ANDERS HELLSTRÖM

As the Royal Swedish Opera prepares to close and a new theatre comes into view, the new director of the Royal Swedish Ballet traces a path through the stages of his past, the responsibilities of the present, and the challenges awaiting his company in a new venue

by Alessandro BIZZOTTO

We meet in his office at the Royal Swedish Opera on an early January afternoon, when Stockholm feels suspended in white. Outside, the city is locked in ice and silence; inside, the house is quietly vibrating, only a couple of hours before a performance of Swan Lake. The rhythm of the day is already set to the pulse of the theatre. There is no sense of ceremony. Only the alertness of someone fully present, aware that time is precious and that ballet waits for no one. Yet there is no feeling of being rushed.

Anders Hellström speaks with clarity and warmth. He has lived most of his life elsewhere, shaped as much by departure as by belonging. From the Royal Swedish Ballet to Hamburg, where he became a principal dancer under John Neumeier, and then to William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt, he absorbed radically different artistic worlds, learning early that tradition survives only if it is challenged from within.

What followed was a decisive shift of perspective: leadership roles at Göteborg Opera Dance Company and at Nederlands Dans Theatre.