An encore for Frank Andersen at Royal Danish Ballet. (Presstime News).

As a dancer, Frank Andersen charmed audiences with his elegance. And as the returning artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet 2002-2006, the 48-year-old Andersen will need all his charm to cheer up the disheartened Danish dancers, who have had four different directors since Andersen left the position in 1994.

"My most important task will be to create a dialogue with the dancers so that they re-achieve their joy of dancing," Andersen said when he was appointed the new director in September. "I want to convince everybody that the time of discord at the Royal Danish Ballet is over."

Only a few weeks earlier, Artistic Director Aage Thordal-Christensen had announced that he did not want to continue his engagement, which was to run out in June 2002, because the dancers disagreed with his artistic choices and leadership style. When Andersen left after his nine years at the helm, it was clear a change was needed. He had cared for the Bournonville tradition with enthusiasm and created a successful second Bournonville Festival in 1992, but it had become time for new choreography. None of his four successors met with much lasting success: Peter Schaufuss (1994-95), Johnny Eliasen (1995-97), Maina Gielgud (1997-99), and Christensen.

Now Andersen's back for a second time. After he left Copenhagen in 1994, Andersen was director of the Royal Swedish Ballet from 1995 to 1999 and since then has taught and directed the works of August Bournonville. A firm grip of the Bournonville tradition will be crucial for Andersen, who will have to organize the Bournonville Festival 2005, celebrating the choreographer's 200th birthday. He and Dinna Bjorn are already in charge of this season's Napoli, which has the fight lightness to it, thanks to Bournonville stars like Tina Hojlund and Thomas Lund.

However, the last seven years of turmoil have threatened the Bournonville identity of the company. Foreign dancers now account for half the company's roster, and they include some who, without any apparent desire to master the Bournonville style, sparkle only in the international repertoire.

Andersen is no choreographer himself; he is a planner. Hopefully, his years away from Copenhagen have given him a reinforced network of choreographers. Besides, he is literally surrounded by interesting choreographers--British-born Tim Rushton and former principal Anna Laerkesen, not to mention the multitalented Russian principal Alexei Ratmansky. Besides, Andersen's crown prince has already been picked: He's Lloyd Riggins, 32, who will serve as first ballet master, though he will remain a principal dancer at Hamburg, where he has been since 1995. Riggins came from Miami to Royal Danish Ballet in 1987, thanks to Andersen. He quickly became a principal, and his calm temperament soon won his colleagues' respect.

It takes more than a traditional hard-nosed boss to direct the independent Danish dancers; Andersen and Riggins know this. Besides intelligence and vision, the job requires honesty--but most of all, a true love of Bournonville.