Photo Flash: The Royal Danish Ballet Comes To Jacob's Pillow

The Royal Danish Ballet, the third oldest ballet company in the world, returns to The Ted Shawn Theatre to open the 2018 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, June 20-24. Through an impeccable mastery of the Bournonville tradition, principals and soloists of this historic company perform excerpts from classical ballet's enduring masters including August Bournonville, Marius Petipa, and Jules Perrot.

Check out photos from the engagement below!

"It is an absolute treasure to have the Royal Danish Ballet open the Festival 2018 and celebrate their rich legacy at Jacob's Pillow with a program that features some of their best known works performed by their dancers trained in a technique that is distinctively theirs. It is an honor for us to welcome back to the Pillow one of our most distinguished alumni, their Artistic Director Nikolaj Hübbe," says Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge.

The return of the Royal Danish Ballet is a continuation of the rich Pillow-Danish tradition, which dates back to 1954 when leading soloist Inge Sand made her U.S. debut at Jacob's Pillow Festival as she stepped in to replace another soloist at the last minute. A group of Soloists from the Royal Danish Ballet made its U.S. debut at the Pillow in the summer of 1955, which led to the full company's U.S. debut in the summer of 1957. In recognition, the King of Denmark knighted Jacob's Pillow founder Ted Shawn in 1957 to celebrate and commemorate his role in introducing American audiences to Danish ballet and the work of famed choreographer August Bournonville.

The Royal Danish Ballet has returned to the Pillow many times since then, most recently in 2007. "Held in an extraordinary mixture of affection and respect all around the world," (The New York Times) the Royal Danes embody the strength of the legacy of August Bournonville in a rare Bournonville-centered program. The works feature Danish Romanticism including the pas de deux from La Sylphide (1836), one of the oldest surviving Romantic ballets; an excerpt from the first act of the humorous The Kermesse in Bruges (1851); the pas de sept from A Folk Tale (1854); and the Italian-inspired pas de six and tarantella from Napoli (1842). In addition to the repertory by Bournonville, the Royal Danish Ballet also performs the pas de deux from Harald Lander's Dvorak (1966), originally filmed for Danish television; the White and Black Swan variations from Marius Petipa's and Lev Ivanov's great classic Swan Lake (1895); and an excerpt from the second act of Jules Perrot's and Jean Coralli's timeless masterpiece Giselle (1841).

Judith Mackrell of The Guardian praises, "Watching dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet is like being given a master class in style-style not as superficial extra but as the substance, the beating heart of an art form."

Founded in 1748 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Royal Danish Ballet is the world's third oldest ballet company with a school among the oldest of its kind which originated in 1771.

The distinctive repertoire of Danish choreographer August Bournonville remains a technical cornerstone for the Royal Danish Ballet today. Emphasizing lightness and filigree footwork against a quiet upper body, Bournonville created a venerable tradition for Danish male dancing of the highest virtuosity, which raised the Royal Danish Ballet to an international ability and gave it the unique national quality which remains its distinctive characteristic to this day.

In his ten years as Artistic Director, Nikolaj Hübbe, former student of The School at Jacob's Pillow, has brought the company to an impressive technical level which masters a wide range of modern and classical ballets.

Current repertory includes ballet by important choreographers including Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. Related videos on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive: Soloists of the Royal Danish Ballet in Konservatoriet in 1955, the company's U.S. debut: https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/soloists-of-the-royal-danish-ballet/konservatoriet/ Nikolaj Hübbe (Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Ballet and Alumnus of The School at Jacob's Pillow) & Darci Kistler in Apollo in 2002: https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/nikolaj-hubbe-darci-kistler/apollo/

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