August Bournonville

(1805–1879)

Born in Copenhagen. He studied classical dance under his father Antoine Bournonville and  Vincenzo Galeotti, then he continued taking lesson in Paris under Augustin Vestris and Pierre-Gabriel Gardel. In 1827–28 he performed on stage of Académie Royale de Musique, where he was partner with Maria Taglioni. When he came back to his home country, he continued performing at the Royal Danish Opera, where he debuted as choreographer. In 1848 he retired and focused on ballet directing. Apart from Copenhagen he worked as a ballet-master in Vienna (1855–56); in 1861–64 he was the head of the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm.

He directed approximately 50 ballets. Among those are La Sylphide (1836) based on Parisian play by Filippo Taglioni, Napoli, or The Fisherman and His Bride (1842), Le Conservatoire, or A Marriage by Advertisement (1849; the scene Dance Class was included in worldwide repertoire), Kermessen i Brügge eller De tre Gaver (1851), Brudefærden i Hardanger (1853), A Folk Tale (1854), Flower Festival In Genzano (1858), Far from Denmark (1860), From Siberia to Moscow (1876). Dozen of  Bournonville’s ballets are still remaining in the repertoire of the Royal Danish Ballet.

He combined work as a director with being a teacher at the Royal Ballet School. He formed ‘Bournonville lesson’, that was put into pedagogical practices worldwide and shaped Dutch school of classical dance in its contemporary meaning.