{"id":55033,"date":"2022-08-30T07:57:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T07:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/?p=55033"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:28:50","slug":"who-is-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/who-is-james\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO IS JAMES?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcin Kupinski <\/strong>on the visionary leading character in \u201cLa Sylphide\u201d<\/h3>\n

Not everyone knows who are the most memorable characters of the dance world. About this, in every issue we talk with a dancer of a renowned ballet company to find out the who’s who amongst the most famous and iconic of ballet figures. A Column by Alessandro Bizzotto.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJames is confused, passionate, lost, under pressure, in dilemma<\/strong>\u201d, Marcin Kupinski tells me, when I ask him to describe the male lead in one of the most iconic ballets of the Romantic tradition such as La<\/em> Sylphide<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Principal dancer at the Royal Danish Ballet, where August Bournonville mounted his own production of this classic, has danced James many times \u2013 a Scottish farmer who falls head-over-heels for a Sylph, and decides to turn his back on marriage and on a calm and safe future. \u201cI think he is under pressure because he must marry a girl he doesn\u2019t love, as he is engaged in an arranged marriage<\/strong>\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s why he falls in love with a creature even though she is not real, and it is beyond the bounds of sanity. So, he finds himself chasing some impossible dream, imagining something which doesn’t even exist<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

A role that represents a challenge. \u201cDancing James is really a big responsibility<\/strong>\u201d Marcin reveals. \u201cI mean, all the biggest stars danced this role before \u2013 Flemming Ryberg, Henning Kronstam, Erik Bruhn, Peter Martins, Nikolaj H\u00fcbbe.\u00a0I was really nervous before approaching the rehearsals of La Sylphide<\/em>, because I wondered if I would be able to fulfil the expectations for such a role<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Marcin Kupinski is Polish. Not many non-Danish dancers danced James in Copenhagen before him. \u201cI think I was the third or the fourth foreigner to ever perform this role in the Royal Danish Ballet history. Luckily, I found my way. With my coach Nikolaj H\u00fcbbe\u2019s support, I was able to perform this role satisfactorily<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The role is full of jumps, beaten steps and turns. \u201cThe part is both tricky and heavy<\/strong>\u201d he says. \u201cEverything hurts the day after dancing it! You cannot prepare La Sylphide<\/em> in a short amount of time \u2013 it takes three or four weeks to be in shape enough to dance a leading role in a Bournonville\u2019s ballet<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

As far as acting is concerned, it is not of secondary importance. \u201cI think that the role requires versatile acting abilities. James goes through many different emotions, and a dancer has to be able to show different states of mind and heart throughout the performance<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

When I ask Marcin if he has ever felt like James, he answers, \u201cI was once in that state of mind, finding myself in dilemma. I didn\u2019t know what to do. So, I can relate to his story. As is obvious, that relationship didn\u2019t work!<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

If Marcin Kupinski could meet James in real life, what would he tell him? \u201cI would tell him, \u2018Don\u2019t fall for something that cannot be lived in a real and healthy way\u2019<\/strong>\u201d .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marcin Kupinski on the visionary leading character in \u201cLa Sylphide\u201d Not everyone knows who are the most memorable characters of the dance world. About this, in every issue we talk with a dancer of a renowned ballet company to find out the who’s who amongst the most famous and iconic of ballet figures. A Column […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":55034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55035,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55033\/revisions\/55035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}