Dance for You Magazine Issue 76 (2017)

DANCEforYOU magazine
7
Marcin Kupinski in ´Apollo´ © Costin Radu
As
he enthusiastically sits down to answer my
questions, Marcin Kupinski reveals both a polite,
nearly shy disposition and a passionate
love for his profession.
Born and raised in Gdynia, Poland, he was 18 when he
won the Grand Prix at the Eurovision Young Dancers contest.
The following year, after finishing the ballet school, he
got the Special Jury Prize at the Varna International Ballet
Competition and flew to Copenhagen to join the world’s
third oldest ballet company – the Royal Danish Ballet.
«I am happy I’ve found my place in such a company»
Marcin tells me. «I’ve never thought about leaving
Copenhagen».
His promotion to the rank of Principal came at the end
of a performance of “A Folk Tale”, one of the best-known
ballets created by August Bournonville, the ballet master
and choreographer who founded his methodology for
the Danish ballet school. Besides Bournonville, Kupinski’s
roles have included Siegfried in “Swan Lake”, the prince in
“The Nutcracker”, Basile in “Don Quijote” and prince Désiré
in “The Sleeping Beauty” among many others.
You started studying ballet in Poland, your
home county.
I did, while I was attending the elementary school. And it
was not my idea, at the very beginning!
You didn’t want to take ballet lessons?
I just didn’t know anything about that…! But I remember
the National Ballet School in Gdansk, close to my home city,
was missing boys among the students, and they made an
audition inviting young kids that were attending the elementary
school. They checked my body skills and so on…
and offered me the opportunity to join the school. Everything
looked new to my eyes. There was not a ballet tradition
in my family.
That’s surprising, in a way, to know no one
in your family had a ballet career, as your
brother Dawid followed your footsteps and
has become a ballet dancer too. Many would
think you to come from a ballet family.
I know. But it is not like that! And I’ll tell you something
more: Dawid wasn’t happy at all me to start attending ballet
lessons. He is one year younger than me and, at the very
beginning, he thought ballet was girls’ stuff. He would have
preferred me to do karate or something similar. But then
he came to see my first school show – he liked it! He asked
our mother to attend the National Ballet School with me,
and the following year he was also admitted.
You moved to Copenhagen at nineteen, right?
Yes, that’s right. I met Frank Andersen, former director of
the Royal Danish Ballet, in Japan. I was taking part in a
competition there and he was in the jury. He proposed
me to join the company here. I had just finished the ballet
school in Poland and was about to go to Munich for a ballet
scholarship, but I preferred to come to Denmark and
join the Royal Danish Ballet. My brother Dawid came with
me to start working with the company and, during the
first season, he went back and forth between Denmark
and Poland to finish the ballet school. >>
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