Polish National Ballet | |
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General information | |
Name | Polish National Ballet |
Previous names | Balet Teatru Wielkiego – Opery Narodowej |
Year founded | 1765 |
Founders | Stanisław II August |
Principal venue | Grand Theatre, Warsaw |
Website | teatrwielki.pl |
Artistic staff | |
Artistic Director | Krzysztof Pastor |
Other | |
Formation |
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The Polish National Ballet (Polish: Polski Balet Narodowy, PBN) is the largest and most influential ballet company in Poland. It continues a ballet heritage, dating to the 17th century.
Prior to 2008 it was known as the ballet of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera. In that year the ballet company received artistic autonomy reflected in the theatre's by-laws; it was elevated to the rank of Polish National Ballet. The director since has been Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor. [1]
It has been suggested that this section be split out into another articletitled Polish ballet . (Discuss) (October 2023) |
In 1628 a traveling Italian opera troupe created the first ballet performances in Poland. Ballet scenes were then often incorporated into operas held at the court theater. For many years it was primarily foreign dancers who performed. They served as exemplars for their Polish counterparts.
Eventually in 1765 the first permanent ballet company was formed, on the initiative of the king Stanisław II August. The company functioned with some interruptions in the Saxon’s Opernhaus (opera house), the first Polish public theater. A 1766 book on ballet by the famous ballet master of France Jean-Georges Noverre was dedicated to the Polish king. [2]
Maciej Pręczyński (Prenczyński) was the first well-known Polish dancer. He worked with Gasparo Angiolini in Venice and in Vienna during the 1770s.
In 1785 Stanisław II August established a company of young dancers, taught by a ballet school at an estate in Lithuania. This first professional ballet company of predominantly Polish dancers was known as His Majesty’s National Dancers (1785-1794). [3] Performances were held on stage at the National Theatre building in Krasiński Square, Warsaw. Its royal heritage was continued by subsequent Polish companies.
In Warsaw uring the Romantic era the National Ballet School flourished. After 1818 it was guided by two French ballet masters Louis Thierry and Maurice Pion. Under construction from 1825 to 1833, the Teatr Wielki (Grand Theater) then became the artistic center for both opera and ballet in Poland. At mid-century the choreographer and teacher Roman Turczynowicz became the ballet master. Also, several outstanding foreign masters, e.g., Filippo Taglioni, Carlo Blasis, Virgilio Calori, Pasquale Borri, José Mendez, Raffaele Grassi, and Enrico Cecchetti, worked developing Polish dancers. [2]
Mathilde Kschessinska (Matylda Krzesińska), a dancer of Polish extraction, from the 1890s was one of the leading lights of the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg.
From its early years many Polish dancers had joined the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, which climbed to world renown. These included the ballet master Stanislas Idzikowski, [4] Leon Woizikovsky (orig. Wójcikowski), [2] [5] and Mieczyslaw Pianowski. [6] Polish dancers also distinguished themselves in the various Ballets Russes companies that succeeded Diaghilev's. Among these were Yurek Shabelevski, [7] [8] Roman Jasinski, [9] [10] Marian Ladre, [11] Yurek Lazovski, [12] [13] [14] and Nina Novak. [15]
Siblings Bronislava Nijinska and Vaslav Nijinsky were of Polish heritage, [16] though Vatsa and Broni trained under the patronage of the Tsar at the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg. They danced with Ballets Russes, Nijinsky being celebrated internationally as he reached the pinnacle of the art. Both were choreographers for Diaghilev, the older Nijinsky before the war, Nijinska during the 1920s. [17] [18]
During the Second Polish Republic, Nijinska headed the Balet Polski, aka Les Ballets Polonais, aka The Polish Ballets newly formed in Warsaw in 1937. [19] [20] [21] [22] This company was the brainchild of poet Jan Lechoń, and created with the assistance of M. Waclaw Jedrzejewicz, Minister of Public Education and President of the Organization Committee of the Polish Section to the Art and Technical Exhibition in Paris. The company's general director was Arnold Szyfman.
For the first season, 1937-1938, Nijinska created five new ballets including Baśń krakowska (La Légende de Cracovie), to music by Michal Kondracki; Pieśń o ziemi naszej (Le Chant de la Terre), to music by Roman Palester; Koncert E-moll Chopina (Concerto de Chopin), to Frédéric Chopin's B-minor piano concerto; Apollo i dziewczyna (Apollon et la Belle), to music by Ludomir Rozycki; and Wezwanie (Le Rappel), set to a score by Boleslaw Woytowicz. This repertoire featured scenery and costumes designed by Teresa Roszkowska, Waclaw Borowski, Wladyslaw Daszewski, and Irena Lorentowicz-Karwowska. The souvenir program for this company's Covent Garden appearances states: "Every gesture and every colour, the ebb and flow of the groups, each step of the soloists, the spirit and harmony of the Polish Ballets are imbued with the artistic ideals of Bronislava Nijinska and her ardent desire that the world should see the dances of her country in their noblest and most beautiful form." [23] At the Paris Exposition Internationale of that year, this Polish Ballet won the Grand Prix for performance, Nijinska the Gran Prix for choreography. [24] [25] In 1938 the Ballets Polonais was directed by Leon Wójcikowski. It appeared at the New York World's Fair in 1939, but World War II caused its closure. [26]
Following the traumas of war, the 'Ballet of Teatr Wielki' reemerged in Warsaw. Yet the original Teatr Wielki had been almost completely destroyed during the 1939 siege of Warsaw. Eventually it was rebuilt and enlarged, in a new facility (also called the Opera Narodowa [National Opera]). Continuing a heritage of several centuries, the new theater opened in 1965. It housed the companies and schools for both opera and ballet, its stage being shared. [27] The dance company later became the Polish National Ballet, which continues to rehearse and perform in Teatr Wielki.
On 18 March 2009 Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor, [28] already engaged with the Dutch National Ballet, became the director of the ballet of Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera. He took over this position with Paweł Chynowski as his proxy only under the condition that the company receive artistic autonomy. Thanks to the efforts of Teatr Wielki’s general director Waldemar Dąbrowski on 29 April 2009 the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski took the decision to separately constitute the ballet in the theater’s by-laws, under the name Polish National Ballet. [2] With the foundation of the Polish National Ballet, the company became autonomous and works as an equal partner to the Polish National Opera.
Polish National Ballet pursues a program of major classic dance formation. It performs an academic choreographic repertoire, but also reaches for 20th-century ballet masterpieces. Invitations are extended to outstanding contemporary choreographers; it also introduces works by young Polish choreographers. With nearly 90 dancers it includes both Polish and foreign dancers and affiliated specialities. The company performs regularly at the Teatr Wielki, when it is not on tour in Poland or performing abroad.
Ballets staged by the Polish National Ballet from its establishing (year, ballet, choreographer): [29]
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Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.
René Blum was a French Jewish theatrical impresario. He was the founder of the Ballet de l'Opéra at Monte Carlo and was the younger brother of the Socialist Prime Minister of France, Léon Blum. A Jew, he was interned in various camps from 1941 until he was murdered by the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp in late September 1942. While at the camps, he was known for keeping up the spirits of his fellow prisoners with tales of his life in the arts.
Bronislava Nijinska was a Russian ballet dancer of Polish origin, and an innovative choreographer. She came of age in a family of traveling, professional dancers.
The Afternoon of a Faun is a ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes, and was first performed in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 29 May 1912. Nijinsky danced the main part himself. The ballet is set to Claude Debussy's symphonic poem Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Both the music and the ballet were inspired by the poem L'Après-midi d'un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé. The costumes, sets and programme illustrations were designed by the painter Léon Bakst.
The Wedding, or Svadebka (Russian: Свадебка), is a Russian-language ballet-cantata by Igor Stravinsky scored unusually for four vocal soloists, chorus, percussion and four pianos. Dedicating the work to impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the composer described it in French as "choreographed Russian scenes with singing and music" [sic], and it remains known by its French name of Les noces despite being Russian.
The Grand Theatre, Warsaw, or the Great Theatre—National Opera, is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw, Poland. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is home to the Polish National Ballet and has a seating capacity of over 2,000.
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. After its initial Paris season, the company had no formal ties there.
Les biches is a one-act ballet to music by Francis Poulenc, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered by the Ballets Russes on 6 January 1924 at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo. Nijinska danced the central role of the Hostess. The ballet has no story, and depicts the random interactions of a group of mainly young people in a house party on a summer afternoon.
The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil, and its artistic director was René Blum. They fell out in 1936 and the company split. The part which de Basil retained went through two name changes before becoming the Original Ballet Russe. Blum founded Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, which changed its name to Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo when Léonide Massine became artistic director in 1938. It operated under this name until it disbanded some 20 years later.
The Original Ballet Russe was a ballet company established in 1931 by René Blum and Colonel Wassily de Basil as a successor to the Ballets Russes, founded in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev. The company assumed the new name Original Ballet Russe after a split between de Basil and Blum. De Basil led the renamed company, while Blum and others founded a new company under the name Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. It was a large scale professional ballet company which toured extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United States, and Central and South America. It closed down operations in 1947.
Lynn Theresa Garafola is an American dance historian, linguist, critic, curator, lecturer, and educator. A prominent researcher and writer with broad interests in the field of dance history, she is acknowledged as the leading expert on the Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev (1909–1929), the most influential company in twentieth-century theatrical dance.
Irina Nijinska was a Russian-Polish ballet dancer who performed with the company of Ida Rubinstein; in the Théatre de la Danse Nijinska; the Ballets Russes of Col. de Basil; the Polish Ballet, and other troupes. She spent much of her later life promoting the work of her mother, Bronislava Nijinska, the dancer and choreographer.
Carolina Alice Brianza, who went by the name Carlotta Brianza, was an Italian prima ballerina, dancing with La Scala in Milan and later with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.
Stanislas Idzikowski was a Polish dancer and ballet master, active in England, and with such historic companies as Pavlova's, Ballets Russes, and Vic-Wells. During his performance career, 1910-1933, he became famous for his brilliant classical technique, and for the development of ballet roles. With Beaumont he co-authored an influential book on the Cecchetti Method, still in print. He later taught dance in London.
Kyra Vaslavovna Nijinsky, was a ballet dancer of Polish and Hungarian ancestry, with a Russian dance and cultural heritage. She was the daughter of Vaslav Nijinsky and the niece of Bronislava Nijinska. In the 1930s she appeared in ballets mounted by Ida Rubinstein, Max Reinhardt, Marie Rambert, Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor.
Nina Semyonovna Youshkevitch was a Franco-Russian ballet dancer and teacher. After a notable dancing career an injury forced her retirement, and she became a prominent ballet teacher and choreographer.
Krzysztof Pastor is a Polish dancer, choreographer and ballet director. He was resident choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam from 2003 to 2017, director of the Polish National Ballet in Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw since 2009 and at the same time from 2011 until 2020 was the artistic director of the ballet of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Vilnius.
Vladimir Yaroshenko – Polish-Russian ballet dancer in type danseur noble, first soloist with Yury Grigorovich's Ballet Theatre, Krasnodar, trained in classical Russian ballet school. Polish resident since 2007, engaged with Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, where since September 2010 is a first soloist, and since January 2020 - a principal dancer of Polish National Ballet under direction of Krzysztof Pastor.
Yuka Ebihara is a Japanese ballet dancer. Since September 2011, she has been engaged with Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki. Since September 2013, she became a first soloist, and since January 2020 she is a principal dancer of the Polish National Ballet. She ended her stage career on December 22, 2024, saying goodbye to the Warsaw audience in the role of Marguerite Gautier in John Neumeier's The Lady of the Camellias.
Leon Woizikovsky, originally Léon Wójcikowski was a Polish dancer and ballet master, and later choreographer and teacher. He first came to prominence as a member of the Ballets Russes. Later he worked with various ballet companies, e.g., Pavlova, de Basil, de Valois, Ballet Polonaise, Massine, the London Festival, the Royal Flemish.