Royal Swedish Ballet

The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet troupes in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this field; he also founded the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Dramatic Theatre. All of these were initially located in the old theatre of Bollhuset. The troupe was founded with the opening of the Royal Swedish Opera, which has served as its home since that time.

History

In 1773, the cultural professions of acting, opera-singing and ballet-dancing in Sweden were all performed by foreign troupes. The first ballet performance was performed at the Swedish court when the French ballet troup of Antoine de Beaulieu was hired at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in 1638, and the first Public ballet performance were performed by the foreign theatre troupes at the theatre of Bollhuset later the same century. The only exception had been the period of 1737-1753, when the first professional Swedish troupe of actors had performed at Bollhuset; during this period, ballets were performed by the first Swedish dancers in this troupe. The perhaps first ballet performed by professional native Swedish dancers was in the play "Den afvundsiuke" ("The Envious") in August 1738. However, no names are known about these first dancers. They were probably educated by Jean Marquard as dancing-master, and one of the dancers were also French, Gabriel Senac.

Gustav III wanted to create and educate native talents in these professions. To accomplish this, he used the same method in the ballet as he was to use with the theatre; by having the first generation of native dancers educated by foreign professionals. When he fired the French theatre-company to create his national-stage in 1773, he kept many of the French dancers of this troupe. Dancers from France, Italy and Belgium, such as Antoine Bournonville, Louis Gallodier, Giovanna Bassi and Julie Alix de la Fay were hired to perform and to educate Swedish students. Most of the first students to the troupe were taken among children to the staff at the royal court and to professional musicians, as were the first students to the theatre and the opera. In the first ballet-troupe in the national stage of 1773, they were very few native talents with former professional experience; one of them was Charlotte Slottsberg, who could be counted as the first native Swedish ballerina known by name.

The Ballet was from the beginning closely linked to the Opera; ballets were a part of the performances of the Opera, and the dancers were also active on the Royal Dramatic Theatre; when the Royal Swedish Opera were closed down between 1806 and 1809-1812, the Ballet was not closed, only mowed over to the theatre.

Madeleine Onne is the artistic director of the Royal Swedish Ballet and Anna Grabka its guest balletmistress.

Ballet Masters

* 1773-1803 : Louis Gallodier
* 1803-1804 : Filippo Taglioni
* 1804-1806 : Federico Nadi Terrade
* 1806-1816 : Louis Deland
* 1817-1818 : Filippo Taglioni
* 1820-1823 : André Isidore Carey
* 1823-1827 : Giovanni Battista Ambrosiani
* 1827-1833 : Per Erik Wallqvist
* 1827-1830 : Sophie Daguin "jointly with Wallqvist"
* 1833-1856 : Anders Selinder
* 1856-1862 : Sigurd Harald Lund
* 1862-1870 : Théodore Martin
* 1870-1886 : Theodore Marckl
* 1887-1890 : Robert Sjöblom

* 1890-1894 : Sigurd Harald Lund
* 1894-1901 : Max Glasemann
* 1918-1920 : Michel Fokine
* 1949-1951 : Antony Tudor
* 1953-1962 : Mary Skeaping
* 1962-1963 : Antony Tudor
* 1964-1966 : Brian Macdonald
* 1967-1971 : Erik Bruhn
* 1971-1980 : Ivo Cramér
* 1980-1984 : Gunilla Roempke
* 1986-1993 : Nils Ake-Häggbom
* 1993-1995 : Simon Mottram
* 1995-1999 : Frank Andersen
* 1999-2001 : Petter Jacobsson
* "since" 2002 : Madeleine Onne

Principal dancers

*Brendan Collins
*Marie Lindqvist
*Dragos Mihalcea
*Jenny Nilson

*Nathalie Nordquist "(on leave)"
*Anders Nordström
*Christian Rambe
*Nadja Sellrup

*Judith Simon
*Anna Valev
*Olof Westring
*Jan-Erik Wikström

Solists

*Katja Björner
*Ann Brattselius
*Jurgita Dronina
*Karin Forslind "(on leave)"
*Nikolaus Fotiadis
*Magdalena Irigoyen
*Pascal Jansson

*Eunsun Jun
*Irina Laurenova
*Andrey Leonovitch
*Sebastian Michanek
*Nathalie Perriraz
*Nicole Rhodes
*Andy Rietschel

*Jens Rosén
*Oscar Salomonsson
*Joakim Stephenson
*Hugo Therkelson
*Gina Tse
*Jenny Westring "(on leave)"
*Johannes Öhman "(on leave)"

2007-2008 season

SEPTEMBER 2007

*21 Fri Romeo & Juliet
*26 Wed Cendrillon
*27 Thu Cendrillon OCTOBER 2007
*2 Tue Cendrillon
*4 Thu Romeo & Juliet
*6 Sat Cendrillon
*10 Wed Romeo & Juliet
*11 Thu Cendrillon
*18 Thu Cendrillon NOVEMBER 2007

*9 Fri Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck. New Ballets "premiere"
*10 Sat Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck
*13 Tue Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck
*16 Fri Romeo & Juliet
*18 Sun Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck 3.00 P.M.
*20 Tue Romeo & Juliet
*21 Wed Romeo & Juliet
*23 Fri Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck 7.30 P.M.
*26 Mon Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck 7.30 P.M.
*28 Wed Romeo & Juliet
*30 Fri Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck DECEMBER 2007

*3 Mon Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck
*7 Fri Duato, Egilsson, Rushton, Spuck
*15 Sat Pippi Longstocking
*18 Tue Pippi Longstocking
*19 Wed Pippi Longstocking
*31 Mon New Years gala

JANUARY 2008

*18 Fri As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet"
*24 Thu As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet"
*30 Wed As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet"
*31 Thu As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet" FEBRUARY 2008

*3 Sun As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet"
*5 Tue As If "The Cullberg Ballet"::Miss Julie "The Royal Swedish Ballet"
*7 Thu Pippi Longstocking
*9 Sat Pippi Longstocking
*12 Tue Pippi Longstocking
*13 Wed Pippi Longstocking MARCH 2008

*28 Fri Gustav III "premiere"
*29 Sat Gustav III APRIL 2008
*2 Wed Gustav III
*4 Fri Gustav III
*8 Tue Gustav III
*9 Wed Gustav III
*12 Sat Gustav III
*15 Tue Gustav III
*18 Fri Gustav III
*29 Tue Swan Lake MAY 2008
*2 Fri Swan Lake
*3 Sat Swan Lake
*6 Tue Swan Lake
*9 Fri Swan Lake
*16 Fri Swan Lake
*17 Sat Swan Lake
*21 Wed Swan Lake
*24 Sat Swan Lake
*27 Tue Swan Lake
*29 Thu Swan Lake

Stockholm/59° North

Stockholm/59° North is a chamber company of dancers from the Royal Swedish Ballet; members are:

*Jeannette Diaz Barboza
*Nicolaus Fotiadis
*Erik Johansson
*Marie Lindqvist
*Kristina Oom
*Jens Rosén

*Oscar Salomonsson
*Nadja Sellrup
*Gina Tse
*Anna Valev
*Jan-Erik Wikström

See also

*Royal Swedish Opera
*Drottningholm Palace Theatre
*Confidencen - Ulriksdal Palace Theatre
*Charlotte Slottsberg
*Hedda Hjortsberg
*Ulrika Åberg

Sources

* [http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/ballet/swedes/swedeintro.html Kennedy Center "Arts Edge"]
* http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:rdsObgH6HWcJ:www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/STM/STM1984/STM1984KuzmickHansell.pdf+ulrika+%C3%A5berg+dans%C3%B6s+gustaviansk+balett&hl=sv&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=se
* Georg Nordensvan "Svensk teater och Svenska skådespelare; första bandet, 1773-1842"
* Tryggve Byström, "Svenska Komedien, 1737-1754".

External links

* [http://www.operan.se/templates/ListingIndex.aspx?id=216 Royal Swedish Ballet's homepage in English on Operan.SE]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/arts/dance/05pill.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/A/Anderson,%20Jack NY Times review of Stockholm/59° North at Jacob's Pillow August 5, 2005]
* http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:rdsObgH6HWcJ:www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/STM/STM1984/STM1984KuzmickHansell.pdf+julie+alix+de+la+fay+bournonville&hl=sv&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=se