Carl Dahlén

Carl Dahlén (1770 – 1 December 1851) was a Swedish ballet dancer and choreographer, active first at the Royal Swedish Ballet at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, and second at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Theatre in Denmark. He belonged to the first male Swedish stars at the Royal Swedish ballet.

Carl Dahlén
Portrait by unknown artist
Born1770 (1770)
Stockholm, Sweden
Died1 December 1851(1851-12-01) (aged 80–81)
Copenhagen, Denmark
NationalitySwedish-Danish
Occupationdancer, ballet master

Career

He was made a figurante in the ballet 1785, a coryfee in 1789 and premier dancer in 1791. He participated in the pantomime ballet Det dubbla giftermålet by Jean-Rémy Marcadet opposite Margaretha Christina Hallongren, Hedda Hjortsberg, Joseph Saint-Fauraux Raimond and Carlo Caspare Simone Uttini the 1790–91 season. He was admired for his beauty and grace and attracted the attention of King Gustav III of Sweden.

The circumstances of his departure from the Swedish ballet are well known. A nobleman from the royal court was sent to him with the message from the king that he had been given a higher allowance; upon delivering the message, the courtier "allowed himself" a certain remark in connection to this, which insulted Dahlen, who gave him a slap to the face.[1] Dahlen then quickly left the capital in fear of the nobleman's revenge.

He was active at the ballet in Copenhagen for the rest of his career. He also composed his own ballet, Armida, which was performed in 1821–22. He retired in 1823.

Personal life

He married the Danish singer Johanna Elisabeth Morthorst who were active at the theatre in Copenhagen in 1784–1827.

Dahlén accepted a young Hans Christian Andersen as a ballet student in spite of his lack of talent. Andersen was also a frequent guest in Dahlén's home at Badstuestræde 18: He describes the relationship in The Fairy Tale of My Life:[2]

The dancer, Dahlén, whose wife at that time was one of the first artists of the Danish boards, opened his house to me. I passed many an evening there, and the gentle, warm-hearted lady was kind to me.The husband took me with him to the dancing-school, and that was to me one stop neaerer to the theatre. There stoof I for whole mornings, with a long stoff, and stretched my legs; but notwithstanding my good-will, it was Dahlén's opinion that I should never get beyong a figurente.".

References
  1. Nils Bohman: Svenska män och kvinnor. Bok 2 (Swedish men and women. Dictionary. Book 2) (in Swedish)
  2. Jan Gralle (20 August 2013). Walking in Hans Christian Andersen's Copenhagen. Frydenlund. ISBN 9788771182675. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
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