2 3 Throwback Thursday and Eric Bruhn | Ballet Webb

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Throwback Thursday and Eric Bruhn


Throwback Thursday and Eric Bruhn

Eric Bruhn was trained in Denmark and graduated from the Royal Danish Ballet School in 1947.  Despite this traditional background and the fact that he was often called “the perfect prince”; a New York Times writer states:  “The truth was that passion was at the heart of every Bruhn performance”.

He performed with many companies but mostly with The Royal Danish Ballet and American Ballet Theater.  He introduced many of Bournonville’s work to North American companies, including staging La Sylphide for the National Ballet of Canada.

Like so many great dancers, he was perfectionist who set the standards for many of his contemporaries.  His notable partnership with Carla Fracci remains one of the most memorable in dance history.   A short publication involving an interview with Eric Bruhn called Beyond Technique is a wonderful look inside the mind of a great performer who always did, indeed, go beyond technique.

Despite his abilities and his ranking as one of the best male ballet dancers of all time, Eric Bruhn is not a household word, like Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.

 Eric Bruhn died of lung cancer in 1986.  He was 57 years old.


From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #36:  
“Eric Bruhn exemplified the classical male ballet dancer, and was often called ‘the perfect prince’.”

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-          Emily Dickinson

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