#royal swedish ballet

[lovelyballetandmore]

Luca Righi | Royal Swedish Ballet

[dance-world]

Jonatan Davidsson - Soloist, Royal Swedish Ballet - photo by Aleksandar Antonijevic

[princesssarisa]

As long as we're discussing different filmed performances of The Nutcracker, I'd like to mention a very interesting one that I just discovered on YouTube: the Royal Swedish Ballet production.

I would share the link, but it's blocked from being shared on other sites besides YouTube.

It dispenses with the ballet's traditional characters (Marie/Clara, Godfather Drosselmeyer, the Sugar Plum Fairy, etc.), and combines the plot with that of a popular Swedish children's book, Peter and Lotta's Christmas by Elsa Beskow.

As it happens, I grew up with Elsa Beskow's books despite not being Swedish, because my mom discovered them in English translation and fell in love with them when I was in kindergarten. The Peter and Lotta series is about two little orphaned siblings who live with three middle aged sisters, Aunt Green, Aunt Brown, and Aunt Lavender; the other major character is their family friend, Uncle Blue.

In this Nutcracker production, Lotta starts out in the Marie/Clara role while Peter replaces Fritz, but they both go through the magical adventure at night rather than just Lotta. Uncle Blue replaces Drosselmeyer, while the three foster aunts provide comic relief, and the role of the Nutcracker Prince is taken by a friendly charcoal-burner from the Peter and Lotta's Christmas book. During the Act I Christmas party, the charcoal-burner and Uncle Blue's housemaid share obvious romantic feelings, which Peter and Lotta encourage them to act on. Then, in the battle, the maid is the one who saves the day by squashing the Rat King with her broom. Thus she becomes the Nutcracker Prince's lady-love, sheds her plain serving clothes to reveal her true beauty, and becomes the Act II prima ballerina who dances the pas de deux with the Prince.

This staging also incorporates aspects of a traditional Swedish Christmas that obviously aren't seen in most productions. Instead of the traditional soldier, the nutcracker is shaped like the Yule Goat!

I'm not sure anyone who didn't grow up with Elsa Beskow's books would fully appreciate this production, but it is a very interesting one.

It makes me want to come up with my own Nutcracker production concept based on some other children's book series. Madeline, for example: I think a Madeline-themed Nutcracker could be fun...

@themousefromfantasyland, @ariel-seagull-wings

[septembergold]

maya.schonbrun

[alessandro-accebbi]

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA by KAROLINA HENKE (Sweden 🇸🇪)

📍 THE ROYAL SWEDISH OPERA

The Royal Swedish Opera includes the Royal Ballet, Young at the Opera, the Royal Swedish Orchestra and the Royal Swedish Opera Chorus.

[ballet-symphonie]

master ballet academy has been getting a LOT of traction online since a photographer began posting videos of their students on instagram - i'm curious to know if you've seen their videos and what you think of their dancers? one of their graduates (maya schonbrun) has just debuted o/o in her very first season at royal swedish ballet??!! kinda crazy stuff. the girls especially look to be very talented

I don't follow them but see clips recommended to me on insta and such. They have talented students and the school collectively churns out some incredible technicians, especially girls but often makes *questionable* coaching and stagings decisions. There's a good chunk of showboating, often at the expense of classical choreography, musicality, and finesse. Not a critique of the students, but more of the choices made by their teachers.

I have seen the video of Maya Schonbrun's debut. Obviously, an incredible talent, and that artistic management trusts her with such a debut in her first year as a professional speaks volumes. In the brief clips I saw, she looked much more mature and refined than the competition clips I remember seeing from her in her final year at Masters.

[royalchildreneurope]

Princess Estelle of Sweden, Prince Oscar of Sweden, Prince Alexander of Sweden and Prince Gabriel of Sweden watch the Nutcracker ballet performance, at The Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Sweden -December 16th 2023.

📷 : Sören Vilks/Prinsparet.

[tintagel-or-cockleshells]

20 Qs for ficcers

I have been tagged by a smorgasbord of wonderful people - @celaestis1, @cha-melodius, @kiwiana-writes and @welcometololaland. One of them even sent me flowers (thanks @clottedcreamfudge, you are a constant delight).

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

101,280 - not too shabby, I like that it's a round number.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Red, White & Royal Blue, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Tamora Pierce, *cough* Angels Unlimited...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Just Like a Dealer (which I am HESITANT about including because, once again, I only wrote the first paragraph)

Henry Fox: All-American Hero

Red, White and Royal Ballet

Alien Magic

Stringbean

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

No! I very rarely respond to comments. Right now, it's because I don't have time, but it's also because every comment will be 'aaaah thank you <3' and that feels like artificially inflating my comment count sometimes. Having said that, if people have questions, I tend to answer them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It was gonna be Ghosted before @clottedcreamfudge talked me out of it. Maybe When a Dancer Dies, because the 'happy ending' is massively open to interpretation.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Either Henry Fox: All-American Hero or Red, White and Royal Ballet. I mean, I'm writing for a novel with a strong romantic element - it's unusual NOT to write happy endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet, but hey! I probably will! And when that happens I will specifically write them into my next fics and make them suffer horrible fates!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have written explicit stuff before, but not yet for RWRB. However, @dumbpeachjuice left a comment on All-American Hero that has me considering an expansion/missing scene in that world.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

The only crossover I have is Alien Magic, which is two worlds by the same author, Tamora Pierce, and me crossing over characters from one into the universe of the other, but they're aware that the other world exists, it's just on the other side of the globe from them.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, I don't know about it! Doubtful, though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I did receive my first comment in Spanish yesterday which made me very happy.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

YES and I have also co-written a book with my BFF.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Fun fact: my fiance and I almost had 'fictional couples' as the theme for our wedding tables but abandoned it because two bridesmaids (u know who u are) would have wanted to sit at different tables.

Top three: Frank and Sadie Doyle, Mel Beeby and Brice de Winter (thoroughly not canon) and, of course, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor and Alex Claremont-Diaz.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Henry as a contestant on a pottery show, Alex as the kiln assistant who became a much bigger part in season 2 and has a lot to say.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Punctuality. Does that count? Errr, okay, I can write a banger of a sentence now and then and I'm good at description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Em-dashes, and trying to be funny. The funniness comes in when I'm not trying too hard.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It's difficult and I haven't done it yet! I'm learning Swedish (445 days in a row so far) and what gets me is sentence structure. Sometimes it's structured like English, sometimes it's structured like Early Modern English, sometimes the structure is specifically foreign and I fuck it up. However, I really liked what Junot Diaz did in Oscar Wao, which is not italicising words in other languages because that's not how the character thinks.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The very very very first fanfic published somewhere was LoTR. It was about the Entwives and it was dull.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ghosted. Or Cold Cases, Lost Causes. Sometimes you want to chew on some PLOT, and Ghosted deals with death, and Cold Cases deals with the ethics of podcasts covering true crime. I can't wait to release the last 3 chapters because I'm proud of how I've ended it!

Tagging -- ah shit, it seems that everyone has been tagged. Okay, if you want to do this, do it and say I tagged you. I love you all!

[victorysp]

King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip attended the anniversary gala of The Royal Swedish Opera at Royal Opera House in Stockholm, which was held to celebrate the opera's 250th anniversary. The Royal Swedish Opera is Sweden’s national theatre for opera and ballet, and was founded by Gustav III in 1773. Jun. 18, 2023.

📷 Cordon Press

[prplewille]

my Skater Boy Simon x Ballet Dancer Wilhelm fic is out!

the human eye is god's loneliest creation

“Thank you,” Simon says to Wilhelm, startling him. He looks even more red in the face and a little bit like he can’t believe what he just did. It’s… cute. So cute, even, that Simon kind of wants to take his face in between his hands and pinch his cheeks and then kiss him on the lips. Maybe. “What for?” “Well, I was about to punch him on his sorry face, so you saved me a lot of trouble.” “Oh,” Wilhelm replies, bringing his hand to the back of his neck. He chuckles, looks at Simon’s eyes and gives him a tiny smile. “No problem.” Ok, so, definitely kiss him on the lips. or, Simon skates in the park right in front of the Royal Swedish Ballet School, where Wilhelm is preparing for his last year's performance. They find something in each other they couldn't get from anywhere else.

it's an ongoing project, but i have a serious problem and can't keep anything to myself! i hope you all enjoy it, and i'll make an effort to remind myself to update here every time there's a new chapter (you could follow me on twitter too, though, because i never forget to update it there! it's the same @ as here!)

byeee xoxo

[lovelyballetandmore]

Luca Righi | Royal Swedish Ballet

[dance-world]

Nathalie Nordquist and Jonatan Davidsson - Royal Swedish Ballet (Kungliga Operan är Sveriges nationalscen för opera och balett)

[princesssarisa]

The Royal Swedish Ballet's Peter and Lotta-themed Nutcracker production has made me want to imagine other Nutcrackers themed to other classic children's books.

In particular, I've been imagining a Madeline-themed Nutcracker. It would combine the traditional Nutcracker plot with Madeline's Christmas, just as the Swedish production combined it with Peter and Lotta's Christmas.

It would start out with the plot of Madeline's Christmas: the eleven other girls and Miss Clavel all catch colds on Christmas Eve, so they can't go home from the boarding school for the holiday, and Madeline has to take care of them all.

During the Overture, the curtain would open on a Parisian street, and the girls would enter in their iconic two straight lines with Miss Clavel. Then there would be a short fantasy dance sequence, showing the girls imagining their families as they look forward to seeing them soon. Madeline would get particular emphasis, of course, and so would her parents in the fantasy. (Because, no, Madeline isn't an orphan. Her parents are alive and well in the books and in the earlier cartoons. The 1998 live action movie and the 1999 animated Madeline: Lost in Paris both made her an orphan, but this ballet is a separate canon.) But then, during the Overture's last bars, the eleven other girls and Miss Clavel would all gradually start sneezing, coughing, clutching their sore throats, etc.

The first scene proper takes place in the girls' dormitory, and show Madeline bustling from bed to bed, bringing the other girls tea, and giving some to the also-sick Miss Clavel when she comes in to check on them too. At one point she might stop to rest and gaze sadly at a photo of her parents. But then Pepito climbs up to the window and signals to her. (Pepito doesn't appear in Madeline's Christmas, but we need a mischievous little boy character to take Fritz's place in the Nutcracker plot.) They privately conspire together, then Pepito leaves, and a few moments later a knock is heard at the downstairs door, and Madeline goes to answer it. Then she reenters with Pepito, both dressed in special homemade costumes, and they invite the girls to put on their shawls and slippers and come downstairs.

The girls and Miss Clavel file down to the sitting room, where Pepito's parents and their servants from next door are just putting the finishing touches on a Christmas tree. Madeline announces that since they can't go home, they'll have a "Christmas at School" Party.

Happy dances proceed, with even Miss Clavel being persuaded to join in despite her initial shyness. At one point, though Pepito's "menagerie" of frogs, bugs, rats, etc. get loose from their cages and causes some funny chaos.

Suddenly, there's an unexpected knock at the door. Madeline answers it. Enter the Middle Eastern merchant/magician from the book of Madeline's Christmas, who is freezing and seeking shelter. He'll be taking the place of Drosselmeyer in this story. Madeline lets him in and warms him up with blankets and tea. As thanks, he performs a magic show for the girls and Pepito.

To fit the plot, I'll make the Magician into a toy merchant instead of a rug merchant. (I don't mind taking that liberty – after all, The Nutcracker, or Peter and Lotta's Christmas adds a romance between the charcoal-burner and the maid, when in the original book of Peter and Lotta's Christmas the charcoal-burner is a married man with children of his own.) Because it's Christmas, he gives each child a free toy from his supply. Madeline, of course, gets a nutcracker – maybe an especially French-looking soldier that resembles Napoleon. But of course mischievous Pepito tries to snatch it from her, and accidentally breaks it.

From this point on we follow the plot of The Nutcracker more closely. The party ends and everyone goes off to bed. But then Madeline sneaks downstairs in the night. She falls asleep holding her nutcracker, the Magician reappears, the room grows enormous, etc. But I don't think the enemy should be mice, because Madeline likes mice. Instead I think we'll use Pepito's menagerie of insects, bats, frogs, and rats, with a Rat King as their leader. This is why I included them in the earlier scene: to establish their existence.

To fight them, instead of the traditional toy soldier army, the Nutcracker would lead a mixed army of the other girls' dolls and stuffed toys, whose combat methods are unconventional but effective. Spunky Madeline will also play a more active role in the battle than Marie/Clara usually does.

After the Rat King is killed, the Nutcracker (played by an adult), will turn into a Prince who looks very much like Madeline's father, as we saw him in her fantasy and photo earlier. He'll be played by the same dancer and dressed in the same colors. Then, after the snowflake waltz (which will be much more urban than usual, with a theme of "snowfall in Paris"), he'll whisk Madeline away to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, who, of course, will resemble her mother. The Fairy will be emphasized as the Prince's love interest, from whom he's been separated ever since he was turned into a nutcracker. Instead of Marie/Clara's traditional dream of romance for herself, Madeline's dream of the Prince and the Fairy clearly reflects her longing to spend Christmas with her parents.

All the dances will play out as usual, although they might be themed to traditional French desserts and such. Since Pepito and his family are Spanish, I might also want their dancers to perform the Spanish dance, with Pepito providing comedy.

At the very end, we find Madeline still asleep downstairs on Christmas morning. Miss Clavel comes down, all well again and dressed, and then a knock is heard at the door. Miss Clavel answers it, and in come Madeline's parents to greet her just as she wakes up. The other girls' parents start to enter close behind them, and the girls file downstairs to meet them as the curtain falls.

Can someone please find a choreographer to help me bring this outline to life? :)

@ariel-seagull-wings

[joxdrayton]

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒.

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄:  josephine 'jo' willow drayton

𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄(𝐒):  jo (goes by it as a name), josie (by her mother), willa, dray

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑:  female

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄:  august 29, 1988

𝐀𝐆𝐄:  thirty-five

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐒:  she/her

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄: paris, france

𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄: carriage falls, wilmington, NC

𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:  heterosexual (bi-curious)

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌:  alicia vikander

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍:  capricorn

𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄:  ambitious, loyal, disciplined, straightforward, persistent, bold

𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒: spontaneous, stubborn, unforgiving, sensitive

𝐌𝐁𝐓𝐈: ESFP

𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘.

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒:  christopher phillipe drayton (father), genevieve marie leclerc (mother)

𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒:  eric drayton (paternal half-brother)

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐒:  jesse graves

𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐒: one-year-old brown pitbull-lab mix pup named mabel (lovable, dear), a friesian stallion named alastor (man's defender; avenger) and palomin mustang mare named frida (peace; beautiful)

𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘.

triggers: death tw, paretnal death tw, attempted murder tw (mention)

Born in the earliest hours of Christmas in Paris, France, Josephine Willow Drayton is the only child to French custom chocolatier Genevieve Marie Leclerc and the only daughter to the head of a hedge fund located in London, UK, Christopher Phillipe Drayton. Her father — absent from the scene of birth, of course. In fact, it wasn’t until Josephine was two weeks old when he learnt about her existence and his initial reaction wasn’t one of a loving parent. 

Christopher is a second cousin to the Swedish royal family and someone who has always wanted to make a name for himself outside of being linked to his heritage, which in return turned him into an absolute workaholic — the reason behind his failed first marriage to which he had his son, Eric.

At first her father wasn’t keen on the idea of raising another child. He never wanted to be a father in the first place and was glad when his first wife decided to take their son and raise him on her own without even bothering to ask for financial support. However, he clearly underestimated the allure Genevieve had over him, because she wasn’t the type to be a parent either (certainly not the type to cope with the whole single parent thing) and it only took her a couple of years to convince him to move in with her and even propose.

Shortly after the wedding, the family of three decided to move to Wilmington, NC and start their new life. Unfortunately, their happiness was short-lived. Both her parents traveled a lot due to their working schedules, leaving young Josephine under the care of nannies, distant relatives, neighbors or basically anyone who would volunteer to step in for a day or two until Jo was old enough to fend for herself.

Growing up Josephine’s schedule was just as busy as the one of her parents. Her mother made sure to fill up her free time with activities in hopes of keeping her from getting into trouble, which meant Josephine attended ballet classes, dance classes, piano lessons, but her true passions were horse riding lessons and archery. It was where she excelled. She found the escape she needed from her life at the stables and on the field and her devotion started to pay off once she started going to competitions.

Josephine was seventeen when there was an attempted assassination on her father, which left in a coma for three months before they were advised on turning the life support off. Though the relationship between her parents had been strained for years, his death took a harsh toll on her mother just as it did on Josephine herself. After the burial, her mother moved to France and refused to ever return back to Wilmington, insisting that the house reminded her of their ‘good times’.

After graduation, Jo decided to take a gap year. It was never her intention to further her studies but her father had always insisted on her getting a degree and after his untimely passing she decided to take up Bachelor’s degree in Finance only to drop out in her second year, realizing it just wasn't her thing.

𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒.

she's left-handed.

since her father's death, she's reconnected with her half-brother and grown extremely close to him.

she's fluent in french, swedish and english.

[ladyaislinn-purewhite]

source

5 facts about Mads Mikkelsen

1. Before becoming an actor, Mads Mikkelsen worked as a professional dancer for almost a decade. He was a part of the Royal Danish Ballet and performed in various ballet productions.

2. Mads Mikkelsen is an accomplished athlete and has obtained a black belt in taekwondo. He has even represented Denmark in international taekwondo competitions.

3. Mads Mikkelsen is fluent in multiple languages. Apart from his native Danish, he speaks English, German, and Swedish, which has allowed him to work in various international film projects.

4. In 2016, Mads Mikkelsen became the first Danish actor to win the Best Actor Award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. He won the award for his outstanding performance in the film "The Hunt."

5. Mads Mikkelsen is a huge fan of motorcycles and has even participated in a number of motorcycle races. He has often expressed his love for motorcycles in interviews and owns multiple bikes himself.

[havlasha]

Prima Ballerina Assolutas

I was reading Maya Plisetskaya’s autobiography (great read!) and it got me thinking. I still find it sad that the phrase “Assoluta” has sort of been laid to rest. Originally designated to Pierina Legnani by Marius Petipa to describe, who he felt, was “The leading dancer in all of Europe”. Although, it was never a refined system and a good chunk of the few designated Primas with the title are disputed/unofficial. Petipa himself formally objected to Kschessinska being awarded the title (one of many petty feuds between the prima and the ballet master. Honestly 1800s Mariinsky troupe drama is so entertaining I could go on all day about it) But it adds a level of prestige, in a world of so many companies both national & regional. It’s certainly a shame that certain dancers never got the honour awarded to them, despite being the greatest heralded (and in demand) dancers of their eras (think Sylvie Guillem, Ulyana Lopatkina, Darcey Bussel). The only still dancing assoluta left is Alessandra Ferri and she is slowly fading out, especially with her new role at the Weiner Staatsoper. 

As far as current Primas with the potential for the title, I really think Zakharova could have easily been awarded one by now. It’s a shame that her long-standing controversial political associations have likely hindered any potential for that sort of honour internationally. Just for her sheer presence in the dance world I can’t think of another dancer who holds such a grip on what is considered a “prima”. In talent terms, Osipova should be up there too for her contributions to the world of flying. 

Anyway: here’s some photos of the currently recognised Prima Ballerina Assolutas:

Pierina Lagnani - Italian - Mariinsky Ballet

Mathilda Kschessinska - Russian - Mariinsky Ballet

Alicia Markova - British - ENB/ The Royal Ballet

Attilia Redice - Italian - Rome Opera Ballet 

Galina Ulanova - Russian - Bolshoi Ballet

Alicia Alonso - Cuban - Cuban National Ballet (Unofficial)

Maya Plisetskaya - Russian - Bolshoi Ballet

Eva Evdokimova - Bulgarian/American - Royal Danish Ballet (also unofficial/sanctioned - appointed by the Mariinsky)

Margot Fonteyn - British - Royal Ballet

Yvette Chauviré - French - Paris Opera Ballet

Anneli Alhanko - Swedish - Royal Swedish Ballet (appointed by the Bolshoi)

Phyllis Spira - South African - Royal Ballet/CAPAB Ballet

Alessandra Ferri - Italian - Royal Ballet/ABT/La Scala