Flemming Flindt

Flemming Flindt (30 June 1936 – 3 March 2009) was a <a href="/facts/Denmark/KVtykzsw">Danish</a> choreographer born in Copenhagen. He studied at the <a href="/facts/Royal_Danish_Ballet/dqVx7bBC">Royal Danish Ballet</a> and <a href="/facts/Ballet_de_l%2527Op%25C3%25A9ra_National_de_Paris/JqwWmvl2">Paris Opera Ballet schools</a>, joined the Royal Danish Ballet and was promoted to soloist in 1955. He guested with the <a href="/facts/London_Festival_Ballet/9UVRIGya">London Festival Ballet</a> in 1955, the <a href="/facts/Ballet_Rambert/qwj7Lba8">Ballet Rambert</a> in 1960, the <a href="/facts/Royal_Ballet/e9gxsX17">Royal Ballet</a> 1963 and the <a href="/facts/Bolshoi_Ballet/5KcJDQeJ">Bolshoi Ballet</a> in 1968, becoming an étoile at the <a href="/facts/Ballet_de_l%2527Op%25C3%25A9ra_National_de_Paris/JqwWmvl2">Paris Opera Ballet</a> in 1961.
His first ballet was Enetime, a 1963 adaptation of <a href="/facts/Eug%25C3%25A8ne_Ionesco/Jn2lKb0z">Ionesco</a>'s <a href="/facts/La_Le%25C3%25A7on/5fC8XdeI">La Leçon</a>, original English title of the ballet The Private Lesson, to a score by <a href="/facts/Georges_Delerue/sogNTSEd">Georges Delerue</a> and was commissioned by Danish television, later being adapted for the stage, making its premiere with <a href="/facts/Royal_Danish_Ballet/dqVx7bBC">Royal Danish Ballet</a> on tour in Paris in 1964; Flindt returned to the Royal Danish Ballet as artistic director from 1966 to 1978. Other ballets he made on the Royal Danish Ballet include Gala Variations Music: <a href="/facts/Knud%25C3%25A5ge_Riisager/hcq6y07S">Knudåge Riisager</a> first performance was 5 March 1967, Ballet Royal Music: <a href="/facts/Knud%25C3%25A5ge_Riisager/hcq6y07S">Knudåge Riisager</a> first performance was on 31 May 1967, <a href="/facts/The_Miraculous_Mandarin/6SB0ov57">The Miraculous Mandarin</a> to <a href="/facts/B%25C3%25A9la_Bart%25C3%25B3k/C1DQu47U">Bartók</a> (1967), Swineherd Music: Knudåge Riisager first performance was on 11 March 1969 <a href="/facts/The_Nutcracker/wssKI7y2">The Nutcracker</a> to <a href="/facts/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky/IhyaS2Q8">Tchaikovsky</a> in 1971, <a href="/facts/Jeux/JmHFhoQg">Jeux</a> to <a href="/facts/Claude_Debussy/m60RdNpr">Debussy</a> in 1973 and Dreamland, to a score by <a href="/facts/Herman_David_Koppel/WrjxjjdS">Herman David Koppel</a> in 1974.
In 1978 he formed his own dance company. Its first work, <a href="/facts/Salome_(play)/yd0bpQUk">Salome</a>, premiered on 10 November 1978, at <a href="/facts/Copenhagen/58Tl28IX">Copenhagen</a>'s Cirkusbygningen (The Circus Building). It featured music composed by <a href="/facts/Peter_Maxwell_Davies/aDSx6Ecz">Peter Maxwell Davies</a>, performed by the <a href="/facts/Denmark/KVtykzsw">Danish</a> Radio Concert Orchestra and conducted by <a href="/facts/Janos_F%25C3%25BCrst/PrKqYq1P">Janos Fürst</a>. The principal dancers were <a href="/facts/Vivi_Flindt/L0wy0KLW">Vivi Flindt</a>, his wife, as Salome; Jonny Eliasson as John the Baptist; and Lizzie Rhode as Herodias. Flindt danced the role of Herod, and Vivi danced her final scene completely nude. This caused less of a sensation than the couple's previous nude ballet <a href="/facts/The_Triumph_of_Death_(ballet)/bE0GkDAg">Dødens triumf</a> (The Triumph of Death), a television ballet in which the whole cast danced naked to a 1971 score by <a href="/facts/The_Savage_Rose/Rn8Nkp1s">The Savage Rose</a> (its stage premiere at the <a href="/facts/Royal_Danish_Theatre/02GKnhjH">Royal Danish Theatre</a> was in 1972). Salome was filmed and shown on national television.
From 1981 to 1989 he became artistic director of the Dallas Ballet, after which he continued to work as a freelance choreographer, especially with the <a href="/facts/Cleveland_Ballet/SdugWaQf">Cleveland Ballet</a>. In 1991 he returned to the Royal Danish Ballet to make <a href="/facts/Caroline_Mathilde_(ballet)/TUbFCgG9">Caroline Mathilde</a> to another <a href="/facts/Peter_Maxwell_Davies/aDSx6Ecz">Peter Maxwell Davies</a> score and Legs of Fire in 1998 to a score by <a href="/facts/Erik_Norby/q0gXTaCL">Erik Norby</a>.
Flemming Flindt was made a <a href="/facts/Order_of_the_Dannebrog/Mkl4IJPI">Knight of Dannebrog</a> in 1974 and received the <a href="/facts/Carina_Ari_Medal/8BS8nNhc">Carina Ari Medal</a> in 1975. He was married to the dancer <a href="/facts/Vivi_Flindt/L0wy0KLW">Vivi Flindt</a>, who created leading roles in a number of his ballets.
Flemming Flindt works continue to be performed as part of the extensive repertoire of <a href="/facts/Ballet_San_Jose/cGwxYso8">Ballet San Jose</a>. He was present in November 2008 to personally stage Ballet San Jose's production of his work, <a href="/facts/The_Toreador/t6WmUamG">The Toreador</a>. Flindt died on 3 March 2009 in <a href="/facts/Sarasota/BYN6AQBx">Sarasota</a>, Florida, in the United States.

Flemming Flindt open-in-new

Flemming Flindt