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
Between the Rooms
LA Opera
13 May 2022
'Between the Room's is a haunting film featuring commissioned music by composer Anna Clyne. The film, which is directed and choreographed by Kim Brandstrup, features two internationally celebrated dancers: Alina Cojocaru, who has performed as a principal dancer with the Hamburg Ballet, London's Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, and Matthew Ball, a principal dancer with London's Royal Ballet.
Faces
Lucie Conrad
ROH Linbury Theatre , September 22 2018
Kim Brandstrup’s latest film project, Faces, is an intimate portrait of three extraordinary dancers - Carlos Acosta, Alina Cojacaru and Zenaida Yanowsky - caught in the magical moment of time as each listens to music and prepares to move.
The triptych of short filmed portraits, with music by François Couperin, had its first public screenings during Open House London, when the Royal Opera House opened its doors to the public to reveal the newly refurbished Linbury Theatre, September 22, 2018.
Shaken Mirror "Rystet Spejl"
The Royal Danish Ballet
The Royal Danish Theatre, København, 28th May 2016
''It is an enchanting, beautiful and evocative intersection between dance, text and music choreographer Kim Brandstrup has created in his new and very original staged work''
Vibele Wern, Berlingske Tidende
*****
Ceremony of Innocence
"Kim Brandstrup’s new Ceremony of Innocence is the highlight of the Aldeburgh Festival’s danced celebration of composer Benjamin Britten. Set to theVariations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, it echoes the ambiguities of Britten’s operas in fresh, musical dance, with strong video design by Leo Warner."
Invitus Invitam
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,
