The purest ballet scene in all of Bournonville’s works, that is how one could describe the divertissement The Dancing School of the ballet Le Konservatoriet. Here, it is the dance itself that is the point of the story. By creating a plot that sets off in a dance studio, Bournonville has made it possible to show off his delicate and very demanding exercises in their most purified form on stage.
It is not just any dance studio but a dance studio at the Conservatoire in Paris. Bournonville knew these ballet classes from his own youth in the 1820’s where he studied at the Conservatoire with the renowned Auguste Vestris as one of his teachers. Creating the ballet of Le Konservatoriet – or a Marriage by Advertisement for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1849, Bournonville assembled his youth memories in a cheerful and harmless vaudeville ballet.
Bournonville Workshop with the Masters will perform Konservatoriet in Ogden on June 13th under the direction of Dinna Bjorn and her fellow masters, Eric Viudes, Henning Albrechtsen, and Karina Elver.