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{{Short description|Danish ballet dancer and choreographer}}
{{Infobox dancer
|name          = Dinna Bjørn
|image         = Dinna Bjorn.jpg
|caption       = Dinna Bjørn in 2012
|birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1947|2|14}}
|birth_place   = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]
|death_date    =
|death_place   =
|spouse        = [[Eric Viudes]]
|occupation    = Ballet dancer<br>Choreographer
|years_active  = 1971-present
|current_group = [[Finnish National Ballet]]
|former_groups = [[Norwegian National Ballet]]<br>[[Royal Danish Ballet]]
}}
'''Dinna Bjørn''' (born 14 February 1947) is a Danish [[ballet dancer]] and [[Choreography (dance)|choreographer]]. She has specialized dancing and directing the ballets of [[August Bournonville]]. Bjørn has also created five [[Hans Christian Andersen]] ballets for the [[Pantomime Theatre]] in Copenhagen's [[Tivoli Gardens|Tivoli]].
==Early life==
Born in Copenhagen, she is the daughter of the concert pianist [[Elvi Henriksen]] and of ballet master [[Niels Bjørn Larsen]]. When she was nine she danced at the [[Pantomimeteatret|Pantomime Theatre]] in the [[Tivoli Gardens]]. She studied privately under [[Hans Brenaa]] and later under prima ballerina Edite Feifere Frandsen from Latvia who trained her using the [[Vaganova method]].<ref name=as>{{cite web|url=http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/150/origin/170/|title=Dinna Bjørn (1947 - )|author=Alette Scavenius|publisher=Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon|accessdate=30 June 2019|language=Danish}}</ref>
==Career==
===Dancing===
On entering the [[Royal Danish Ballet|Royal Danish Ballet School]], she learned the techniques of Bournonville ballet with such ease that she immediately joined the company, making her début in 1966 when she was 16 in [[Jerome Robbins]]'  (''[[Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins)|Afternoon of a Faun]]''). She also performed in [[David Lichine]]'s ''[[Graduation Ball]]''.<ref name=as/><ref name=sjp>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327004624/http://www.jacobspillow.org/education/school/ballet/dinna-bjorn.php |archivedate=27 March 2014|url=http://www.jacobspillow.org/education/school/ballet/dinna-bjorn.php|title=Dinna Bjørn|publisher=The School at Jacob's Pillow|accessdate=27 February 2014}}</ref> Her real breakthrough came in 1971 when she danced Clara in ''[[The Nutcracker]]'', specially choreographed for her by [[Flemming Flindt]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Debra Craine |author2=Judith Mackrell |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=2nd|year=2010|doi=10.1108/09504121111119103|isbn=978-0199563449|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000crai_a8h2}}</ref>
Bjørn has performed particularly well in a number of Bournonville's ballets, including the title role in ''[[La Sylphide]]'' and Eleonore and Johanna in ''Kermes in Bruges''. Among other principal roles were the First Pas de deux in [[Rudi van Dantzig]]'s ''Vier Letzte Lieder'' and the title role in [[Michel Fokine]]'s ''[[Petrushka (ballet)|Petrushka]]''. She also performed ''[[Cinderella (Prokofiev)|Cinderella]]'' in Norfolk, Virginia, and ''[[Giselle]]'' at the 1988 Odense Festival.<ref name=sjp/>
===Teaching===
From 1975, Bjørn began to teach, both at the Royal Theatre's ballet school and on summer courses with [[Birger Bartholm]]. She has also conducted Bournonville classes in North and South America, in Asia and throughout Europe, helping to spread the tradition. She headed [[Frank Andersen]]'s Bournonville Group from 1985 until it was dissolved in 1989. Bjørn is now the patron of honor of the European School of ballet in Amsterdam teaching regularly Bournonville’s repertoire.
===Choreography===
Even as a young dancer, Bjørn began to work as a choreographer at the Royal Theatre, beginning with the ballet ''8+1'', for which she composed the music herself, followed by ''Sommerfuglemasken'' (1975) and ''Hat-Trick'' (1985). In 1971, she choreographed ''Anatomisk safari'' with music by [[Per Nørgård]] at Copenhagen's [[Det Ny Teater]]. It was the beginning of an extended period of cooperation with Nørgård from 1976 to 1982 during which, together with her ''Dinna Bjørns Dansegruppe'' and the percussion band ''Sol og Måne'', she choreographed [[divertimenti]] for his works. These included ''Den tredje tilstand'', ''Wölfli revy'', ''Det guddommelige tivoli'', and ''Siddharta''.<ref name=as/> As a choreographer, she has also created five Hans Christian Andersen ballets for Tivoli's Pantomime Theatre for which [[Margrethe II of Denmark|Queen Margrethe]] designed the décor and costumes. They are ''Kærlighed i skarnkassen'' (''Love in the Dustbin'', 2001), ''Thumbelina'' (2005), ''Fyrtøjet'' (''The Tinderbox'', 2007), ''Svinedrengen'' (''The Swineherd'', 2009) and ''Den standhaftige Tinsoldat'' (''[[The Steadfast Tin Soldier (ballet)|The Steadfast Tin Soldier]]'', 2013).<ref name=sjp/>
===Director===
In 1990, she was appointed artistic director of the [[Norwegian National Opera and Ballet|Norwegian National Ballet]], for whom she choreographed a new production of ''The Nutcracker'', and in 2001, she became ballet mistress for the [[Finnish National Ballet]]. From 1997 to 2000, she was also Bournonville Consultant for the Royal Danish Ballet.<ref name=sjp/> She has gained a reputation as an international authority on Bournonville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Dans/Klassisk_og_modern-_Dansere_og_koreografer_i_Danmark/Dinna_Bj%C3%B8rn?highlight=dinna%20bj%C3%B8rn|title=Dinna Bjørn|publisher=Den Store Danske|accessdate=27 February 2014|language=Danish}}</ref>
==Awards==
Dinna Bjørn has received the Danish [[Order of the Dannebrog]], the Finnish [[Order of the White Rose of Finland|Order of The White Rose]], and the [[Royal Norwegian Order of Merit]].<ref name=sjp/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
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[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Danish ballerinas]]
[[Category:Danish choreographers]]
[[Category:Ballet choreographers]]
[[Category:Ballet mistresses]]
[[Category:Dancers from Copenhagen]]
[[Category:Order of the Dannebrog]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Royal Danish Ballet dancers]]
[[Category:Danish women choreographers]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish ballet dancers]]