Mette Hønningen

Inge Mette Hønningen (born 1944) is a classical Danish ballerina who danced in the Royal Danish Ballet until 1992. She starred in Norman Campbell's film Ballerina in 1966. A number of choreographers have created works specially for her, in particular Alvin Ailey who dedicated Witness to her in 1986.

Biography Born in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen on 3 October 1944, Mette Hønningen is the daughter of the fruit merchant Karl Emil Hønningen (1903–74) and Agnes Elvira Madsen (1906–91). After a few years at Ole Palle Hansen's dancing school, she entered the Royal Theatre's ballet school when she was 12. She began to blossom four years later under Vera Volkova who had every confidence in her talents and adopted a less hasty approach to her development. During filming, she met the German television producer Thomas Grimm whom she married. Hønningen is considered to be one of the most beautiful classical dancers engaged by the Royal Theatre in recent generations.

In the 1970s, Høonningen began to suffer from problems with her back. For her 25th anniversary with the Royal Theatre in 1987, which was also a kind of leaving celebration, she danced the three most important works of her career: Witness, Caverna magica and Harald Lander's Études. Thereafter she was increasingly afflicted with back problems, leading her to retire from the Royal Theatre in 1992. In the late 1990s, she introduced Silja Schandorff and Mette Bødtcher to the Witness sequence.

Awards In 1974, she was honoured as a Knight of the Dannebrog and in 1976, she received the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat.