A FOLK TALE Comes to Det KGL. Teater Next Month

Harmony and peace are quintessential to Bournonville's ballets, but beneath the idyll of A Folk Tale, there lurks an undercurrent that simmers, bubbles and vibrates with life.

When the great cholera epidemic struck Copenhagen in 1853, August Bournonville fled the capital. Overwhelmed by his escape from death, he created A Folk Tale. Consequently, this ballet, born out of grim circumstances, is perhaps infused with vitality and joy as a reflection of his relief.

In the best tradition of the Danish Golden Age, Bournonville presents us with the tensions between our world and the enticing, demonic underworld. Junker Ove is engaged to the capricious and wild Birthe from the grand manor but falls in love with the gentle Hilda, who lives in the troll hill. As it happens, the two girls were exchanged at birth, compelling Junker Ove to battle courageously for his beloved Hilda. Only after the elf maidens have all but danced him to the brink of insanity can the two be united in the bright summer night to the famous bridal waltz.

Nikolaj Hübbe and Sorella Englund, along with set designer Mia Stensgaard, have lovingly reimagined Bournonville's classic, creating a performance that ranges from the serene beauty of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi to the wildest rave party with troll bugs, swamp children, vampire witches and headless giants.

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