Nikolaj Hubbe, former beloved NYCB principal of course, will be returning to NY with the Royal Danish Ballet, of which he is now the artistic director. The company will be performing over the summer, but first, they’ll be showcased at the Guggenheim, in a Works & Process event, on March 20th and 21st. He’ll be one of the panelists, talking about the rep the company will be performing – ballets by the founder of RDB August Bournonville, by Jorma Elo and by Hubbe himself – with excerpts from those dances performed. The event is already sold out, so the Guggenheim is generously live-streaming both nights free on their ustream channel. Again, as with other W&P live-streams, you can participate in an online chat on the aforesaid ustream channel, and you can also follow discussions on Twitter, using hashtag #RDB or by following @worksandprocess.
For more info on the program and on the company, click on the link below.
Above image from here.
Watch the livestream, both nights at www.ustream.tv/channel/worksandprocess
Join the conversation on Twitter @worksandprocess and #RDB
Candice Thompson of The Winger and DIY Dancer will guest moderate the online chat that accompanies the livestream on March 21 @diydancer
Prior to their American tour in May and June 2011, Royal Danish Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from the repertory. Artistic Director and former New York City Ballet principal Nikolaj Hübbe will share his vision for the company in a discussion moderated by John Meehan, Professor of Dance at Vassar College. Dancers will perform highlights from August Bournonville’s The Jockey Dance, La Sylphide, A Folk Tale, and Bournonville Variations, plus Nikolaj Hübbe’s new staging of Napoli, and Jorma Elo’s Lost on Slow.
For more information on The Royal Danish Ballet and their 2011 United State tour, please visit: http://www.kglteater.dk/ustour11.
PANEL
Nikolaj Hübbe
John Meehan
CAST
Susanne Grinder (Principal)
Gudrun Bojesen (Principal)
Amy Watson (Principal)
Kizzy Matiakis (Soloist)
Jean-Lucien Massot (Principal)
Thomas Lund (Principal)
Ulrik Birkkjær (Principal)
Nikolaj Hansen (Soloist)
Alban Lendorf (Soloist)
Alexander Stæger (Soloist)
PROGRAM
Excerpts from Bournonville Variations
Music: Bournonville schools arranged by Martin Åkerwall
Danced by Alban Lendorf, Ulrik Birkkjær, Thomas Lund, Nicolai Hansen, Alexander Stæger
Excerpts from Lost on Slow
Music: Antonio Vivaldi
Choreography: Jorma Elo
Costumes: Annette Nørgaard
2nd movement
Danced by Kizzy Matiakis, Amy Watson, Jean-Lucien Massot
4th movement
Danced by Jean-Lucien Massot
The Jockey Dance
Music: C. C. Møller
Choreography: August Bournonville
Costumes: Jens-Jacob Worsaae
Danced by Thomas Lund, Alban Lendorf
Excerpts from A Folktale
Music: N. W. Gade, J. P. E. Hartmann
Choreography: August Bournonville
Pas de sept
Danced by Gudrun Bojesen, Susanne Grinder, Kizzy Matiakis, Amy Watson
Ulrik Birkkjær, Nicolai Hansen, Alexander Stæger
Excerpts from La Sylphide
Music: H. S. Løvenskiold
Choreography: August Bournonville
Costumes: Mikael Melbye
The Window Scene
Gudrun Bojesen, Ulrik Birkkjær
The Death Scene
Gudrun Bojesen, Ulrik Birkkjær
Excerpts from Napoli
Music: E. Helsted, H. C. Lumbye, H. S. Paulli, Ole Bull
Choreography: Nikolaj Hübbe
Costumes: Maja Ravn
Pas de Deux from 1.act
Susanne Grinder, Alexander Stæger
The Tarantella
All
Bournonville Variations
The Bournonville style has always been an integrated part of the Royal Danish Ballet’s training programme and repertoire, ever since the day of Bournonville. The Bournonville style is clearly definable and is recognizable by the gracious performance of each step, the softly rounded arms, the direction of head and torso and the natural, joyous expression in the dance. The six Bournonville Schools were created by one of Bournonville’s successors, Hans Beck and the schools were handed down from generation to generation with the changes and embellishments that come naturally with an oral tradition.
Lost On Slow
Set to music by Vivaldi and danced by a stunning cast of three women and three men. With geometric sharpness and quick isolation of body parts, the dancers go through a tempest of arbitrary gestures, tightly woven motifs, and doll-like maneuvers. The soft-slippered, ornate tutu-ed ballerinas slither in and out of the arms of their male counterparts in striking stances–sometimes frozen, sometimes trembling. It is a sophisticated, macabre dialogue of tongue-in-cheek mime/modern dance and human puppetry.
The Jockey Dance comes from Bournonville’s last ballet From Siberia to Moscow (1876); various European rivers are characterized in a divertissement constructed a little in the style of the grand Russian ballets with which Bournonville had become acquainted during his trip to Russia a few years earlier. Two jockeys represent the British love of horse racing and, moreover, symbolize the river Thames. From Siberia to Moscow was last seen on stage in 1904. In 1929 The Jockey Dance was included in Bournonvilleana and in 1949 in Salute for August Bournonville. In 1979, with the help of film footage shot by Peter Elfelt at the beginning of the 20th century, Niels Bjørn Larsen reconstructed The Jockey Dance for a group of young soloists from the Royal Danish Ballet.
La Sylphide
La Sylphide is Bournonville’s only tragic ballet.. La Sylphide was created in 1832 by Filipo Taglioni for his daughter the dancer Maria Taglioni at the Paris Opera. Bournonville saw the ballet in Paris in 1834, and two years later he staged his own version in Copenhagen with Lucile Grahn as the Sylph and himself as James. Bournonville commissioned the composer Herman Severin Løvenskiold to compose a new, original score. La Sylphide is a breakthrough work in European Romantic ballet. The young Scotsman, James, is split between the world he knows and the dream of a different, more tempting and dangerous life.
Napoli, Act III
This is the gripping tale of the charming Teresina and the poor fisherman Gennaro, whose love is challenged by the seductive sea daemon Golfo and his naiads, is homage to love. Additionally, it is a timeless story about youth and dreams. Napoli is one of the most important principle works of the Royal Danish Ballet’s unique legacy.
Napoli is not just Bournonville’s main work, but also among the most prominent works in the entire international ballet repertoire. The celebratory dance of the third act has with time become the hallmark of the Royal Danish Ballet. This new staging of Bournonville’s masterpiece takes us back to a decaying Napoli in the 1950s.
LOCATION
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue at 88th Street
Subway – 4, 5, 6 train to 86th Street
Bus – M1, M2, M3, or M4 bus on Madison or Fifth Avenue
TICKETS (SOLD OUT)
$50 General
$40 Guggenheim Members
$25 Students (25 and under with valid student ID)
(212) 423-3587, M-F, 1–5 PM or visit worksandprocess.org
Works & Process at the Guggenheim
For over 25 years and in over 350 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works, offered audiences unprecedented access to our generation’s leading creators and performers, and hosted post-show receptions for the audiences and artists to continue the discussion. Each 80-minute performance uniquely combines artistic creation and stimulating conversation and takes place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson.
Lead funding provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation with additional support from The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, The Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc.
This program is supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
