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Swans and Fishermen

"Swan Lake" (Peter Martins)
Royal Danish Ballet
Opera House
Copenhagen, Denmark
December 2006

"Napoli"
Royal Danish Ballet
Old Stage
Copenhagen, Denmark
December 2006

by Eva Kistrup
copyright 2006 by Eva Kistrup


When Peter Martins created his version of "Swan Lake" to the Royal Danish Ballet it was performed on the Old Stage. Last year, through a generous donation, Copenhagen and The Royal Theatre received a top notch Opera house with a larger stage, and although the plan originally was to gain a new custom built "Swan Lake" in a few years time, the ballet luckily chose the obvious solution: to restage the Martins ballet and to restage it now. Luckily, because it is probably the last chance for some of our top dancers to shine in the classic (they are steadily approaching 40) and it is a good challenge for the full company.

But the transformation to the larger stage unfortunately also enlarges the not-so-good elements in this production. In short, although there are many good things in the production, very little of it is choreographed by Peter Martins. His dances for the corps and soloists—normally where the choreographer can show his own qualities—is thin and boring. Only the “Russian” Pas de deux (and Russian here means broad folklore Russian) has some effect, and that might be attributed to the campiness of the number.

Martins has also chosen a rather minimalistic "Swan Lake", so there is no need for the mime and dramatic skills of the company. It could as well be for any other company. The minimalistic approach also makes it difficult for the dancers who are not the born to dance a prince or swan princess.

The couple from the first production ten years ago, Silja Schandorff and Kenneth Greve, are the ultimate Siegfried and Odette in looks, technique, musicality and dramatic presence, so they have no problem whatsoever in filling in all the blanks in Martins' version and raise it to a higher and more meaningful level. But several of the other couples are not as born to the parts and are little helped by Martins' sketchy approach. For example, the prince's entry. If he is not a danseur noble in looks and posture, nothing will tell the audience that royalty has arrived. And so begins the trouble in getting the story told.

No less than five couple have been assigned to "Swan Lake." There are very few ballet companies in the world that can boast five good lead couples for "Swan Lake" and the RDB is not one of them, especially since Mads Blangstrup and Gudrun Bojesen, who have both danced the ballet previously, are omitted for this run (They are currently rehearsing the lead roles in Flemming Flindt's "Caroline Mathilde.") For the first night, Martins had chosen company stalwart Caroline Cavallo, paired with newest principal Kristoffer Sakurai. Given the problems Sakurai had shown in recent productions of "Romeo and Juliet," "La Sylphide" and "Etudes," it is clear that although he is a talented dancer with a good line, his technique and jumps are not adequate for "Swan Lake" and although Cavallo is proficient, she does not have the dramatic range nor the build that unfairly is so much part of being a convincing swan princess, so neither were able to bring the level of dancing and acting needed to create an interesting "Swan Lake". Later in the run, Cavallo also danced with Kenneth Greve, and in spite of his strong partnering skills, she did not make a stronger impact, and was on that occasion overshadowed by Greve's ardent acting and top notch technique. He speaks classical dancing fluently and is a joy to watch from the smallest hand movement to the large fluent jumps.

I have not yet seen Gitte Lindstrøm and Andrew Bowman in this run, but from previous experience I know that they have earned their place in the line up. In January Jean Lucien Massot is scheduled to dance with Amy Watson. The fifth couple danced mid-December: Chinese dancer Yao Wei has been with the company for several seasons and was appointed soloist last year. Swedish Sebastian Michanek joined RDB this season as soloist. So this couple is the youngest and most unexperienced of the five. Neither could be said to have the body type for their roles, so it would be an uphill battle in a production that gives newcomers very little to lean on and theirs was not a good performance by any standard.

Unfortunately this is becoming a trend in Copenhagen. When reappointed to ballet master, Frank Andersen cast conservatively, depending heavily on the established stars. These last seasons his castings have been more of a gamble which lately have turned into a hazard. It is nessesary to develop new stars, as most of the principal dancers are approaching the pension age of 40. But the method Andersen has chosen seems to be, instead of carefully considered casting in alliance with type and talent, to throw dancers into big parts without having the benefit of having them try something on a smaller scale first. Therefore we have seen Sylphs, swan princes and princesses, and lately Gennaro in "Napoli," danced by dancers who are neither the type for the part, nor have the necessary technique or dramatic skill to have even a remote chance to succeed.

Casting Tim Matiakis as Gennaro (the role, together with James in "La Sylphide," is the signature role of the company) seems equally unnecessary. The company has three good Gennaros in Mads Blangstup, Thomas Lund and Kristoffer Sakurai, each representing a key approach: Blangstrup as the full-blooded dramatic masculine type, Lund the demi-caractere, and Sakuari as the — for lack of a better word — ingénue. The only reason to bring in Matiakis would be if he could present a different approach to the part. Technically he is a terrific spinner, though a poor jumper, and although he has a good dramatic face he has little dramatic range and so far has not done well in the Bournonville style. But apparently this has not been considered by the five-person group of directors of "Napoli". How did he fare? Well, much as expected. When a part is undercast, what happens is that the part seems much smaller than it is, and it must also be said the five directors seem to be at least one too few, for no one had apparently explained to Matiakis that during his mad rush in Act one he should mouth the name Teresina at the appropriate musical cue. When Thomas Lund did his first Gennaro some years back, it was apparent how well he understood the material and the part. Matiakis does not seem to have worked as much in-depth with the material and the tradition.

These are vital years in the Bournonville tradition. In a very few years time there will be no dancers left who have worked with Hans Brenaa, Kirsten Ralov or Henning Kronstam. Yet we are lucky because dancers like Thomas Lund, Mads Blangstrup, Tina Højlund, Gitte Lindstrøm and Gudrun Bojesen, who were children or apprentices during the Brenna-Ralov and Kronstam years, and seem able to keep the lineage and the special understanding of how to perform and dance Bournonville, but too many bad casting decisions can blur the process. Does the next Gennaro know who to emulate? Blangstrup, Lund or Matiakis? It is a vital decision and it is important that Bournonville is not used, as it has been before in mid-festival years, as a sort of free buffet, where casting decisions are less based on artistry and more on personal and democratic preferences. It did happen after the first Bournonville festival, and although annoying, the consequences were not as scary, as the resources were in place to secure that the odd castings did not influence the long line. But do we have the same assurance today?

But as is often the case with RDB the mediocre and the brilliancy work hand in hand, because at the same performance we could count two inspired castings for Teresina and Golfo. Diana Cuni has for years been one of our best Bournonville dancers — indeed, best dancers generally — but so far, in spite of being an obvious choice for the leading Bournonville ladies, she has been kept at demi-soloist level. Small, dark and with a wonderfully expressive face, she covers more ground than most dancers and her style is soft, musical and bouncy. She is the epitome of the soubrette dancer. Her qualities have been obvious for several years and she proved to be the sweet, warm, true Teresina with a strong dramatic presence and wonderful dancing, with lots of details. She truly understands her Bournonville. Why did she and the audience have to wait so long for something so obvious?

The role of Golfo has for years been cast in the shadow of Frank Schaufuss, who was the great Golfo of the 50ties and 60ties, tall, dark, majestic and mysterious, but this time we got a very welcome break from copycat Golfos by the casting of Morten Eggert, a smaller, sturdier dancer with a strong dramatic talent. His mimic skills and strong personality, combined with the equally dramatically gifted Cuni, brought a new quality to the part. This second act was no Brønnum act (in earlier years the public often left the theatre in the second act of "Napoli" to take refreshment at the restaurant Brønnum across the street). The second act of this latest production of "Napoli" is marred by ugly costumes and too scholastic reconstructions with less life and effect, but with this inspired casting everything worked beautifully and got to the core of Bournonville. I hope that this production will help the artistic management see how much dancers like Eggert and Cuni bring to a performance and start using them more. At the Bournonville seminar, Cuni and Eggert demonstrated Italian mimes and showed their considerable skills. It is skills and dancers with these qualities that are essential for the company and for the uniqueness of the RDB. Could we please see more of them and their approach to the roles? This is the core quality of the RDB and should never be forgotten.

Photos:
First: Marie-Pierre Greve and Sebastian Michanek in the Russian Dance in Peter Martins' "Swan Lake." Photo: Henrik Steinberg.
Second: Silja Schandorff and Kenneth Greve in "Swan Lake". Photo: Henrik Steinberg.
Third: Diana Cuni and Tim Matiakis in "Napoli." Photo: Martin Mydtskov Ronne.
Fourth: Diana Cuni and Morten Eggert, as Golfo, in "Napoli." Photo:Martin Mydtskov Ronne.

Volume 4, No. 46
December 25, 2006

copyright ©2006 Eva Kistrup
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