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"The Lesson" (Flemming Flindt)
"La Sylphide" (August Bournonville)
The Royal Danish Ballet
September 27, 2006

by Eva Kistrup
copyright ©2006 by Eva Kistrup

The Danish ballet tradition is a male tradition. The star of the company tends to be the leading male dancer rather than the ballerina, and the repertoire gives the leading male dancer a broad spectrum of opportunities to dance and act. The two greatest male roles in the Bournonville repertoire demand an equal amount of dancing and acting.

Looking at the current company, we are blessed with a group of very strong male dance actors: Kenneth Greve, Mads Blangstrup, Thomas Lund to mention a few, but as these dancers are in their thirties, it is necessary to focus on younger dancers to assure the line. And when you look at the younger dancers, 26 years old Kristoffer Sakurai demands attention. He has previously done a fine, though timid, Gennaro, a bland Romeo and some very fine minor parts, and now he is to present his take on the company’s signature male role: James in "La Sylphide." Anticipation was in the air. A new James (Sakurai has danced the part earlier, I believe, on tour) really brings in the fans.

How did he fare? Not as well as hoped, but well within reasonable expectations. Sakurai's force is his beautiful plastique and lines. He is a very elegant dancer. He is no virtuoso and his jumps lack the soaring heights necessary for James trying to equal the Sylph's flight. Dramatically he was very limited and did not go beyond a mildly confused look. But Sakurai would probably have looked better, had it not been for two really outstanding performances the same evening.

Young Alexander Stæger did not only produce a finely acted Gurn — a Gurn who was not a fool — but he also danced his solo with high jumps and a light and pleasing style. It was a very good debut. And in Flemming Flindt's "The Lesson," based on a Ionesco play, Thomas Lund showed outstanding acting and dramatic presence. It would not be wrong to claim that he redefined the ballet. "The Lesson" is Flemming Flind'ts first ballet, and it remains his best, even though it includes the crudeness and violence so dominant in his later works. Flindt has changed the Ionesco plot from a German lesson to a ballet lesson where the mad teacher ends up strangling his young pupil. When Lund makes his entrance he is such a shy nerd crawling by the panels that it is difficult to imagine him turning in to the monster we know he will become by the end of the ballet. But Lund managed within less than 15 minutes to make a 180 degree turn, becoming madder, culminating in a totally distorted facial expression as the dance master with the fatal fetish for pointe dancing. When Gudrun Bojesen danced the pupil recently with Johan Kobborg, she dominated the performance, but opposite Lund's class act, she was reduced to being his prop, and yet essentially she was giving the same fine performance as the sunny pupil. For the international audience, who primarily knows Lund as the light Bournonville dancer, seeing him in "The Lesson" must be a strange experience. He had had a very dry year last year with few new parts and none that really suited him. He may not be the easiest dancer for whom to find an appropriate repertoire, but his extraordinary talent demand that the effort is made. "The Lesson" is not a particularly good ballet, but it serves the purpose of giving Lund a frame in which to perform and develop. Later in the season, we will see Flemming Flindt's blockbuster "Caroline Mathilde," a ballet that has little merit except for giving Lund an opportunity to perform his magic as the mad king Christian VII. It may be reason enough to perform it. Thomas Lund will also dance James at upcoming performances.

The other great performance of the evening was Silja Schandorff's Sylph, who took over where Sakurai failed. It may be a wiser decision to cast Sakurai with a softer, smaller sylph and it would definitely have been better to match Schandorff with a dramatically stronger James. Better for her, better for the performance and better for the tradition.

Photos: all by Martin Mydtskov Rønne.
First: Kristoffer Sakurai (James) and Diana Cuni (Effy) in "La Sylphide."
Second: Gudrun Boesen and Thomas Lund in "The Lesson."
Third: Silja Schandorff and Kristoffer Sakurai in "La Sylphide"

Volume 4, No. 35
October 2, 2006
copyright ©2006 Eva Kistrup
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