Ask la Cour

Last updated

Ask la Cour
Teresa Reichlen and Ask la Cour in Apollo.jpg
la Cour (right) with Teresa Reichlen in Apollo in 2017
Born
Ask la Cour Rasmussen

1981/1982(age 39–40)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Education Royal Danish Ballet School
Occupationballet dancer
Years active2000–2021
Former groups New York City Ballet
Royal Danish Ballet

Ask la Cour Rasmussen [1] (born 1981or1982) [2] is a Danish ballet dancer. He joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2000, then moved to the New York City Ballet in 2002, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2013. He retired from the company in 2021.

Contents

Early life

Ask la Cour was born in Copenhagen, [3] and is the son of ballet dancer and former Royal Danish Ballet associate artistic director Lise la Cour and conductor Frans Rasmussen  [ da ]. His maternal half-brother, Nilas Martins, was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. [2] As a young child, he had no interest in ballet, instead preferring soccer and skateboarding. However, when he was nine, he overheard his mother telling a friend the Royal Danish Ballet School needed more boys, so he decided to audition for the school, and was accepted. [3]

Career

La Cour joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2000, [4] and was soon cast in solo roles. [3] Two years later, he approached Peter Martins, Nilas Martins' father who heads the New York City Ballet, about joining the company, and was accepted. [2] [3] He later stated that he originally intended to stay at the company for a few years. [5] He made his company debut in Balanchine's The Nutcracker . [2] He started dancing solo roles while still in the corps de ballet, [3] before becoming a soloist in May 2005. [3] He was promoted to principal dancer in February 2013. [6]

In his career, he had danced 60 ballets, including works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, August Bournonville, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Benjamin Millepied, Jorma Elo, Susan Stroman, Lauren Lovette, Boris Eifman, Robert Binet and Richard Tanner. [7] He also originated roles in some ballets, such as Wheeldon's Shambards and After the Rain , [8] [9] Ratmansky's Voices, Peck's The Most Incredible Thing and Lovette's Not Our Fate. [10] [11] [12]

In January 2020, la Cour became the artistic director of the Commack, New York-based Frank Ohman School of Ballet and New York Dance Theatre. [7] He retired from the New York City Ballet in October 2021, and danced Balanchine's Monumentum pro Gesualdo , Movements for Piano and Orchestra and Wheeldon's After the Rain at his farewell performance. [13] He then returned to the Royal Danish Ballet to teach and coach apprentices. [5]

Related Research Articles

Peter Martins Danish ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1946)

Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was solely responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet.

Joaquín De Luz Spanish ballet dancer (born 1976)

Joaquín De Luz is a Spanish ballet dancer. He was formerly with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), and a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet (NYCB). He is currently director of Spanish National Dance Company.

Megan Fairchild is an American ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Wendy Whelan American ballet dancer (born 1967)

Wendy Whelan is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential guest artist with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. In 2019, Whelan was named Associate Artistic Director of New York City Ballet.

Albert Pierce Evans was an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1988, became a principal dancer in 1995, making him the second African American dancer to hold this position, and had pursue choreography. He retired from performing in 2010, then served as a ballet master until his death.

Jenifer Ellen Ringer is an American ballet dancer and educator. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1990, became a principal dancer in 2000, and retired from performing in 2014. She then became the director of the Colburn School's professional dance program, Colburn Dance Academy. She was named Dean of the Colburn's Trudl Zipper Dance Institute in 2017, before stepping down in 2021.

Robert Fairchild American dancer and actor

Robert Fairchild is an American dancer and actor. He is best known for originating the role Jerry Mulligan in the musical An American in Paris, and as Munkustrap in the 2019 film Cats. He was a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet.

Gonzalo Garcia is a Spanish American ballet dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to principal in 2002, at age 22. In 2007, he left the company and joined the New York City Ballet. He retired from performing in 2022. He remains in the company as a repertory director.

Craig Hall is an American ballet dancer. He danced with the New York City Ballet as a soloist until 2016 then became a ballet master, and was one of the company interim leaders between late 2017 and early 2019.

Daniil Simkin

Daniil Simkin is a ballet dancer and entrepreneur, best known for his accomplished technical skill and charismatic stage presence. He is a principal dancer with both American Ballet Theatre and Staatsballett Berlin. Simkin is based in Berlin and New York, and is the founder of Studio Simkin.

Isabella Boylston American ballet dancer

Hildur Isabella Boylston is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

Chase Finlay American ballet dancer

Chase Finlay is an American ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet who has also danced as a with the Mariinsky Theatre in Russia.

Svetlana Lunkina Russian ballet dancer

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Lunkina is a Russian ballerina who is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada.

Justin Peck

Justin Peck is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the institution to hold this title. In 2018 he won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for his work on the third Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. In 2021 his choreography can be seen in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story.

David Motta Soares Brazilian classical ballet dancer (born 1997)

David Motta Soares is a Brazilian classical ballet dancer. He is a leading soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet.

Lauren Lovette American ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1991)

Lauren Lovette is an American ballet dancer and choreographer who was previously a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Lise la Cour

Lise la Cour (1944–2016) was a Danish ballerina, choreographer and dance teacher. After training at the company's ballet school, she premièred at the Royal Danish Ballet in 1961 and went on to star in a series of ballets including Bournonville's Napoli, Balanchine's The Four Temperaments and Flemming Flindt's The Young Man Must Marry. From the late 1970s, she was principally a choreographer, creating ballets based on the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen's, starting with Hyrdinden og skorstensfejeren in 1988. She was Viceballetmester of the Royal Danish Ballet from 1988-1995 and was involved in several large theatre productions in the following years until she was appointed Administrative Director of the Royal Danish Opera from 1999 to 2001, ensuring a smooth transition between the former opera director Elaine Padmore and newcomer Kasper Holten. In 2002, she moved to San Jose, California, where she was appointed school director of the Ballet San Jose until she established her own school, Lise la Cour's LaCademy of Ballet, in 2012.

Unity Phelan American ballet dancer

Unity Phelan is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2013 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021. In October 2021, Phelan was promoted to Principal dancer. Outside of the company, she had also danced in films John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

Indiana Woodward is a French ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2012, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021.

Jovani Furlan is a Brazilian ballet dancer. He joined the Miami City Ballet in 2012, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2017. In 2019, he left the company to join the New York City Ballet as a soloist, and became a principal dancer in 2022.

References

  1. ↑ Farber, Betsy (8 February 2018). "How Balanchine Affected the Lives of His Male Dancers". Dance Teacher.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kisselgoff, Anna (3 December 2002). "Little Flowers Are Budding On Ballet's Family Tree". New York Times.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Woods, Astrida (21 February 2006). "Anything Is Possible". Playbill.
  4. ↑ "Ask la Cour". New York City Ballet.
  5. 1 2 Trucco, Terry (27 September 2021). "Farewells at New York City Ballet". Playbill.
  6. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (22 February 2013). "Promotions at New York City Ballet". New York Times.
  7. 1 2 Rabinowitz, Chloe (23 October 2020). "New York City Ballet Will Not Perform Live During Winter and Spring of 2021; Announces Plans to Return for 2021–22 Season". BroadwayWorld.
  8. ↑ Shapiro, Laura (28 June 2004). "Shambards". New York Magazine.
  9. ↑ Rockwell, John (24 January 2005). "Air and Earth Meet and Fall in Love". New York Times.
  10. ↑ Kourlas, Gia (31 January 2020). "Review: Alexei Ratmansky Finds a New Voice at City Ballet". New York Times.
  11. ↑ Gallagher, Lauren (5 February 2016). "New York City Ballet – The Most Incredible Thing (premiere), Polaris, The Blue of the Distance, Common Ground, Estancia – New York". DanceTabs.
  12. ↑ Macaulay, Alastair (29 September 2017). "Review: The Unstuffy Gala: City Ballet Delivers Youth and Style". New York Times.
  13. ↑ Laubacher, Kyra (22 September 2021). "Dancers Making Moves: Announcements You May Have Missed This Month". Pointe Magazine.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.