The Royal Danish Ballet, founded in 1748, is one of the world’s most renowned ballet companies and comprises 55 exceptional dancers.
The company was founded with the opening of the Royal Danish Theatre in 1748, and it has been its home ever since. The Royal Danish Ballet School was founded in 1771 under the leadership of French ballet teacher Pierre Laurent (1730–1807), and Vincenzo Galeotti later developed it. August Bournonville founded the school’s methodology.
The 600-seat opera house on the harbor front has been the Royal Danish Ballet’s home for over 250 years. The company is led by artistic director Amy Watson. Today, the Royal Danish Ballet is a modern ballet company with both Danish and international dancers.
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One of the company’s early masters, Vincenzo Galeotti, is considered the veritable founder. He was master of the company from 1775 to 1816, and introduced ballet d’action and prepared for the advent of romantic ballet.
During the half-century that the Danish dancer August Bournonville led the company (1828–1879), he choreographed about fifty ballets, of which about a dozen remain in the company’s repertoire. The works are highly influenced by the French school of dance, since Bournonville studied in that country, and include key roles for male dancers, undoubtedly written with himself in mind. After his death, one of his successors, Hans Beck, used the basic steps he learned in Bournonville’s classes to establish the Bournonville school, which teaches contemporary dancers the tradition of the old master.
The third great period of the Danish Royal Ballet came in 1932, when Harald Lander took over the helm of the corps. Trained in the United States and the Soviet Union, he both adapted traditional ballets and choreographed original works for the company. He encouraged local choreographers, who went on to create prominent works that won international acclaim.
All dancers retire at the age of 40. However, not all of them quit at the theatre. Henriette Brøndholm started at the company’s ballet school when she was nine years old and now works as the shoe manager at the theatre. From her own performances, she knows how much black toes hurt. “When the audience is there, and music plays, it doesn’t matter how much it costs you in toenails and blisters,” she says. “It’s all worth it.”
“The challenge as a dancer is as much mental as it is physical,” says lead dancer Astrid Elbo. “I need to concentrate and visualize like an athlete – planning the day, thinking about nutrition, and getting extra protein.”
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Artistic director Amy Watson was born in 1981 and trained as a ballet dancer at The School of American Ballet in New York. She became a corps dancer at the Royal Ballet in 2000, appointed soloist in 2003, and principal dancer in 2007. She began teaching at the Royal Danish Ballet in 2016 and assisted with the ballet’s productions until her retirement as a dancer.
The Royal Danish Ballet – 55 Exceptional Dancers, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (top): J’aime Crandall and Alexander Bozinoff in Raymonda. Photo
© Henrik Stenberg.