CULTURE: DANCE
In the first half of the century. XVII the French Antoine de Beaulieu introduced the first French-style dances to the court (1638). The creation of the first professional company and a school led by another Frenchman, L. Gallodier, dates back to 1773, the year of the inauguration of the Royal Opera. Frequent contacts with other European capitals brought numerous guest artists to Stockholm: among them Antoine Bournonville, F. Taglioni – principal dancer in 1803-04 and maître de ballet in 1818 – and A. Bournonville, who staged a dozen ballets in the capital. In 1841 the famous M. Taglioni returned to Sweden for some shows; his partner on that occasion was Ch. Johannson. In the Romantic era, A. Salinder, the first Swede to take over the direction of the dance (1833), aimed at enhancing the folkloric heritage and creating a national repertoire. At the beginning of the century XX, the apparitions of I. Duncan (1906), A. Pavlova (1908) and the repeated stays of M. Fokin, starting from 1913, left a lasting trace in the history of Swedish dance. In particular, Fokin was able to enhance some young talents including J. Börlin, future star of the Ballets Suédois. The interwar years saw a certain decline in ballet and a progressive public interest in the major personalities of modernism, from K. Jooss to M. Wigman, to H. Kreutzberg. BR Cullberg and I. Cramír, the greatest exponents of Swedish modernism, created their companies at that time. After World War II the company of the Royal Ballet was entrusted to the guidance of A. Tudor (1948-53) and subsequently to M. Skeaping (1953-61) who expanded the repertoire, introducing numerous classics. Tudor again, then various personalities, later succeeded at the helm of the company and choreographies by the greatest masters of the century were gradually added to the nineteenth-century repertoire. XX. According to topb2bwebsites, Sweden owns two other ballet companies, one based in Malmö, the other in Gothenburg. Among the private companies, the prestige and quality of the Cullberg Balletten stands out, directed, until 1992, by M. Ek, son of Cullberg and one of the most interesting choreographic talents on the international scene. There are also numerous experimental and avant-garde groups of a good professional and artistic level.
CULTURE: THEATER
There is no minimally documented tradition of medieval religious theater; the history of Swedish theater begins in the sixteenth century with the representation of humanistic texts in universities and continues for a couple of centuries with occasional performances by foreign companies hosted by the court. Only towards the end of the eighteenth century, during the reign of Gustav III, were built in Stockholm, the only theatrical center in the country since 1900, two royal theaters, one for prose and one for opera, still existing, albeit in venues. several times rebuilt and modernized. The construction of a splendid Baroque theater in the summer residence of the sovereigns in Drottningholm, on an island not far from the capital, dates back to the same period. which was completely restored in 1921 and which still has the eighteenth-century machines and sets in working order. In the nineteenth century, numerous private halls were added to the royal theaters of Stockholm, some of which would end up assuming considerable importance, especially towards the end of the century, when they hosted the masterpieces of H. Ibsen and JA Strindberg, unwelcome to official scenes. With Strindberg, in fact, Swedish theater acquired European prominence, subsequently confirmed by the personality of some excellent directors, such as P. Lindberg, O. Molander, A. Sjöberg and I. Bergman, certainly counted among the greatest actors of the century, even if they have almost all worked only at home. At the same time, culturally relevant theaters have also sprung up outside Stockholm. The municipal theaters of Gothenburg and Malmö stand up to comparison with the most prestigious halls of the capital due to the level of the shows presented and also for the equipment; but smaller cities such as Uppsala, Helsingborg, Linköping, Norrköping and Borås also have publicly run permanent theaters. The panorama of the Swedish scene is completed by the existence of tour companies that go to the most remote corners of the country and by the numerous summer shows hosted in public parks and other natural venues. There are also central bodies to plan the
