Erik Aschengreen

Danish dance critic and scholar, who also wrote liner notes. Born Aug. 31, 1935 in Frederiksberg (suburb of Copenhagen), Denmark. Died Sept. 9, 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Erik Aschengreen was a renowned figure in Danish ballet history and dance journalism. He earned his D.Phil. in 1986 with a dissertation on Jean Cocteau and the Dance. From 1969 to 2000, he served as a professor at the University of Copenhagen, where he established the discipline of dance aesthetics and history in 1989. Concurrently, from 1964 to 2005, he was a dance critic at the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende. Aschengreen taught ballet history at the Royal Danish Ballet School between 1971 and 1993, and later at the School of Contemporary Dance, established in 1990. He has lectured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and Japan. He authored several books on ballet, including “The Beautiful Danger” (1974), “Harald Lander – His Life and Ballets” (2009), and “Dancing Across the Atlantic” (2014). Aschengreen continued to contribute as a freelance writer and lecturer later in his career.