The Royal Danish Ballet Performs
A Folk Tale
@ The Kennedy Center Opera House
"One of the best stage productions I've ever seen."
On their third stop of the US Tour, The Royal Danish Ballet brought out all the theatrics to entertain their audience at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night. Performing an August Bournonville classic, A Folk Tale, the audience was dazzled by surprising pyrotechnics, 3-D animated projections, costuming that reminded me of a menagerie of BeetleJuice and the Royal Wedding, a set design that gives the MTV Awards a run for their money, and engineering Gaga wishes she had when it came time to open her infamous Born this Way egg (#Fail).
"...a vivid piece of living ballet history."
~Monna Dithmer
New Artistic Director, Nicolaj Hubbe, has only been with the company for three years. However his veracity, attention to detail, and willingness to evolve traditional ballets into modern marvels, reminds us that ballet is more than just technique-it's the overall performance experience that really shows the growth and development of a dancer and a company.
"Pantomime and a mix of French and Italian technique is what makes the Royal Danish Ballet unique."
In Hubbe's and Sorella Englund's (Choreographer) rendition of this romantic comedy, A Folk Tale, the folklore and traditional aesthetics of the Royal Danish School is still evident today. Pantomime and a mix of French and Italian technique is what makes the Royal Danish Ballet unique. Their ability to successfully express a story "through dance steps and conjure three-dimensional characters...[has] the power to make audiences sense the vulnerability and inner conflict of the characters on stage" (Monna Dithmer, The Dark Shadow of Bournonville).
"...3 thumbs up & an encore for the
Royal Danish Ballet!"
As an eye-popping introduction to the Danish ballet, I have to say, I absolutely loved the artistry, story-telling, theatrics, music, set designs, make-up, and pretty much everything and everyone who dedicated their time to the success of this ballet. If I had one disappointment (and this is me just being picky, because not everything is perfect), it would be the ballerina who played the whimsical Hilda. Either she forgot to eat her Wheaties this morning, or she forgot to warm up, because honey was a bit wobbly on stage. But overall a beautiful performance, standing ovation, 3 thumbs up, and an encore for the Royal Danish Ballet! I can't wait to see more!
About A Folk Tale
A Folk Tale draws on the notion of a Danish ethos and casts a romantic light on the realm of both the mundane world and that of the underworld. The enchanted mid-summer nights are seductive, and the dance of the elf girls evokes our passion and yearning. But beware! Changelings and stolen goblets forewarn the dangers of the underworld. The changeling Hilda, who has been raised by trolls, carries a goblet-symbolising a chalice-that follows her through troubles and trepidations before she finally weds Junker Ove, a nobleman. Thus the ballet is charged with Romanticist tension between this world and the demonic underworld. The heathen creatures of the folktale bow to Christian propriety and straightforward common sense. All is well that ends well as Gade's wedding waltz is played-a tune that is played at all Danish weddings thus tying the knot between Bournonville and Danish popular culture.
-From The Kennedy Center Playbill of A Folk Tale
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