By Quinn Wharton member of the corps de ballet of San Francisco Ballet. August 31, 2010
The strangest thing about the Copenhagen tour has been the environment we worked in. Tivoli Gardens is the theme park that inspired Disneyland; it was the genesis for that whole enterprise.
When I first walked into the park I was stunned; it’s sort of polar opposite to the environment that we usually perform in. Yet here I was, walking to the theatre while the cotton candy machine was getting warmed up and the rides were groaning and crunching, waking from their night’s hiatus.
The more time that I spent in the park, the more I came to feel that my initial reaction was a biased one. The Gardens have retained a huge amount of the tradition and culture from when it was first created. There is a show that happens every day, in the old pantomime tradition, about a ballerina and a Harlequin chasing each other and being thwarted by a white clown. It’s been going on for decades and is a story that every child in Denmark knows.
All the rides were actually really enjoyable–from the big roller coasters to the Drop Zone. I had forgotten how much fun it is to wander around in a big, bright festival environment. Then, when the sun starts to set, the park gets even more magical. Everything is covered in lights, creating a beautiful glow to walk around in. Usually a jazz band or classical orchestra is performing by the lake, so you can hear live music from pretty much everywhere in the park. It just feels like a very honest environment and has a different undercurrent from the theme parks back home.
Maybe I’m partial because Tivoli is in Europe, or maybe it’s just because Tivoli is such an ancient establishment, but this is a theme park I would be happy to come to again and again. Below are a few pictures I took of Tivoli at night.
The Charm of Tivoli
member of the corps de ballet of San Francisco Ballet.
August 31, 2010
The strangest thing about the Copenhagen tour has been the environment we worked in. Tivoli Gardens is the theme park that inspired Disneyland; it was the genesis for that whole enterprise.
When I first walked into the park I was stunned; it’s sort of polar opposite to the environment that we usually perform in. Yet here I was, walking to the theatre while the cotton candy machine was getting warmed up and the rides were groaning and crunching, waking from their night’s hiatus.
The more time that I spent in the park, the more I came to feel that my initial reaction was a biased one. The Gardens have retained a huge amount of the tradition and culture from when it was first created. There is a show that happens every day, in the old pantomime tradition, about a ballerina and a Harlequin chasing each other and being thwarted by a white clown. It’s been going on for decades and is a story that every child in Denmark knows.
All the rides were actually really enjoyable–from the big roller coasters to the Drop Zone. I had forgotten how much fun it is to wander around in a big, bright festival environment. Then, when the sun starts to set, the park gets even more magical. Everything is covered in lights, creating a beautiful glow to walk around in. Usually a jazz band or classical orchestra is performing by the lake, so you can hear live music from pretty much everywhere in the park. It just feels like a very honest environment and has a different undercurrent from the theme parks back home.
Maybe I’m partial because Tivoli is in Europe, or maybe it’s just because Tivoli is such an ancient establishment, but this is a theme park I would be happy to come to again and again. Below are a few pictures I took of Tivoli at night.
The Nimb Hotel
Tivoli Concert Hall at Night