I'm new on this site allthough I have been a guest viewer for a couple of years by now. It has been really interesting to follow the discussions on the site, and I think one gets a lot of information too.
So why not sign up and be a proper member I finally thought. So here I am! A little bit about myself:
Personally I'm a great fan of the Royal Danish Ballet and being a Dane myself it's no wonder, but to see how much people on this site know about this company and it's dancers is really amazing.
Of course I do go and see performances in many other places and I especially admire the dancers of the Paris Opera, but everytime I see a performance in one of those big houses I miss the intimacy of the RDB. My heart belongs to the RDB with all it's ups and downs, and fortunately they have had most ups lately! Being a great fan of Nikolaj Hübbe I have great expectations to his taking over as ballet master next year, but at the same time it is so sad, because it means the end of his dancing career.

My favorite dancers? Nikolaj Hübbe, Gudrun Bojesen and Heidi Ryom.
My favorite ballet? "Sylfiden" by Bournonville

That's all from me for the time being!

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Anne; it's very nice to have you wish us. I'm sure you know that the founder of this site is a huge RDB fan and wrote a biography of Henning Kronstam. We hope you'll let us know what ballets you're seeing and what you think of them; we all love ballet reviews.

Giannina

Thank you for your welcome! I know the book on Kronstam by Tomalonis and I did actually read it with great interest when the book was new. At that time I was really surprised to read how big Kronstams influence on the young dancers under his guidance has been, and I think this book has hugely contributed to make this common knowledge. Many dancers, too, have paid their tributes to Kronstam in books and interviews, and somehow I find it very beautiful that one of his most succesful pupils - and one who is very conscious about this heritage - is now coming back to the theatre as a balletmaster. With Nikolaj Hübbe as ballet master it's my hope that the qualities Kronstam represented will be kept alive at the theatre.

Welcome, Anne! And thank you for your kind comments on my book Oddly, there was little press attention paid to Kronstam after he resigned as balletmaster, and most people outside the theater had no idea of his role. Others were all too eager to take credit for what he was doing, I think ;)

I hope you will write about the performances you see, and tell us how things are going. I'm also very hopeful about Hubbe's directorship -- he certainly is respected by the dancers, and that's half the battle. There are many readers of this board interested in the RDB, so this welcome is for them, as well. We're very glad you've joined us.