Livjægerne paa Amager - 1906
ABOUT THE FILM : Livjægerne paa Amager
Det Danske FilminstitutThe Life Guards on Amager
Year: 1906
Peter Elfelt immortalised on film three principal dancers from the Danish Royal Ballet: Hans Beck, Valborg Borchsenius (Guldbrandsen) and Ellen Price. The execution filmed of the pas de trios was perfect: rhythmic and graceful. A beautiful last scene crowned this sequence taken from a ballet by renowned Danish choreographer August de Bournonville.
Nationality: Danish
Length: 1' 28"
Genre: dance
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: black & white
Composer: Eric Le Guen
Original language: Danish
A BRIEF HISTORY : Livjægerne paa Amager
August Bournonville (1805-1871), director of the Danish royal Ballet and choreographer, was an outstanding figure of Danish artistic life in the 19th century. Far from the romantic productions of his contemporaries who favoured the ballerina, he always balanced feminine and masculine roles.
He became a choreographer at the age of just 25 and created fifty or so plays renowned for their exuberance. In another sequence filmed by Peter Elfelt (1866-1931) called Tarantellen af Napoli, the dancers are indeed rather theatrical.
Peter Elfelt was above all a photographer. However he marked the history of Danish cinema because he was its pioneer. From 1899 Elfelt filmed the royal family and became the Court's official photographer. For more than ten years he was the kingdom's only producer. He made more than 200 news sequences. He favoured naturalist films, documentaries and reports: military parades, the arrival of new kings and queens, official funerals, baptisms.
Most of his films are kept at the Danske Filminstitut.
