TheJakartaPost
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Bournonville ballet takes root in Indonesia
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Strong yet subtle: Ballet students from Cicilia Ballet School and Ballet Sumber Cipta perform Bournonville ballet at the Teater Kecil in Jakarta back in 2017. (-/Fajar Kristianto)
F
or ballerina Wenny Halim, the seeds of her dream to popularize the Bournonville ballet tradition – a Danish national treasure – in Indonesia, have just started to sprout.
Standing in a ballet studio in Pondok Pinang, the 38-year old Wenny, who is also the co-founder of the Mudamove dance troupe, ruthlessly scans a crowd of ballet dancers.
The dancers were part of the August Bournonville Summer Academy in Jakarta, a one-week master class named after the 19th century Danish choreographer and ballet master.
Wenny was looking for dancers with a strong yet supple plié. This means having the potential to achieve the illusory lightness of the Bournonville style, where the dancers finish the jumps with a plié, so as to disguise an abrupt landing.
Wenny also collaborated with Frank Andersen and Eva Kloborg, the two most important interpreters of the Bournonville style in modern times, for the master class.
“It’s beautiful to watch Frank and Eva bonding with the girls. In the Bournonville method, we do three combinations continuously – en face, croisé, effacé – and then repeat in reverse. You have to think quickly,” explained Wenny.
