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Ballet Blowing Hot & Cold

"The Snow Queen"
Finnish National Ballet
Operaen, The Royal Danish Theatre
Copenhagen, Denmark
January 28, 2017

by Alexander Meinertz
copyright © Alexander Meinertz 2017

On the eve of Kenneth Greve’s departure as artistic director of the Finnish National Ballet, the former principal dancer of the Royal Danish Ballet, has brought his company to perform at his Alma Mater in Copenhagen as part of celebrations in connection with the 100^th anniversary of Finland’s independence. Greve has directed the Finnish company since 2008, but announced in July of last year that this would be his final season in Helsinki: during his 10 years as director, he has created new productions of “Scheherazade,” “Swan Lake,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Snow Queen” for the company, which was originally founded in 1921. 

Bournonville, From New York

"Bournonville Divertissements" and “La Sylphide”
The New York City Ballet
Opera House
JFK Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
March 6, 2016 (Sunday matinee) 

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2016 by Alexandra Tomalonis

An all-Bour- nonville program isn’t what one expects from the New York City Ballet, but Bournon- ville, along with Petipa, is an artistic ancestor of George Balanchine. Both Bournonville and Petipa studied with Auguste Vestris, the magnificent late 18^th century star and great teacher in Paris at the beginning of the 19^th century. One of Bournonville’s pupils, Christian Johansson, came to St. Petersburg and was an honored teacher there. Johansson died in 1903, just before Balanchine was born, and his influence must have still been felt.

Balanchine himself had a connection to the Royal Danish Ballet, the company whose aesthetic and style was formed by August Bournonville. Balanchine worked there briefly in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. He invited Stanley Williams, a noted teacher with the RDB, to come to New York, and while Williams was not a Bournonville teacher per se, he brought much of what he had learned at home. Balanchine was quoted, to explain why he felt that “ballet is woman,” that one reason was because “boys don’t have a speedy leg.” But Danish male dancers do, and Balanchine coveted it, inviting several noted Danish men to dance at the NYCB. One of whom, of course, is Peter Martins, now the director of the NYCB.

 Lauren King and Anthony Huxley in August Bournonville’s Bournonville Divertissements.  Photo credit: Paul Kolnik

The Sylphide Abattoir

"La Sylphide"
The Royal Danish Ballet
Det Kongelige Teater
Copenhagen, Denmark
25 October and 6 Novembe, 2014

by Alexander Meinertz
copyright 2014 by Alexander Meinertz

[Editor's note: This article first appeared in the Danish online magazine, Doxa -- http://www.magasinetdoxa.dk/slagtebaenk-sylfiden.html -- and is reproduced here with Doxa's permission.]

It is the most powerful moment of the evening as well as the most difficult, both for Nikolaj Hübbe in the role of Madge and for me as a witness, a member of the audience: the ballet master arches his back like a furious, frothing animal. He raises his arms above his head in a cruel gesture, unfolds his hands as poisonous claws. His face contorts, his eyes nearly popping out of his head in a series of uncontrollable and conflicted emotions and expressions. He is a sick rapist, a yearning lover, a man who regains his sanity after committing a terrible deed: young James Ruben lies dead at his feet, destroyed and drawn of all life by Hübbe in a fatal, possessive vampire’s kiss.

The title figure of “La Sylphide” is long dead, and has been carried to the wings as a lifeless puppet by the evil manipulator’s henchmen: no longer the focus point and poetic incarnation of August Bournonville’s Romantic classic from 1836, but just a pawn in a devilish game where only Madge/Hübbe triumphs.

The White Mughal

“La Bayadère”
Royal Danish Ballet
Gamle Scene
Copenhagen, Denmark
November 21, 2012

by Alexander Meinertz
copyright 2012 by Alexander Meinertz

Solor as Sir William? Nikolaj Hübbe’s recent staging of “La Bayadère” in Copenhagen reinterprets the original Petipa libretto casting the ballet’s aristocratic warrior as an English colonel, setting the drama of love and betrayal during the British Raj. Judging by the Edwardian party dresses and military uniforms, sometime in the early 20th Century: think Downton Abbey meets Bollywood and, thanks to set designer Richard Hudson, with an element of Bakst thrown in for good measure. 

Bringing Back the Banned

The Bright Stream
Bolshoi Ballet
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
January 2004

By Alexander Meinertz
Copyright © 2003 Alexander Meinertz

The new director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky, has performed the unlikely feat of bringing successfully back to life a Shostakovich ballet banned by Stalin and denigrated by no less a figure than Agrippina Vaganova. The Bright Stream was given its European premiere in Paris last week in connection with the ensemble's season at the Palais Garnier.

"Symphony in C" in Paris

"Symphony in C" in Paris
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
October 15, 2003

by Alexander Meinertz
Copyright ©2003 by Alexander Meinertz

There was confusion before the start of the Paris Opera Ballet's new season about whether the company dance Le Palais de cristal, as originally announced, or Symphony in C. It turned out to be the latter. The program book explained it this way: "This new production is danced in the New York City Ballet's black and white version, just as the choreography ultimately envisaged it."

But Symphony in C is not Le Palais de cristal. Balanchine created the latter in just two weeks for Paris Opera Ballet in 1947, with sumptuous sets and glamorous costumes by Léonor Fini, and restaged it for Ballet Society in 1948. In Paris the ballet had different colour costumes for each movement, in New York the ballet was uniformly clad with the women in white tutus and the men in black tights and vests. In France each movement was named after a jewel—my personal favourite being Black Diamond (2nd movement) and in New York Balanchine simply named them numerically. And although the overall structure and outline of Symphony in C remained the same as that of Le Palais de crystal the choreography in fact differed greatly in detail, not to mention atmosphere: The Black Diamond more so than the other three movements.