Future is misty at RDB - Royal Danish Ballet

Dance Magazine, Jan, 1996 by Anne Flindt Christensen

COPENHAGEN - Since the departure of artistic director Peter Schaufuss last summer, Royal Danish Ballet has come into a strange no-man's-land, waiting for a new leading figure who can usher the company into the next millennium.

When Schaufuss left [see Presstime News, September 1995], assistant director Johnny Eliasen was made temporary director of the company. This news prompted spontaneous applause from the dancers. Both as a teacher and coach Eliasen is known to be friendly and hardworking, but also strict when it comes to monitoring technique. He is an experienced stager of productions who has yet to create his own work.

Eliasen, forty-six, entered the Royal Theater ballet school at age seven, joining the company in 1967. Onstage, he became known for his powerful, sensuous presence. He was promoted to principal in 1972.

In 1984, Eliasen followed Schaufuss to London Festival Ballet (later English National Ballet), and in 1990 the two joined the ballet company of Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Eliasen and his wife, English-born dancer Theresa Jarvis, accompanied Schaufuss to Copenhagen in 1994.

The consensus in Copenhagen is that Eliasen is a transitional director, as the company continues to search for a leader who is also a choreographer. The company is also looking for a director who is well versed in the development of the Bournonville tradition, which has enjoyed a renewed interest since RDB's Bournonville Festival in 1979. RDB officials also want someone who is well connected not only in the dance world, but in the larger world of the arts. Finally, they seek a dynamic organizer who can encourage new choreography.

The new director will also run the RDB ballet school and theoretical school. The future of the school has been a hot story in Copenhagen, with Royal Danish Theater director Michael Christiansen announcing that he plans to move the academic school away from the theater and send students to a nearby private school for theory lessons. Some parents and critics fear these moves may result in children losing their close connection with the life of the theater.

Audience reaction to the RDB in transition has been mixed so far this season. In Copenhagen the company danced a program of four Peter Martins ballets: Ash, Zakouski, Barber Violin Concerto, and Fearful Symmetries. The dancers reacted energetically to this first meeting with their fellow Dane's high-speed choreography. The audience enthusiastically welcomed the rare demonstrations of the company's acrobatic skills. The program was a first glimpse of optimism for RDB in these turbulent times.

The Martins program was the first in a series of Danish programs that will dominate the repertoire in 1996, when Copenhagen has officially been designated Cultural Capital of Europe. The year culminates in May with an epic festival, also featuring Roland Petit's and Maurice Bejart's companies, the Kirov Ballet, and Britain's Royal Ballet.

By May, a new director for Royal Danish Ballet should be in place, bringing to a close this period of uncertainty and unclear vision - for both the dancers and the public.