The Bournonville style

Abstract

The special style of classical ballet that August Bournonville left to the dance world and that the Royal Danish Ballet preserves has been made more accessible for study through the publication in 1979, the centenary year of his death, of the Bournonville School;' the series of classroom exercises and enchafnments organized by Hans Beck into an established selection for each day of the week. Further intensive exposure to Bournonville's work during a week of centenary celebrations in Copenhagen in November 1979, plus rehearsals, lectures and demonstrations, provided an opportunity to gain an intimate understanding of the man's choreographic thinking and to gauge what is different, what is special, about his approach, his arrangement and presentation of the vocabulary of classical steps, and his inventive use of specific variations on the established material.