| January, 2007 - Essay from Alies Van Staveren |
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| August 19th, 2006 I arrived in København, Denmark for the experience of a lifetime. A few months earlier my teachers at my school, The School of American Ballet, pulled me and a friend of mine out of our class to tell us some good news. We had been chosen to spend six weeks studying with the Royal Danish Ballet. We had received the Danish American Nationals Cultural Exchange (D.A.N.C.E.) scholarship for 2006. |
| We arrived on a Sunday and were able to walk through the city ending up at the Royal Theater, where we would be taking classes for the next six weeks. Now it's week six and looking back at my time here in København and how much I've learned and experienced I am just so grateful that I was one of the chosen one's for this scholarship. |
| A lot of the classes were very familiar to the ones back in New York City. Nikolaj Hübbe was one of the most familiar teachers. He taught a lot, which was really nice because we know him from home. Other teachers that we had definitely taught with the Balanchine style, which made me feel right at home. |
| I will never forget our first Wednesday class. It was a Bournonville class, my very first Bournonville class. This was not at all familiar, quite different from everything I've learned, but when done well absolutely beautiful. |
| I found myself having trouble with the combinations but enjoyed watching the other dancers in the class because they had it down. This was new for me and I'm so happy to have had the chance to explore a whole new style. Being a dancer you should know as many styles as possible because you will never know what a choreographer will want. I still have trouble with the Bournonville style, but seeing professionals perform it helps a lot. |
| During these six weeks we were also lucky enough to see the company perform. We saw them perform Trio Extravaganza, Requiem, and Les Sylphides, all being incredible pieces. Through these three performances I saw so many different styles, from modern to Bournonville. It was really incredible to see the company in different situations and performing in each really well. |
| What also stuck out to me was how strong, well rehearsed, and beautiful the company performed. Taking class with them was sometimes hard because many times I ended up just watching them. This experience was really incredible. I can't begin to express how grateful I am to have lived in København for six weeks and study with an amazing company. |
