Kim Brandstrup
Cinematic space and projection
Cinematic space and projection
"Brandstrup seems to create his works like a filmmaker, an invisible camera panning over the dancers. Action is fast and varied, like a series of beautifully cut shots" - Stephanie Ferguson
Kim Brandstrup studied cinema before turning to dance, and that focus informs much of his work to date. Envying the physical freedoms of film, he has long sought to extend the limitations of the theatrical space, working with designers to create fictional universes and lucidly suggestive spaces, that allow for rapid shifts in time and space.
In 2001 with filmmakers The Brothers Quay and video artist Syvain Robert he created The Queen of Spades: the first full-length ballet performed entirely in a virtual space of video projection.
As the technology develops and especially in his recent collaborations with Leo Warner and 59productions projection has found an integral role in his work .
Cinematic space and projection Projects
Invitus Invitam
Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Covent Garden , October 2010
The three giants of 20th-century dance overshadow most, but not Kim Brandstrup, the Danish choreographer whose new piece for The Royal Ballet held its own in a mixed bill that featured canonical work by all three of the mighty trio." ****
Evening Standard
Goldberg
ROH2
Royal Opera House, September 2009
“an ingeniously organised, frequently humorous, gently enigmatic and wholly luminous hour and a quarter – a mini-masterpiece, in short.”
Jenny Gilbert, Independent on Sunday *****
Rushes - fragments of a lost story
The Royal Ballet
The Royal Opera House, 23 April 2008
“One of the richest and most dramatic new ballets seen on the stage of the Royal Opera House for a good long time. A sensual, fluid creation.”
Sarah Crompton, Daily Telegraph
Ghosts – five studies in musical phrasing
Den Kongelige Ballet | The Royal Danish Ballet
Operaen, Copenhagen, 20 April 2007
“The greatest revelation of the evening was Ghosts by Kim Brandstrup... Brandstrup’s seductive choreography carves its own niche between narrative and absrtraction, as does Steven Scotts lighting design. The dancers are dancing in the light, and the audience are transported straight to heaven.”
Anne Middelboe Christensen, Information A
THE ANATOMY OF A STORYTELLER
Arc Dance Company
Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, 8 November 2004
"a mastery act...Brandstrup is a gifted storyteller and he sketches the tale with rapid wit... and the nine dancers could hardly be bettered"
The Guardian
Queen of Spades
Les Grandes Ballets Canadiennes
Theatre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts, Montreal, October 2001
“A royal flush!" "The Queen of Spades: The choreographer has played his cards very well by artfully blending modernity and classicism." "... the clarity of action, the delicacy of movement, the lovely music, and, most of all, the understated aestheticism leave you breathless throughout the ballet."
- Linda Boutin, Voir,
