It’s not every day that this comes out of the mouth of a ballet teacher and dancer: “I am the son of a hunter. I have been out hunting, living in igloos and dog sleighing”.
Meet Martin Vedel, who fulfilled a “childhood dream” of coming to New Zealand. Since January last year he’s been ballet master with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in Wellington.
Vedel was born in Greenland and was raised there until he turned 5, when he moved to Denmark. Vedel still has family in the largely ice-covered country.
“It was a fantastic childhood and I have a lot of memories because it was such a contrast moving from the ice to the woods,” he says.
At age 7, while learning ballet with the Royal Danish Ballet School in Copenhagen, Vedel first performed in the comic ballet Coppelia, which has a strong element of pantomime. “As a child in the Royal Danish Ballet you do perform a lot with the company. It was very helpful back in the day. You were working in this fantastic world where you saw what you were doing as a kid and you saw what the adults were doing just by walking around the [ballet company’s] building.
“We saw every single play, every single opera, every single orchestra concert and, of course, every single ballet was part of our education. We saw everything that the theatre could do. It was a rich upbringing.”
Coppelia, was first staged in 1870 in Paris, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon and music by Leo Delibes. It has been adapted many times. The Royal NZ Ballet’s season opening in Wellington on Thursday has been rebuilt from the ground up by Vedel – and is the first full-length ballet he has choreographed.
His first performance as a 7-year-old was the start of a long relationship with the work. After his student days he had a two-year apprenticeship with the Royal Danish Ballet. “We had pantomime classes and we did the second act of Coppelia over and over and over again, so I know every single mime scene – at least in the Danish versions.”
While Vedel’s Coppelia has been developed with the Royal NZ Ballet, he says he has brought in some Danish elements. “The Danes have a good, strong tradition for telling stories, so it’s a good base to start.”
There’s also a distinct Danish tradition in some of the dance, he says. “There is a very fast, strong jump in both male and female [dancers]. The very fast footwork is unique to the Danish style. I’m not saying that an American [or Kiwi] dancer can’t sustain this style, so we learn from each other. Your physicality might suit one type of dancing better.
“I truly believe it’s a unique version to this company. They [the Royal NZ Ballet dancers] are wonderful to work with and they are very good artists. Pantomime can be very difficult and they do it extremely well. The company is so meticulous to get the pantomime right.
“Comedy is [also] very hard on stage. I’m not expecting people to sit back and slap their thighs, but I hope that they will sit with a smile and enjoy it.”
The three-act Coppelia, designed by the late Kiwi designer Kristian Fredrikson, centres on a beautiful life-sized automaton who is mistaken for a real girl. The cast includes Sir Jon Trimmer as the misunderstood inventor Dr Coppelius. Sir Jon first performed in Coppelia 50 years ago and Vedel has appreciated his input. “I love Sir Jon and we have excellent times together. He is so good and so sincere in his acting that it touches me deeply when he turns up the volume.”
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But while Coppelia is comic, Vedel says that doesn’t make it any lesser a ballet than other classic works. “Coppelia is treated like a lightweight ballet in the ballet world – and rightfully so. It’s not the most in-depth story. It’s a light and entertaining ballet, but that can take away from the seriousness of the characters. It can be just as honest and aware being funny as being serious. Your feelings can still be real.”
And one of the highlights his Coppelia will have is still the “Czardas”, based on a Hungarian folk dance. Vedel’s version is helped by the fact that while a dancer he visited Hungary several times.
“I was out one night at a discotheque that was on several floors and there was no-one there at all. On my way out I saw that everyone was in the parking lot where you had live music and traditional dancing. I spent four hours dancing with the locals – and I couldn’t walk for two days because my thighs were killing me.”
THE DETAILS
Coppelia, St James Theatre, Wellington, April 17-26. The Royal NZ Ballet’s New Zealand tour will also include Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North, April 30; Municipal Theatre, Napier, May 16-17 and Civic Theatre, Rotorua, May 21.
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