August Bournonville was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nephew of Julie Alix de la Fay, née Bournonville, of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the Royal Danish Theatre was founded. It was finally organized in 1771 in response to the great popularity of French and Italian styles of dance. The company was founded with the opening of the Royal Danish Theatre, which has served as its home since that time. The Royal Danish Ballet school was founded in 1771 under the French ballet teacher Pierre Laurent (1730-1807), Then Vincenzo Galeotti developed it and August Bournonville founded his methodology for the school.
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn was a Danish danseur, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author.
Ib Andersen is a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and painter. Admired as both a dancer and a choreographer, he is an artist who is comfortable engaging with both the classical and contemporary aesthetic of modern-day ballet.
The Flower Festival in Genzano is a one-act ballet by Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville (1805–1879). Bournonville created the work for Denmark's Royal Ballet on December 19, 1858, at the Royal Danish Theatre, on the basis of Danes' general enthusiasm for Italy. The libretto, which is adapted from a tale in Impressions de voyage by Alexandre Dumas, tells the story of a pair of young lovers, Rosa and Paolo, which alludes to the festival still celebrated each June in Genzano, Italy. The music is by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli.
Le Conservatoire, or A Marriage by Advertisement is a two-act vaudeville ballet created by the Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville in 1849 for the Royal Danish Ballet. The ballet's setting is a dance studio at the Conservatoire de Paris. Bournonville studied at the Paris Conservatoire in the 1820s with the renowned dancer Auguste Vestris. The ballet launched the career of prima ballerina Juliette Price. A divertissement within the larger work called "The Dancing School" permitted Bournonville to display the basics of his style and raise them to the level of enduring art.
The Kermesse in Bruges, or The Three Gifts is a burlesque ballet in three acts created by the Danish ballet master and choreographer August Bournonville to music by Holger Simon Paulli, first performed by the Royal Danish Ballet on 4 April 1851. The Danish title is Kermessen i Brügge eller De tre Gaver. The ballet tells the story of three brothers who receive magic gifts from an alchemist.
Nikolaj Hübbe is artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet.
A Folk Tale is a ballet in three acts, created in 1854 for the Royal Danish Ballet by the Danish ballet master and choreographer August Bournonville to the music of Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Niels W. Gade. The first performance took place on 20 March 1854. Set in the Middle Ages, the ballet tells the story of a changeling living among the trolls and elves. Bournonville declared the ballet "The most complete and best of all my choreographic works."
Thomas Lund is the head master of The Royal Danish School of Ballet in Copenhagen. Lund admitted to The Royal Danish School of Ballet in 1986 aged 11. He became apprentice in 1991, member of the corps de ballet of The Royal Danish Ballet in 1993, soloist in 1996 and was appointed principal dancer in 2000. In September 2012 Lund retired as a Principal Dancer to become the head master of The Royal Danish School of Ballet.
Harald Scharff was a danseur associated with the Royal Danish Theatre in the mid-19th century who succeeded August Bournonville as the Danish ballet's principal male dancer upon the latter's retirement from the stage. Scharff's physical handsomeness and his flamboyant dance style brought him great acclaim, and his performances in Bournonville's Flower Festival in Genzano and Napoli were triumphs.
Sorella Englund is a former soloist and character dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet. She has been a keen supporter of August Bournonville, staging a number of his ballets in Denmark and abroad.
Bruce Marks is an American dancer, performing both in ballet and modern dance. He continues to work as a choreographer, coach and teacher and is a tireless advocate for the art form.
Dinna Bjørn is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. She has specialized dancing and directing the ballets of August Bournonville. Bjørn has also created five Hans Christian Andersen ballets for the Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen's Tivoli.
Andrea Marie Krætzmer, née Møller (1811–1889), was a Danish ballet dancer. She became a soloist in the early ballets of August Bournonville.
Kim Brandstrup is a Danish-born, British-based choreographer. He received a degree from the University of Copenhagen in Film and Media Studies and the London Contemporary Dance School where he studied choreography with Nina Fonaroff. He began working as a choreographer in 1983, and in 1985 founded his own dance company, Arc Dance Company. He has worked with a number of companies including New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, and the Rambert Dance Company among others - as well as extensive work in theatre, opera and film, drawing on his cinematic training to forge his unique narrative style.
Valborg Bodil Emilie Borchsenius née Jørgensen, also Valborg Guldbrandsen, (1872–1949) was a Danish ballet dancer and instructor who performed in Bournonville's productions at the Royal Danish Theatre from 1888. As a soloist she is also remembered as Swanhilda in Coppélia, a role she performed 128 times to wide acclaim. She became the company's star ballerina until her retirement in 1918.
Mona Elly Hou Vangsaae (1920–1983) was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer and instructor. At the Royal Danish Theatre, thanks to her excellent technique and dramatic versatility she became a soloist in 1942, taking roles in Bournonville's productions and in works by the Danish choreographers Nini Theilade and Harald Lander. The roles of Julie in Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet and Aili in Birgit Cullberg's The Moon Reindeer were created for her. After retiring from the stage in 1962, she became an instructor for Bournonville's ballets together with her son Peter Schaufuss.
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.
Caroline Baldwin is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen.
