Ballet metaphor

Études means so much to me, because this ballet is a metaphor for myself and for my thoughts on dance. Dance is not just delivering some steps to the audience. The purpose of ballet is, increasingly, to combine spirit, dance and music!”
Harald Lander

Etudes is a tribute to dancing. The ballet follows the dancers from the basic five positions to the most difficult steps, from the hard work in the rehearsal room to the most brilliant and elegant stage performance, showing the different sides of the art of ballet, from sheer bravoure to pure poetic expression.

The ballet, built up like crescendo, ending with a breathtaking finale, combines spirit and style. A challenge for a whole company.

Etudes was created by Harald Lander in Copenhagen for the Royal Danish Ballet, and was premiered on the 18th of January 1948. It is one of the most famous Danish ballets in the international repertory.

Harald Lander has recreated the ballet in 1952 for the Paris Opera Ballet, and this is the version showed all over the world.

Among the numerous companies who have presented the ballet are: English National Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Netherlands National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, State Ballets of Vienna, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich, Tokyo National Ballet, Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, National Ballet of Hungary, Canadian National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet West in Utah, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Municipal de Santiago de Chile, La Scala in Milano, Australian Ballet, China National Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg.

Etudes has been filmed for TV several times. For the first time it was broadcasted internationally in 1956, performed by London Festival Ballet at the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer. A special TV production directed by Harald Lander in 1969 was made by Danish TV with the Royal Danish Ballet, starring Toni Lander, Erik Bruhn, Flemming Flindt and Henning Kronstam.