Bruger:Bjoernoep/sandkasse
Adam Lüders (born February 16, 1950, Hellerup, Denmark) was one of his generation’s most significant male ballet dancers, with his unusual height, elegant line, and speed.
Trained in the Bournonville tradition at the Royal Danish Ballet, Lüders was the classic ‘danseur noble’. He is part of the last generation of dancers who worked closely with Balanchine at the New York City Ballet and has danced most of the Balanchine and Robbins repertoire. In his teaching, he has been influenced by Stanley William, mixing his Bournonville background, Volkova (Vaganova) and Balanchine. Adam Lüders is famous for his skill in pas de deux, and he has partnered most of Balanchine’s ballerinas as well other international stars. Starting at nineteen, he and Eva Evdokimova participated in the first Moscow Competition in 1969.
Early life[redigér | rediger kildetekst]
Adam began to dance at the age of ten under Else Knipschildt. Knipschildt later cast him in her film Snow White as “The Bird” in 1985. Lüders also studied ballroom dancing. In 1962, Lüders was admitted to the Royal Danish Ballet School, under the tutelage of outstanding teachers such as: Kirsten Ralov, Vera Volkova, Hans Brenaa. Lüders also studied mime under Niels Bjørn Larsen. During his childhood years, he appeared in ballets, operas and theatre plays. Adam also performed in Elsa Marianne Von Rosen’s, Irene Holm as well as in the Walt Disney film, Ballerina 1966.
Professional career[redigér | rediger kildetekst]
ROYAL DANISH BALLET
After Adam completed his apprenticeship in 1968, he entered the company and was soon given principal roles.
His first solo performance was the role of “Harlequin” in Balanchine’s La Somnambula. John Cranko recognized Adam’s talent and cast him in two different parts of his ballet Lady and The Fool, as both the “Suitor” and the character role of “The Fool”.
Throughout his career, Adam Lüders enjoyed a wide spectrum of roles from the noble prince to various character roles. Flemming Flindt cast him as both “Siegfried” and “Rothbart” in his production of Swan Lake. During his tenure at the Royal Danish Ballet, Adam danced the principal role in Rudy Van Dantzig’s Monument for a Dead Boy, John Cranko’s Jeu de Carte. Other roles those included in ballets choreographed by Harald Lander, Tudor, Roland Petit, Birgit Culberg, Felix Blaska, as well as those in the Bournonville repertoire. Guest appearances: 1973 Nutcracker, 1976 Swan lake, 1979 Balanchine’s Divertimento 15.
LONDON FESTIVAL BALLET
In 1972 Peter Schaufuss advised Adam to audition for the London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) under the direction of Berryl Grey, who engaged him first as a soloist then shortly after as a principal dancer. Lüders performed the leads in Cinderella by Ben Stevenson, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty (two versions), Petipa, and the last one by Rudolf Nureyev (1975). Adam also danced roles in Fokine’s Les Sylphides, Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, and Bournonville’s Conservatoire, which was staged by Mona Vangså.
He was also part of Maurice Béjart’s creation of Rose Variations, a ballet with Maina Gielguld. She also choreographed for him “Le Petit Prince” in 1973 (London Festival Ballet Workshop). He danced as a guest with her in Gisele with the Ballet de Nancy (director Rosella Hightower) in 1975. Lüders was coached by sir Anton Dolin, who incidentally lent him Albrecht’s cape belonging to John Gilpin as a token of good luck. During that time he made several guest appearances with Maina Gielguld performing in Bournonville’s La Sylphide, Maurice Béjart’s Webern opus V, Bakhti, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux of Balanchine for the first time. He also made a guest appearance with the Norwegian National Ballet in their production of Sleeping Beauty in 1974.
NEW YORK CITY BALLET
In 1975, Lüders was encouraged by his fellow Danish ballet colleagues Peter Martins and again Peter Schaufuss to join them in the New York City Ballet. Adam auditioned for George Balanchine during their summer season in Saratoga Springs. Balanchine engaged him immediately as a principal dancer. Balanchine created the following ballets for him: Kammermusik No. 2 in 1978, Hungarian Gypsy Airs in 1979, Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze in1980, Walpurgisnacht Ballet in1981, and Noah and the Flood in 1982. During that time at the NYCB, other choreographers created ballets especially for Adam as well. John Taras, Christopher D’Amboise, Jerome Robbins of which In Memory Of is the most notable. Peter Martins also choreographed for him, in Barber Violin Concerto, Beethoven Romance and Rossini Quartet.
In the 20 years he spent in the United States, Lüders was a guest of several ballet companies. Most notably, he performed with the Chicago City Ballet from 1984 to 1986, under the direction of Maria Tallchief and Paul Mejia. Adam danced and created the role of the prince for their full-length Cinderella. He was Romeo opposite Suzanne Farrell as Juliet in Mejia’s Romeo and Juliet.
In 1978, he was invited by Violette Verdy to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet with Ghislaine Thesmar in Balanchine’s Chaconne. Lüders also danced with Thesmar in Pierre Lacotte’s La Sylphide and in the production of G Major by Jerome Robbins with a group of international stars in Tokyo and Osaka in 1979. He was part of “Solists of the Royal Danish Ballet” at City Center, New York in 1979. He performed Bournonville’s Flower Festival for the International Ballet festival of Cuba in1980.
In 1977, Adam danced at the White House for the president Jimmy Carter for The North Atlantic Alliance Summit.
In the summer of 1994, he made his farewell performance first in New York with Midsummer Night’s Dream, then in Saratoga Springs in the 2nd movement of Symphony in C, choosing Wendy Whelan, one of his former students, as his ballerina.
Teaching/Coaching/Staging/Performing[redigér | rediger kildetekst]
Adam Lüders had an interest to teach early in his career; he started giving pas de deux classes at the School of American Ballet during his career with the NYCB. Peter Martins created a special men’s variation and a repertory class for him in 1989. Among his students were Benjamin Millepied, Stephen Hanna, Edwaard Liang.
In 2004, the Bolshoi Ballet’s director Alexei Ratmansky invited him to teach the company and stage Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco. In 2005 he was invited by the Bolshoi Ballet School to give Bournonville master classes. Other ballet companies that invited him include: Birmingham Royal Ballet, Maine State Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Zaragoza Ballet, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Massachusetts Youth Ballet, Perm Ballet Russia.
In 1995, when Peter Schaufuss was appointed director of the Royal Danish Ballet, he invited Adam “back home” as both compagny teacher, ballet master and teacher for the apprentice program. Over the years, Adam has been affiliated with the Royal Danish Ballet under various directors.
In the summer of 1997, Lüders was the Artistic Director of “Young Ballet Stars” in Copenhagen; the program consisted of Petipa, Bournonville, Balanchine. He invited dancers from Russia, America, France, as well as former students like Ethan Stiefel, Rachel Rutherford.
In 1998 Peter Schaufuss invited Lüders to be part of his newly founded company in Holstebro, Denmark to teach the company and school. Schaufuss cast Lüders in many of his creations, the most notable being the title role of H.C Andersen in 2001.
Lüders taught at the Los Angeles Ballet from 2006 to 2017, where he also performed each year in their production of Nutcracker. He performed the role of Don Quixote (Petipa) in the spring of 2016. The role of Don Quixote was quite familiar to him as he had previously performed the part at the age of twenty-eight, when Suzanne Farrell was his Dulcinea in the New York City Ballet production by Balanchine and coached by the master.
Lüders has been teaching and coaching at the Royal Danish Ballet under the direction of Nikolaj Hübbe since 2009. In 2015 he created “Schubert Pas de Deux” for the company.
In 2018, he created a piece for Kammerballetten/Trio Vitruvi “Vision Fugitive” with music by Prokofiev, and also for their season in 2019 “Suite Italienne”, with music by Stravinsky, both presented at Takkelloftet/Royal Opera House, Copenhagen
In 2019, Adam Lüders was invited to teach and coach at the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet.
Lüders is a répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust and has staged many of his ballets around the world.
Bournonville ballets staged: 1981 annual workshop, at the School of American Ballet: a pas de trois from the ballet “Erik Menveds Barndom”, including dances which had not been performed since the mid-nineteenth century, and which he reconstructed from Bournonvilles notes, together with the historian Knud Arne Jürgensen.
2007, Perm Ballet School, Russia: Tarantella and pas de six from third act of Napoli, and Balabile from first act.
Appearances on TV and film[redigér | rediger kildetekst]
- 1977 - PBS’ “Dance in America” series in George Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments”
- 1982 - Orpheus – Great Performances
- 1980 - Vienna Waltzes
- 1981 - Balanchine’s “Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze” The Balanchine Library, Nonesuch
- 1986 - Live from Lincoln Center in a divertissement from Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
- 1987 - PBS’ “Great Performances” in “In Memory Of” by Jerome Robbins with the New York City Ballet
- 1989 - “Barber Violin Concerto” and “Beethoven Romance” by Peter Martins
- 1990 - “Serenade” Dance in America video archive, WNET/Thirteen
- 1993 - Vienna Waltzes in “Balanchie Celebration”