Pas de Deux: Two talents telling the untold story of Gustav Badin in world-first ballet 'Gustavia'

Within Stockholm’s National Museum hangs a spellbinding portrait. The 18th century work, commissioned by Queen Lovisa Ulrika, captures a resplendent Black man in aristocratic dress with fanciful plumes of feathers, decorative blue epaulettes and a noble white sash. He is seated by a chess board. The match is complete, some pieces have toppled. With a mischievous smile, he triumphantly bears the game’s knight piece between his thumb and forefinger.

It is a painting of Adolph Ludvig Gustaf Fredric Albert Couschi, better known as ‘Badin’ (as derived from the French word for a prankster). “That portrait, it’s been following me,” says Swedish-Eritrean fashion designer Selam Fessahaye. “I saved it to my computer many years ago, when I was looking for portrayals of non-white people during the 1700s. I had heard something about Badin, I’d read about it once, but I never really put it together as a true story.”

Fessahaye is not alone. Despite the prominence and enigma of Badin’s portrait, the remarkable story of its subject is unbeknown to many Swedes. As a child, the enslaved Badin was brought from St Croix in the West Indies – a Danish colony at the time – as a gift to the Swedish Royal Court in the 1750s. He was welcomed into the royal environment with affection, becoming a close playmate to Gustav III and Princess Sofia Albertina. Eventually, Badin was officially baptised into the royal family and became a figure of Swedish society, respected for his wit, intelligence and loyalty. He was a dancer, a diplomat, lover of the arts and a friend of Carl Michael Bellman. On occasion, he even helped Bellman to compose verses – some of which were published in his name. Like the knight that he holds in his portrait, Badin moved with clever agility through the chessboard of court life.

Now, the untold story of Badin will be brought to cultural consciousness in a new light with Gustavia, a world-first ballet by the Royal Swedish Opera, choreographed by the esteemed Pär Isberg, directed by Amir Chamdin (following his recent Viaplay release Börje – The Journey of a Legend), and with Fessahaye at the helm of costume design. Together, the team of creatives have delved into centuries-old documents and materials about Badin, including his own diaries and letters housed in the library of Uppsala University. “We are being a little bit playful from his point of view as Badin,” says Chamdin. “Who do you feel that you really are after you have been on this journey, travelled the seas, ended up at the royal castle, and become part of one of the most powerful families at the time?” Amongst it all, Gustavia also recounts Badin’s romantic affair with Sofia Albertina, and his love of dance and theatre that he shared with Gustav III, culminating in the latter’s establishment of the Royal Swedish Opera during his reign.

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It’s inside the Royal Swedish Opera – a stone’s throw from the museum where Badin’s portrait hangs – that I sit with Chamdin and Fessahaye on the sidelines of a rehearsal space one afternoon, watching Isberg work his magic. It can be counted on just two hands how many weeks remain until the opening night of Gustavia, yet Isberg is calm and composed, developing the scenes from scratch with the dancers. The principals and their understudies huddle and converse quietly with Isberg before scampering, sweat-slicked, into position to workshop steps and variations. The room is a hive of controlled energy, the most magnetic of which exudes from French dancer Guillaume Diop in the lead role of Badin.

Statuesque and long-limbed, the 24-year-old has star power that is seemingly boundless. The first Black ‘danseur étoile’ or principal dancer (the height of ballet’s rankings) at the Paris Opera Ballet, Diop has also recently walked the runway for Miu Miu, starred in a Jacquemus x Nike campaign and appeared as a judge on Drag Race France. To top it off, tens of millions of people watched him dancing sublimely in sneakers atop the rain-soaked roof of the Paris City Hall for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games earlier this year.

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The Gustavia casting has brought Diop to Stockholm for the first time, where he’s enjoying “the best cinnamon rolls” as well as the journey of becoming Badin for the stage. “Foremost, I can relate to Badin in that he was a ballet dancer himself,” Diop says. “But he was also someone who was very present for his family, his adopted royal family. He was always trying to keep the peace in the castle and protect his family, and I think this showed he was a good man. Every day I’m discovering a bit more about Badin.”

Badin’s is a compelling and inspiring story of Black experience in Swedish history that Diop, whose mother is French and father is Senegalese, is proud to portray. “At the beginning of the ballet, Queen Lovisa Ulrika receives Badin as a present from the Queen of Denmark. I am in the basket as a slave and it’s a very powerful moment,” Diop says. “Most of the time in ballet, I embody a prince. So the first time I got in the basket I was so emotional. But it feels good to embody a Black figure from history who is not just a slave or someone who is only there to make people laugh. He has hope for himself.”

Gustavia also represents a new milestone for Diop in that he is contributing to the choreography with Isberg, a process which he describes as “very cerebral”. “I really have to think differently, not just about what I like, but about the storytelling and what looks good on stage,” Diop says. “It’s challenging, but I love feeling useful beyond just dancing.” Honing his choreography skills with Isberg has given Diop a new perspective of the wider production of a ballet – including the importance of costume. “I’ve never danced in costumes like this before. It’s incredible how Selam has managed to make them so relevant to fashion today, while still making sense for the Swedish court of the 18th century.”

One of Scandinavia’s strongest fashion talents, Fessahaye – who was raised in Sweden by Eritrean parents – has already made a cultural mark far beyond her runway showcases and red carpet creations. Beyoncé wore a frothy yellow tulle design of Fessahaye’s in her internet-breaking visual album Black is King and Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria once opted for one of her show-stopping powder-puff dresses for the Polar Music Prize ceremony. “Wherever there is space for expression, I’m there,” the designer says.

In fact, 40-year-old Fessahaye started out in costume design, working extensively in film. But ballet has proven to be a different kind of beast. “In ballet, when you can’t actually say the lines, how will people see and understand the story?” she says. “The costumes are part of that. I’ve been trying to enhance the story of Gustavia through the clothes, using the silhouettes and specific colours to signify who is who, and define which parts of the court people belong to.”

On top of that, Fessahaye has had to wrangle with the performance technicalities of ballet costume design, which has been a steep learning curve in itself. “I have a whole new brain now,” she smiles. While the Royal Swedish Opera’s team of tailors have been open-minded and supportive of her vision, Fessahaye has had to make compromises. “The tailors are amazing, their technical work is so good, but we come from different worlds,” she says. “For example, with my lines. My sketches usually have big shoulders or big cuffs and sleeves, but in the dance world, with their movements, it’s just not possible. So the process has been a lot of me saying ‘Can we try this? Or a little bit of this?’ I’ve been constantly challenging things, but also finding compromises.”

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Another point of compromise has been Fessahaye’s exacting attention to detail, with the seasoned tailors insisting that smaller details won’t be perceived from afar by the audience. “But for me, the details are so important. Without the details, like, what is the costume? So that has been like...” she makes a strained crunching sound. “It’s like [the tailors and I] speak two different languages. But we always figure out how to meet halfway.”

Fessahaye has clearly mastered the balancing act to pull this off, while maintaining her own personal design language and a contemporary feeling. In addition to materials from all over the world – the majority being deadstock or surplus fabrics – she also uses her signature tulle (a ballet-compatible flourish if there ever was one), beading and blown-up proportions. “It’s been important to be true to everything: the 1700s, the dancers, the story, and my own aesthetic,” she says. “So it’s been like a mashup of everything, taking elements from the time period but also ensuring it is timeless.”

After a series of fittings led by Fessahaye – punctuating months of gruelling work with the tailors – the time comes for both she and Diop to don some of the completed costumes for our Vogue Scandinavia shoot. In a show of respect to the subject matter of Gustavia, the Swedish royal family has permitted our team access to their exclusive quarters of the Royal Opera House, including their personal entrance halls, the Queen’s dressing room, and their royal box seats.

Featured on the garments are some of Fessahaye’s custom-made prints, one being a swirling depiction of world map, another being a kaleidoscopic pattern of merging hands created from a photo taken of Fessahaye’s friends, which the designer envisioned to have a camouflage effect on all skin tones. Later, Diop steps out in an ornate blue and white ensemble. It’s a delicate mix of devoré fabric and tactile floral appliques, giving way to subtle sheer windows. The elegant collar and cuffs of the shirt peep out from underneath the cropped jacket. It fits Diop like a glove, but he moves cautiously, not wanting to damage the intricate garments. “Better now than on stage,” Fessahaye laughs. Diop finds his place in front of the photographer and counts down from three before athletically launching himself skyward, flawlessly executing powerful poses while suspended high in the air. Of course, the costume holds up.

There’s something about this particular look on Diop that feels familiar. “It’s inspired by the portrait,” Fessahaye says. “It’s an interpretation of the painting. That portrait, for me, it’s everything.”