Dance artist Brandstrup honoured with major Danish award

Danish dance artist Kim Brandstrup has been honoured with an award from the Wilhelm Hansen Foundation (WHF). It recognises his 35-year choreographic career, which includes pieces like The Anatomy of a Storyteller, Rystet Spejl and Jeux.

WHF stated that the award was not only for Brandstrup’s body of work but also for the influence he has had on other Danish dancers: he was one of the first Dane’s to study modern dance abroad, spending time at the London School of Contemporary Dance in the early 1980s.

Brandstrup has worked on commissions for New York City Ballet (Jeux), Rambert (Transfigured Night), Royal Danish Ballet (Rystet Spejl), The Royal Ballet (Two Footnotes to Ashton), and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Queen of Spades). He also created choreography for Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.

Past recipients of the WHF honorary prize include Adam Fischer, Peter Martins, Leif Ove Andsnes, Thomas Dausgaard and Tim Rushton. WHF awards scholarships and grants to artists working in the fields of dance, theatre and music.

Brandstrup will receive the prize at a ceremony in Copenhagen on 25 October.

kimbrandstrup.org