Jane S

This is my review from the first performances of this production in 2011. The remarks about the dancing are no longer of relevance but I left most of them in as I thought it might give some idea of performance tradition. _______________________________________________________ At the last Bournonville Festival in 2005, A Folk Tale was billed as 'an enchanting comedy of mistaken identity' - a description which might apply very well to Coppelia, say, but which ignores the darker side of this strange, unique masterpiece. One of the aims of Nikolai Hubbe's new production is to restore the balance: traditionalists and historians may wish he'd done it by reverting to an earlier version, but there simply aren't enough traditionalists and historians to fill the big Opera House night after night, and Hu;bbe needs something that can hold its place in the regular repertoire rather than being brought out as an occasional treat. Compromise was inevitable, and the price of opening the ballet up to fit its new home and widen its appeal is the loss of some of its particularity and power. But let's be clear what's happening here. Hübbe is not throwing away a hallowed staging which goes back to the original in 1854: the version he's replacing is only twenty years old and was itself the fourth new production in 40 years; and with its brightly coloured, picture-book décor by Queen Margrethe it came in for some strong criticism of its own. Nor, so far as I know, has Hübbe cut one single step which could possibly be attributed to Bournonville. He's added a few new bits, to music borrowed from other works by the ballet's two composers, and he's changed some of the stage business and some of the mime; and more importantly than any of these, he's changed the period in which the story happens. A Folk Tale is about the conflict between normal everyday existence and the sinister underworld where the trolls and the elf-maidens live; the plot involves changeling girls and a young hero who falls in love with one of them whilst being engaged to marry the other. The original version turns on the moment when the girl stolen by the trolls encounters Christianity in a dream: but Hübbe, whose humanist leanings we've already seen at work in Napoli, has moved the action forward three hundred years or so to the later part of the nineteenth century - 'God is dead', and the girl dreams instead of the handsome young man she's briefly met in the forest. Freud is starting work around now, too, and Hübbe and his dramaturg, Ole Nørlyng, are keen on the theory that the trolls represent the unconscious dark side of the human characters. Of course they're not the first to have thought of that, but perhaps the idea hasn't been spelt out so clearly before. The programme notes go beyond the general to suggesting relationships between particular human/troll pairs - understandable in the case of the changelings (serene young lady and volatile troll), much more difficult to justify in other instances. It may seem strange to find trolls still around at all as late as the 1880s - in the original version they leave for Norway for ever at the end of the piece - but part of Hübbe's thesis is that they never left Denmark and indeed are still there, as 'we can't do without them'. (And as the hero, Junker Ove, is presented as a bookish young man - a budding scientist, perhaps - for whom there are no certainties, perhaps he sees trolls and elf-girls as just some of the odder by-products of evolution.) A big troll wedding party forms most of the second act, and I was disappointed that designer Mia Stensgaard (who did the RDB's Manon) chose to present the many guests as the sort of freaks - a headless giant, and so on - who wouldn't frighten anyone over the age of 4. Her elf-maidens are a lot more scary, especially after you discover that what distinguishes these wraiths from wilis, dryads etc is that every one of them has a jagged hole in the middle of her back. Stensgaard borrows inspiration for her 'real life' interiors from the famously cool paintings of Vilhelm Hammershøi, and the trolls' hall is a huge, appropriately distorted and deconstructed version, brilliantly lit by Mikki Kunttu. One of the first things one learns about A Folk Tale] is that the hero was originally a true danseur noble role - 'walk and stand', with no actual dancing at all. That's been gradually eroded over the years, and with this production it disappears completely, as Junker Ove now has a big solo in the first act. It doesn't work for me, not because it's nothing like Bournonville - I'd rather have something totally different than a poor pastiche - but because it's too like countless other solos we've seen for young nobles yearning for their romantic ideal in the woods at night. It's part of the reason the ballet seems less Danish than it did before. It also affects the casting, which now goes to a couple of jeunes premiers who handle it well but might not yet have the gravitas needed for the non-dancing version. Marcin Kupinski, the first cast, looks good and has the technique he needs - his characterisation is still somewhat generic but he has plenty of time to find a more individual approach. Meanwhile he was rewarded by an on-stage promotion to solodanser (principal) at the end of the first night. (The Danes do that sort of thing really well.) At the next performance Ulrik Birkkjær really surprised me by how much his acting has improved: he seems to have learnt to use his eyes, especially, to excellent effect. The stolen heiress, Hilda, is one of those apparently very simple roles which must be really difficult to get just right. She has to be the embodiment of innocence and virtue but with enough spirit to plot her escape from the trolls when they try to force her into marrying the evil Diderik. Susanne Grinder is sweet but almost too self-effacing, Hilary Guswiler (still in the corps de ballet and a real hope for the future) shows a stronger character. Both of them have to fight to assert themselves against the very strong competition from Kizzy Matiakis and Maria Bernholdt, respectively, as the scandalously indecorous Miss Birthe, the changeling troll-girl unable to stop her true nature bursting through the conventional society she's been abandoned to. (The new time frame, incidentally, opens up an obvious feminist interpretation of her plight, not so clearly apparent in the medieval setting.) She ends up in a hastily arranged marriage with Sir Mogens, very dashingly played by Mads Blangstrup on the first night. But that leads on, through (... plot details too complicated to transcribe ...) to what for me is the one really bad mistake of the production. Birthe has aspirations to be a dancer and bursts into the middle of Bournonville's lovely pas de sept with a brash new solo; worse, as the other dancers make their sweetly unassuming bow at the end, hand in hand, she pushes through the line for a big curtsy with lots of comic flourishes. It gets a laugh, true, but it's a horribly bathetic intrusion and spoils the whole atmosphere. If she must have a solo, let her do it before the pas de sept starts; and maybe if she then watches the others she will learn enough grace from them to keep out of the way at the end. The 'real' pas de sept dancers on the first night were a fine team - if I had to pick my favourites they would be Nikolaj Hansen, for his fluid stylishness, and Diana Cuni, for her amazing speed and attack. From a rather more mixed cast the next day I very much liked Alexandra lo Sardo and the always interesting Lena-Maria Gruber. Oh, and Alban Lendorf. That leaves the trolls. Morton Eggert was a powerful Muri, mistress of the troll-hall and mother of Hilda's rival suitors, Diderik and the good-natured Viderik. He could lose the over-exaggerated limp, though, and still dominate. Lis Jeppesen's Viderik was one of the star-turns of the last production, very sweet but steering dangerously close to cute. She seems to have changed very little for the new staging - just a little less sentimental, perhaps, but amusing all the same. Thomas Lund goes instead for a quieter interpretation - he's a nice troll rather than a dancer doing a big number. He's really touching in the scene where he has to watch Hilda, his unattainable love, finding happiness in a long (and new)romantic pas de deux with Ove: the dark night of his soul, if a troll had a soul. So that's the profits and losses balance sheet: the bottom line, should you go? If you've never seen A Folk Tale] before, yes, definitely – it's fun and you'll see some fine performances. If you have particularly fond memories of a production before the last one, yes, probably - there are lots of good things in it - but prepare yourself for a very different experience.

I think it's been filmed for television several times but nothing has ever been released on tape or DVD so far as I know. Queen Margrethe designed a production in 1991 which many liked but some still preferred an earlier version

New to the RDB's streaming list today is a rarity - Bournonville's A Folk Tale. I don't think this film has ever been shown before and it's a very long time since any verions of this near-legendary ballet has been aired. It's a recording from the last revival, in 2014, and the cast includes Hilary Guswiler as Hilda, Gregory Dean as Junker (Count) Ove and Alba Nadal as the changeling Miss Birthe. NB this is a Hubbe production (with Sorella Englund) and if you have seen and loved earlier versions you need to adjust your expectations. My review of it went down with ballet co but if you're interested in the background I'll post it here later.

Can I be lazy and just link you to what I said about it here when it was new? In brief: why you should see it: it's a stunning show and Alban Lendorf is in it why you may not want to: apart from Act 2 and the Black Swan pas de deux and a solo by Erik Bruhn in Act 1 it's all new

Next from the RDB is the Hubbe/Schandorff Swan Lake, with J'aime Crandall and Alban Lendorf.

Also, I missed in my first skim through the programme that Kizzy Matiakis gives her farewell performance with the company in the title role - which she created - in Blixen on April 22nd.

The RDB has announced its programme for next season, apparently in the expectation of being able to run a full season starting at the beginning of September. Ballets include: Come Fly Away (Twyla Tharp) Cinderella (Gregory Dean) La Sylphide (new production) Balanchine's Nutcracker Romeo and Juliet (Neumeier) Serenade/ Sibelius 4 (Jorma Elo)/Etudes Blixen (Gregoery Dean) Napoli La Bayadere Dans2G0 programme - works by Sebastian Kloborg, Peter Martins (Zakouski), Neumeier and Hofesh Shechter Principal dancer Amy Watson will give her farewell performance as Teresina in Napoli Full details in the season book

The latest addition to the RDB's streaming list is Kim Brandstrup's 2016 piece Rystet Spejl ( Shaken Mirror). It is another archive recording with special permission to be shown during the theatre's closure. This was a huge success in Denmark - see Eva Kistrup's glowing review - I very much regretted not seeing it at the time, and even more so now that for some reason I still can't get the RDB programmes. Tobias Praetorius has the leading role.

I now can't get more than about five minutes of any of their videos - have written to ask if they can fix it, but who knows if there's even anyone there to answer?

Looks as if they've withdrawn it, temporarily we hope.

Next production streaming from Copenhagen is the RDB's Raymonda, in NIkolaj Hübbe's 2017 production. (Some buffering problems at the moment, where I am, but let's hope that's only temporary.)

Even earlier than that, perhaps? I think they came over for the first time in 1947, to work with Metropolitan Ballet - Beriosova was about 15 - and by the early 50s she'd already moved on to the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet.

Only till 26th April I think.

From today the Rome Opera is streaming its ballet company in Le Parc, with Eleonora Abbagnato and Stephane Bullion in the leading roles . Looks like an archive film from 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0G60cdmSoU

May I recommend Matthew Bourne's 1993 film, Late Flowering Lust? It's a bit sad in the end but the dancing is terrific.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark celebrates her 80th birthday today - a gala planned for earlier in the week had of course to be cancelled, so instead the theatre had added to its streaming list a performance of the ballet that would have been shown, most appropriately, at the gala - Balanchine's Ballo della Regina. Holly Dorger and Jonathan Chmelensky have the leading roles. The ballet was staged by Merrill Ashley and Stacey Caddell. The film is an internal archive recording and all the parcticipants have given permission for it to be streamed during the theatre's shutdown.

There are no time restrictions mentioned anywhere that I can see.

The RDB has just added Neumeier's Romeo and Juliet (with Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas) to its streaming list. Also they have a piece for children called De Glemte Børn (The Forgotten Children), danced by the Royal Danish Ballet School. Choreography by Gregory Dean. An RDB bonus - you can see the entire programme book for each performance - click on Læs Programmet. It's in Danish but there are lots of good pictures.

I like this, from Jonathan Chmelensky's Instagram . (read the caption)

I would ignore 1 - 16 and under 17 I would put 'I like ballet.'

The RDB has just added its performance of Wheeldon's Alice to its list of performances online

Who else remembers him best in A Tale of Two Cities? In 1957?

Bournonville's choreography was long gone by the time Kirsten Ralov made her version - his original version was not popular (too much dancing and not enough story?) and was gradually dropped till only a few minutes remained. Harald Lander, and later Hans Brenaa, worked on it before Kirsten Ralov, and the version shown at the 2005 Festival was by Dinna Bjørn. The current choreography is by Hubbe and Silja Schandorff - I once asked Hubbe about it (on the record) and he said they were just trying to tell the story - 'just steps' - though I actually quite like it and it reminded me in places of Ondine, though Hubbe said he'd never seen that. Also they've changed Act 3 several times since this version was new, for the better in some cases but not always.

Given the developing situation with the COVID-19 virus, the Royal Opera House is currently closed (home page of ROH site now)

The Royal Danish Ballet has today cancelled all performances up to March 27th - ticket money will be refunded automatically. Earlier this week they had announced that becasue of the limit of 1000 people in any assembly, they were continuing their performance schedule but were cutting the audience by half, with the intention that no two people would sit together. How they were doing this I have no idea but it must have been a huge job and now completely wasted... The RDB were due to give their premiere of Neumeier's Mahler3rd Symphony on Saturday - there are a few performances at the very end of March and one in April so they might just get those.