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Dinna Bjorn
Bournonville
Dinna Bjørn is one of the few distinguished Bournonville-specialists in the ballet world of today.
After private studies with Edite Frandsen, former ballerina of The Riga Opera Ballet, she joined Royal Danish Ballet in 1964.
In 1966 she had her soloist-debut in the role of the young girl in "Afternoon of a Faun" by Jerome Robbins, and two years later she won the bronze medal and a special prize for artistic interpretation at The International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, where she danced Bournonville´s "Flower Festival in Genzano" pas de deux, for the first time shown at a Ballet Competition.
Already in 1975 she started teaching Bournonville classes and giving lectures on Bournonville, and together with Frank Andersen she took the initiative, in 1976, to create the touring Bournonville Group "Soloists of The Royal Danish Ballet". The group toured under their directorship worldwide with a Bournonville-repertoire every summer until 1989.
In 1987 she left Royal Danish Ballet to pursue a free-lance career as Bournonville teacher ad producer, but accepted in 1990 to become artistic director of The Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo, a position she held for twelve years.
From 1997 to 2000 she was the Bournonville Consultant to the Royal Danish Ballet. In 2001 she was offered to become artistic director of The Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki, and stayed with that company until 2008. Through all the years since 1987 she has been active staging Bournonville productions, arranging seminars and teaching Bournonville courses worldwide.
Dinna Bjørn has staged "La Sylphide" for Bavarian State Ballet (Munich), Boston Ballet (Boston), Norwegian National Ballet (Oslo), Hong Kong Ballet (Hong Kong), Capitole Ballet (Toulouse), Universal Ballet (Seoul), Bulgarian State Ballet (Sofia), Het Nationale Ballet (Amsterdam), Paris Opera Ballet School (Paris), Grazer Landestheater Ballet (Graz), Royal Danish Ballet (Copenhagen), Royal New Zealand Ballet (Wellington), Ballet du Rhin (Mulhouse/Strasbourg), West Australian Ballet (Perth), Ballet Nice Mediterrané (Nice) and Milwaukee Ballet (Wisconsin,USA).
She has collaborated with Frank Andersen on the productions of "Napoli" for The Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki and for Stanislavskij Ballet in Moskow, and with the reconstruction of "From Siberia to Moskow" in Tbilisi in 2009. Their latest collaboration was their reconstruction of "Ponte Molle" for The Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm in 2016.
In addition she has lately been staging "La Ventana" for The Bayerisches Staatsballet 2, and "Le Conservatoire" for The Ural Ballet in Yekaterinburg, for The Finnish National Junior Company, for The National Academie of Dance in Amsterdam and for The Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, and she is now the Bournonville Consultant for the Vaganova Academy. She is a regular Bournonville Teacher at The National School of Arts in Oslo, Bayerische Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Munich and English National Ballet School.
Dinna Bjørn is also a choreographer, and she has created three works for the Royal Danish ballet, and a very popular version of "Nutcracker" for the Norwegian National Ballet, still in the repertoire after 21 years. Together with her Majesty, the danish Queen Margrethe II (as designer) Dinna Bjørn has created five Hans Christian Andersen fairy-tale ballets at The Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli, in Copenhagen. Dinna Bjørn is the recipient of the Danish Order of Dannebrog, the Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald and the Finnish Order of The White Rose.
After private studies with Edite Frandsen, former ballerina of The Riga Opera Ballet, she joined Royal Danish Ballet in 1964.
In 1966 she had her soloist-debut in the role of the young girl in "Afternoon of a Faun" by Jerome Robbins, and two years later she won the bronze medal and a special prize for artistic interpretation at The International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, where she danced Bournonville´s "Flower Festival in Genzano" pas de deux, for the first time shown at a Ballet Competition.
Already in 1975 she started teaching Bournonville classes and giving lectures on Bournonville, and together with Frank Andersen she took the initiative, in 1976, to create the touring Bournonville Group "Soloists of The Royal Danish Ballet". The group toured under their directorship worldwide with a Bournonville-repertoire every summer until 1989.
In 1987 she left Royal Danish Ballet to pursue a free-lance career as Bournonville teacher ad producer, but accepted in 1990 to become artistic director of The Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo, a position she held for twelve years.
From 1997 to 2000 she was the Bournonville Consultant to the Royal Danish Ballet. In 2001 she was offered to become artistic director of The Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki, and stayed with that company until 2008. Through all the years since 1987 she has been active staging Bournonville productions, arranging seminars and teaching Bournonville courses worldwide.
Dinna Bjørn has staged "La Sylphide" for Bavarian State Ballet (Munich), Boston Ballet (Boston), Norwegian National Ballet (Oslo), Hong Kong Ballet (Hong Kong), Capitole Ballet (Toulouse), Universal Ballet (Seoul), Bulgarian State Ballet (Sofia), Het Nationale Ballet (Amsterdam), Paris Opera Ballet School (Paris), Grazer Landestheater Ballet (Graz), Royal Danish Ballet (Copenhagen), Royal New Zealand Ballet (Wellington), Ballet du Rhin (Mulhouse/Strasbourg), West Australian Ballet (Perth), Ballet Nice Mediterrané (Nice) and Milwaukee Ballet (Wisconsin,USA).
She has collaborated with Frank Andersen on the productions of "Napoli" for The Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki and for Stanislavskij Ballet in Moskow, and with the reconstruction of "From Siberia to Moskow" in Tbilisi in 2009. Their latest collaboration was their reconstruction of "Ponte Molle" for The Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm in 2016.
In addition she has lately been staging "La Ventana" for The Bayerisches Staatsballet 2, and "Le Conservatoire" for The Ural Ballet in Yekaterinburg, for The Finnish National Junior Company, for The National Academie of Dance in Amsterdam and for The Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, and she is now the Bournonville Consultant for the Vaganova Academy. She is a regular Bournonville Teacher at The National School of Arts in Oslo, Bayerische Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Munich and English National Ballet School.
Dinna Bjørn is also a choreographer, and she has created three works for the Royal Danish ballet, and a very popular version of "Nutcracker" for the Norwegian National Ballet, still in the repertoire after 21 years. Together with her Majesty, the danish Queen Margrethe II (as designer) Dinna Bjørn has created five Hans Christian Andersen fairy-tale ballets at The Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli, in Copenhagen. Dinna Bjørn is the recipient of the Danish Order of Dannebrog, the Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald and the Finnish Order of The White Rose.