For a long time, there was little dance outside The Royal Theatre. Since 1844 the Pantomime Theatre in the amusement park Tivoli has cultivated a pantomime form deriving from the Italian commedia dell’arte combined with the Danish ballet tradition.
Modern dance arrived late in Denmark. In the late 1960s small companies began to work with dance inspired by contemporary American artists such as Martha Graham (1894-1991) and Merce Cunningham (b.1919).
Among the most important of these were the all-female group Living Movement, established in 1971, and the group established in 1974 and led by former Royal Danish Ballet principal Eske Holm (b.1940).
However, none of the 1970s initiatives lasted very long. By contrast, New Danish Dance Theatre, founded by the Norwegian experimental choreographer Randi Patterson (b.1948) around 1980, has survived.
With Patterson, the American Warren Spears (b.1954) and Danish Anette Abildgaard (b.1951) as choreographers, Denmark finally got its own modern company of high standing, today led by the choreographer Tim Rushton.
Interest in dance has also been fostered by major summer events such as the Festival of Fools and Dancin’ City, which have brought cutting edge international dance to Copenhagen.