with a happy dance by the breakfast buffet since we just got a great review of A Folk Tale in New York Times.

... It’s a joy to see the Danish dancers again. On Thursday the heart leapt with Susanne Grinder’s Hilda, an image of transcendent purity both amid the trolls and when restored to her original home. And the heart leapt in a different way with Lis Jeppesen. This enchanting artist was Hilda when I first saw this ballet in 1979, and now she plays the sweeter and naughtier of the troll queen Muri’s two sons, Viderik, with no apparent loss of youthfulness or wide-eyed charm.

Alba Nadal’s Birthe, Marcin Kupinski’s Ove and Mogens Bosen’s Muri are all characterizations of tremendous vitality, and the seven dancers of the Act III divertissement whetted the appetite for the pure-dance passages of Bournonville that will be seen in New York next week.

You can read the whole review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/arts/dance/royal-danish-ballet-in-a-folk-tale-and-napoli.html?_r=2&ref=dance

Teresina is from Washington DC

2011-06-10T18:48:00.000+02:00

Napoli is one of the cornerstones of the Royal Danish Ballet. Most of the dancers – at least the Danish ones from the Royal Danish Ballet School – have been performing in it since they were kids.

Principal dancer Amy Watson didn’t do Napoli in Copenhagen as a kid since she’s American and educated from The American School of Ballet, but the classical Bournonville ballet means a great deal to her anyway, especially this new production by Nikolaj Hübbe.

Why? Because Hübbe let her be her own Teresina, and because it was during the rehearsals for the re-staging of Napoli in 2009 she fell in love with her boyfriend, soloist Alexander Stæger. She did the principal part as Teresina, he was Gennaro. Lovers on stage. And of stage.

Photo by: David Amzallag

Tonight Amy Watson and Alexander Stæger will be the principal cast when Napoli premieres in Washington DC. Among the audience there’ll be at least 40 of Amy Watson’s very good friends and family since she was born and raised in Washington.

Not just any night for Teresina. Nor Amy Watson!

Will you be our friend?

2011-06-08T18:50:00.000+02:00

And now a commercial break: If you really like us, why not support us - we have made this:

The mission of The American Friends of the Royal Danish Ballet is to ensure the Royal Danish Ballet’s unique combination of classical technique and expressive mime, established by August Bournonville, is continually refreshed and shared with audiences worldwide.

Follow this link to read more: www.rdballetfriends.org

A queen dropped by

2011-06-08T02:56:00.000+02:00

Right after the dress rehearsal Wednesday, Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark came to Kennedy Center to see a short rehearsal with principal Ulrik Birkkjær and Corps de ballet dancer Hilary Guswiler.

Photos from a dress rehearsal

2011-06-08T00:12:00.000+02:00

Ready, set, go!

The Folk Tale dress rehearsal went great ...

Principal Thomas Lund DONE! And ready to be a troll.

Prelude to a dress rehearsal

2011-06-07T19:53:00.000+02:00

The US premiere of the new edition of A Folk Tale is getting close now. Tonight America will see what Nikolaj Hübbe has created, but first there’s a dress rehearsal at Kennedy Center.

Here’s some photos of the dancers getting ready …

Messy wardrobes

Wigs are ready

Dancers 'spacing' = finding out how much space they have, because it's a smaller stage than in CPH.

Principal Alban Lendorf getting ready to dance the Pas de Sept

Artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe doing the last interviews before rehearsal starts

Stretching

Chatting

Perfecting

Alba Nadal telling Elisabeth Dam how she's going to slap her in the face!

Everybody ready on stage

Arrivals at the Danish embassy

2011-06-07T03:48:00.000+02:00

On a warm evening in DC the queen just arrived at the reception at the Danish embassy (read about the reception in the post below):

Artistic Director of The Royal Danish Ballet, Nikolaj Hübbe, giving interviews at arrival:

Preparations for a diplomatic evening

2011-06-06T23:08:00.000+02:00

When touring, it's comme il faut to go to a reception at the local Danish embassy.

For that reason our principals, soloists, artistic director and a few more will be attending a reception at the Danish ambassador’s residence in Whitehaven tonight.

And the embassy's interior decoration already has a ballet theme.

A lot of important people will be there – apparently – including Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark and His Royal Highness the Prince.

In Copenhagen the queen attends a lot of performances and she’s very familiar and very fond of the Royal Danish Ballet. Therefore we’ll treat her with a short performance when she visits the Danish embassy.
Soloist Tina Højlund will be performing a short ballet called ‘The egg’. It’s choreographed by Esther Lee Wilkinson (also a dancer with the RDBallet) and it’s performed in The Egg - a chair designed by famous Danish architect Arne Jacobsen.

Guess who's back ...

2011-06-05T18:47:00.000+02:00

After 2 great weeks on the West Coast we finally arrived at the 3rd tour stop; Washington DC.

Not just another city:
1) Obama is here. We’re not going to meet him (sadly). But he’s here!
2) We’re going to perform at the legendary Kennedy Center.
We’ve been here before but it’s always a very special, grand experience to perform at the busiest performing arts facility in the US.

Imagine this: the Grand Foyer is 63 feet (19m) high, the Opera House (where we’ll be performing) seats 2300, there’s red velvet all over and it’s a living memorial to Kennedy. How can one not be humble and obliged when performing here? We are!

And we’ve been here before … the posters backstage tell us.

Heavy metal in Berkeley

2011-06-04T19:27:00.000+02:00

It’s okay to get a bit starstruck when a rock star drops by.

Sooooo, that was what happened when the Danish born heavy metal drummer Lars Ulrich dropped by our last performance in Berkeley. RDBallet performed the vital piece Earth by Jorma Uotinen, which is performed to music by Metallica – the band Lars Ulrich is a member of.

Needless to say; We really like that guy!

Best experience so far ...

2011-06-04T18:39:00.000+02:00

Today we are performing for the last time on the west coast (on this tour!). Sunday we’re heading for the east coast and new adventures, but before we are taking of, a bunch of dancers are sharing their best tour-experiences so far…

Charles Andersen, Corps de ballet – and born in Orange County.
“I have been so overwhelmed by my friends and family coming to see our shows. There have been a lot of people who I have not seen in over 10 years, including my first ballet teacher coming to see our shows. I have been so happy to be able to come home and show my family what I have been doing and why I have moved away from America”.

From left: Alexander Stæger, Amy Watson and Charles Andersen

Amy Watson, Principal dancer:
“For me I would have to say that it is feeling so warmly welcomed back to my country. People have been so enthusiastic about our company, and it has made me so proud to be an American!”.

Carling Talcott

Carling Talcott, Corps de ballet:
“Onstage, I would have to say that my best tour experience was having my premiere as Giovanina in the first act of Napoli. I had never been in the first act before, and playing such an aggressive character was totally new to me. I had so much fun onstage, stepping back in time to 1950s Napoli with my friends; I really was able to enjoy myself fully and be someone totally different for a little bit. Acting is a part of ballet that I need to work on, and this role was a fantastic way to do so.
Offstage, my best tour experience was definitely spending our free day in San Francisco with my best friend, Constantine. Even though I have been to the city several times, it's one of my favourite places in America to visit. San Francisco is such a beautiful, fun place, and our free day trip was wonderful. We got ample amounts of sunshine, delicious food, shopping, sea lions, trolley rides, top-notch "people watching," and sightseeing--excellent ingredients for a pretty perfect day”.

From left: Marcin Kupinski, Tim Matiakis, Cedric Lambrette and Andrew Bowman

Marcin Kupinski, Principal dancer:
“For me the best experience on this tour would be meeting random "artists". When my friends and I were driving along the west coast on a day of, we ended up on Venice Beach in LA where we met these two guys playing guitar and singing, one was an actor and the other one was a singer/guitar player. It wasn't anything special. The song was simple in words but very catchy. They were very excited to present it to us and we started singing along. They also tried some of the ballet steps and jumps and it was a simple, but very cool and fun adventure!”.

Ida Praetorius, Apprentice:
"The best experience was when I ran down the stairs as the student in The Lesson. For a moment I just stood still and stared at the set – which is an old ballet room, and then I looked at the audience but couldn’t see them because it was completely dark. Only thing I could see was these exit signs – the looked like blinking stars. I was present and no where else. It was wonderful!"

Hübbe on returning to the US

2011-06-03T17:43:00.000+02:00

Interview with Nikolaj and a great slideshow in The Wall Street Journal ... click on the photo

Superb 'Sylphide'!!!

2011-06-02T14:38:00.000+02:00

We've been looking forward to this tour for ages, and we are grateful and thrilled that the critics and audience likes what they see.

Review from San Francisco Classical Voice here: 'Royal Lesson from the Danes'

And one from San Fransisco Chronicle here: 'Superb Sylphide'

Lis Jeppesen and Mads Blangstrup

Just another day at the office

2011-06-01T14:32:00.000+02:00

Getting ready for morning class in San Francisco.

A very special night - tonight!

2011-05-31T21:08:00.000+02:00

Of course going on tour is a big deal for everybody in the company. It’s fun, it’s challenging, it’s hard work.

Caroline Cavallo will have her comeback as a dancer with the RDBallet when she is dancing the title role in ‘La Sylphide’ tonight.

Cavallo who was born in America came to Denmark in 1989, where she was a dancer with RDBallet till her retirement in December last year. Now she’s back on stage for one night in Berkeley (she’ll perform June 18th in New York as well). It’s a big night for us!But tonight’s performance is a bit more special than normal for two of the dancers in RDBallet.

Far away from retiring is Ida Praetorius. She’s a very talented first year apprentice with the RDBallet and she’s the other ballerina with a special night to come.

Praetorius will make her debut as the student in Flemming Flindts legendary ballet ‘The Lesson’. It’s a big change for the young dancer and she has been preparing for months. Underneath are a few snapshots from the rehearsals with principal Mads Blangstrup – photos taken by David Amzallag:

2011-05-30T19:39:00.000+02:00

After a successful week in LA we moved north to Berkeley. Second stop on the tour is here … at Zellerbach Hall.

This is our schedule in Berkeley:

31.05.11, 8:00 PM + 01.06.11, 8:00 PM: The Lesson and La Sylphide
03.06.11, 8:00 PM + 04.06.11, 8:00 PM: Nordic Choreographers*
* Bournonville Variations, Lost on Slow, Alumnus, Earth

Come see us if your around.

And don’t forget to download our free app with the complete tour schedule, bios and photos.

Peppo and Giacomo in LA

2011-05-29T19:22:00.000+02:00

This is what happens when dancers have to much spare time :-)

Napoli going to the streets of LA.

Three quickies: Nikolaj Hübbe

2011-05-28T14:53:00.000+02:00

This is how artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe feels about …

… finally being on tour:
“Oh, finally, finally. I’ve been waiting 4 years for this very moment. My cup Runneth Over!”

… the first performance Tuesday 24th at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County:
“It was a good and tense premiere. There were this special, nervous anticipation that always precedes a premiere - which resulted in minor mistakes. But the whole company danced with a wonderful energy and did an excellent job.”

… the way the US audience greeted the company:
“We got a standing ovation. YES. And Gene Kelly’s widow gave me a kiss afterwards for having such lovely male dancers. She said: ‘Gene would have gone bananas over these incredible male dancers’."

Over and out.

What we are doing in the weekend!

2011-05-27T22:19:00.000+02:00

First days - From the perspective of a dancer

2011-05-27T07:07:00.001+02:00

''Here's a little gift: Dancer in RDBallet Constantine Baecher has agreed to share his first impressions on being in on tour:

By Constantine Baecher:
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we understand that there is a dance team on board with us on today’s flight to the United States.’ Our stewardess announces over the loud speaker as we board the plane.

She continues, ‘If you need any help placing your carry on luggage in the over head compartment the dancers will be happy to assist you.’

Momentary pause…

‘Excuse me, I’ve just been informed that it is not a dance team we have on board today…but in fact the Royal Danish Ballet!’

Cheers erupt in the rows around me as excited dancers settle into their seats for the 18 hour journey from Copenhagen to Los Angeles that marks the beginning of the company’s month-long US tour. It’s an enormous undertaking: 23 performances, 9 ballets, in 4 cities across the country.

For me this tour is especially important because it is also a homecoming. I left America 10 years ago to pursue my ballet career in Europe, and now I’m back to show America a little bit of what I’ve been up to all this time. But for my colleagues LA is as exotic as other recent tour destinations, Beijing, Budapest, Cairo… even a trip to the local pharmacy proves fascinating. Our physiotherapist snaps pictures of the unending aisles of painkillers and anti-inflammatories one would need a prescription to get back in Copenhagen.

I’m fascinated by the two-story high Richard Serra sculpture right outside our hotel entrance. Mr. Serra has been a hero of mine ever since seeing a retrospective of his work at MoMA a few years back. Danes most likely know him for the large ironwork he made especially for the Louisiana museum’s sculpture garden.

Upon arriving in the theater we find that the technical crew has already spent days here preparing so rehearsals can run as smoothly as possible. The dancers have only a few hours to review all five ballets for tonight’s big premiere!

I’m especially nervous because I’ve agreed to give an introduction an hour before curtain time to the audience. I meet up with the theater’s event coordinator a little before hand for a sound check. ‘So how many people come to these lectures?’ I ask, thinking certainly no more than 50 diehard ballet fans would be interested in such a specialized subject. ‘Oh, you know, three to four hundred,’ says the woman without batting eyebrow. THREE TO FOUR HUNDRED! I’m already nervous having to speak in front of an audience—after all, dance is a silent art form. My techniques of dealing with stage fright haven’t had to cover talking.

Luckily the introduction is a success. The American audience is captivated immediately when they learn that the Royal Danish Ballet stretches back in an unbroken line into the 1700’s, making it older then America itself. They are also enchanted with stories of famed Danish dancer Flemming Ryberg’s farewell last week in Copenhagen. A man who began at 6 years old in the Royal Danish Ballet School and stayed with the company into his 70’s--they simply can’t believe their ears. ‘Now that’s a real tradition,’ I hear one woman say.

For an untraditional program, the premiere is a success. The audience, most of whom probably expected a traditional Bournonville story ballet, stands, cheers, and applauds the evening’s unexpected lineup. A lady in the front row is so excited she makes two giant thumbs up and pumps them in the air to show her appreciation. Mid-way through the last ballet a baritone voice calls out ‘THAT’S MY MAN!’ during Thomas Lund’s final solo.

Others leave in bewilderment; this collection of five shorter works is far from the romantic era full-length Royal Danish Ballet is known for. They’re surprised by the shirtless men rolling in red dirt to rock band Apocalyptica’s orchestration of Metallica melodies in the final piece. It’s a strong statement on the opening night of the tour not to bring out the standard Napoli, or Sylphide.

For me, it was a premiere with a different message, a premiere that says ‘We’re back, and there’s more to us than you’ve seen before!’

First reviews!

2011-05-26T15:35:00.000+02:00

Today day of. Tomorrow Napoli.

Spending the day reading the first reviews in the US:

LA Times:
"Can a 263-year-old ballet company be reinvented? Can its reliance on 19th-century nostalgia and Old World charm be dumped in favor of a bracingly contemporary muscularity and heat? And can its unique classical style emerge from this daring transformation looking stronger than ever?
The answers proved triumphantly affirmative on Tuesday, when the Royal Danish Ballet opened its first Southland engagement in more than 15 years at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Under the artistic direction of Nikolaj Hübbe (best known in America as Copenhagen's gift to New York City Ballet), the Danes offered an audacious, five-part “Nordic Choreography” program emphasizing what has always been their pride and glory: male dancing." Read the whole review here

OC Register:
"It was all about the men on Tuesday at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Royal Danish men, to be precise." Read the whole review here

Photos from the OC repertories

2011-05-25T20:19:00.000+02:00

Photographer David Amzallag has followed the RDBallet for many, many years. He collected a series of photos from the ballets performed in Orange County. Click on the photo of soloist Alexandra Lo Sardo and principal Ulrik Birkkjær in Les Lutins (Alumnus) and see them all ...

Love to make the audience laugh

2011-05-24T18:34:00.000+02:00

Tuesday means: first premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County. First of 23rd performances in the US.

Charlie Andersen is a dancer in RDBs corps de ballet AND he’s from Orange County, so let’s hear what he’s most excited about?

"I am looking very much forward to dancing our Nordic Choreographers program. I think it is a really nice mix of a lot of the work that we have been doing this season. There is a good blend of Bournonville in the Bournonville Variations and later in the evening we are dancing to Metallica music and rolling on the floor. It is a large challenge to show these two different techniques in one evening but it is great for us as dancers to go through those two stages of movement and hopefully it’s exciting for the audience as well. In the same program are new ballets by Johan Kobborg that are so much fun to dance. They both add a great bit of humor into the evening. It is great to feel the audiences excitement for the ballets but it is even more fun to hear them laugh and that happens easily in these two ballets by Johan."

Enjoy!

2011-05-23T19:53:00.000+02:00

We are having a day of. Getting rid of jetlag and ready to dance.

Have you seen the piece in Vanity Fair yet?

Alternative ways ...

2011-05-23T18:23:00.000+02:00

This is how (injured) soloist Sebastian Kloborg is trying to get on the tour. This cargo is being shipped to New York. Wish him luck …

Arrived in City of Angels

2011-05-23T08:30:00.000+02:00

Sooooo - RDBallet finally arrived in City of Angels. After nearly 18 hours of travel. Now heading to Costa Mesa, Orange County.

Flight attendant before take off in Copenhagen:
‎"Welcome to Delta flight 119, we have approximately 74 members of a dance team on board....I'm sorry, I've just been told it's not a dance team, it's the Royal Danish Ballet."

It sure is The Royal Danish Ballet. And we are so ready for you America.

Remember you can read about the tour schedule here: www.kglteater.dk/ustour11

Take off

2011-05-22T14:56:00.000+02:00

Royal Danish Ballet checking in to go to the US!

Interviews with Nikolaj Hübbe

2011-05-21T14:45:00.000+02:00

Artistic director of The Royal Danish Ballet, Nikolaj Hübbe, has given a bunch of interviews to the American press lately.

Read the interview in LA Times about Napoli and how he became artistic director here

And one more ...

The Orange County Register: What was the biggest challenge of leaving New York for Copenhagen?
Nikolaj Hübbe: To say farewell to dancing and City Ballet was not too hard. I think the hard part was moving from New York to Denmark and going from being a dancer to a director. I didn't miss the dancing, it was the new job. And the culture shock. I was 17 years in New York. I knew the language but I was self-conscious about speaking Danish. I didn't know the country and the ins and outs anymore.

Read the whole interview with The Orange County Register here

We got an App!

2011-05-19T17:00:00.000+02:00

Today we released our tour app. It's free, it's for iPhones and you can read more and download it here: http://kglteater.dk/balletapp

What else? Countdown! Last performance at Old Stage tonight, dancers in shape and suitcases packed.

America - we are ready for you.

Best

Camilla, PR Manager

We'll be here from May 20th

2011-04-05T15:51:00.000+02:00

Hi there,

This blog will be updated and written from May 20th. It will contain photos, videos and descriptions of our tour to the US. The author is the PR Manager of the company, but some of the dancers will be guest-bloggers as well.

Until May, you can read about our US Tour 2011 here.

See you soon.

Best
Camilla Høy,
RDBallet