Royal Danish Ballet bounce through Bournonville's A Folk Tale

The Royal Danish Ballet in A Folk Tale

Astrid Elbo as Hilda and Holly Dorger as Miss Birthe in A Folk Tale

Ditte Baltzer and Mattia Santini in the pas de sept from A Folk Tale

Holly Dorger as Miss Birthe and Wilma Li and Josephine Henriksen as Maids in A Folk Tale

By Zoë Anderson, 20 October 2024

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“They don’t touch, but there’s a glowing connection between them”

Reviewed at The Old Stage, The Royal Theatre, Copenhagen on 17 October 2024

A Folk Tale (August Bournonville, Nikolaj Hübbe, Sorella Englund)

Royal Danish Ballet

Mia Stensgaard, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Mikki Kunttu, Lighting Designer

Astrid Elbo, Dancer

Holly Dorger, Dancer

Irresistible: Justin Peck’s The Wind-Up premieres at NYCB

Carla Escoda, 29th January

Never has Justin Peck seemed more compositionally assured, and paradoxically freer, than in his latest ballet, breaking the mold of past work that mostly celebrated the camaraderie of his generation.

****1

Pure Bournonville bounce: Johan Kobborg's La Sylphide in Prague

Deborah Weiss, 14th May

The Czech National Ballet bears all the hallmarks of a group of dancers who are hungry to learn and to embody whatever is offered to them.

*****

BRB2 in Carlos Acosta's Classical Selection is full of vitality

Graham Watts, 25th April

With five founding dancers in BRB2, this inaugural dance salad was embellished with other ingredients including the addition of seven members from the main company.

****1

A roller-coaster of diverse dance as ENB celebrates its 70th

Graham Watts, 17th January

A slick and stylish celebration at the Coliseum of this great company's achievements over 70 years.

****1

The Royal Danish Ballet "an expression of joy" in New York

Ivy Lin, 9th July

The program notes include a quote by August Bournonville that says, "The Dance ... is essentially an expression of joy." And in this short but sweet program the company proved that it can still give a master class in showing the joy of The Dance.

*****

A Romantic looking back: the Staatsballett in La Sylphide

Katja Vaghi, 12th March

The catchphrase for the Staatsballet’s La Sylphide is 'Kilts and kicks’ or ‘kilts and beats’. A real feast for the eyes alas, it is over in no time!

*****

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Zoë Anderson

Zoë Anderson is a dance critic and writer. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years (Faber) and The Ballet Lover’s Companion (Yale). She has written for The Independent, the i newspaper, the Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.