Ballet Preparatory School

Dear parents, dear friends of the Czech National Ballet Preparatory School,

We have just entered the 2023/24 theatre season. The current school year is particularly important for us for two reasons. The first one is that in 2023 the Czech National Ballet Preparatory School will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its modern-time foundation; the second is that 2024 is the Year of Czech Music. When it comes to our anniversary, we have not planned any special festive events, but decided merely to reflect it in the programme of our annual performance. Ten years ago, we commemorated the 60th anniversary with an exhibition in the National Theatre foyer, mapping the history of the Ballet Preparatory School, which proved to be a great success. Subsequently, we published a brochure containing all essential data pertaining to the Ballet Preparatory School’s activities from 1835 to 2019 and plenty of photographs. We highly recommend the book to all those who would like to learn more about our institution. It provides interesting information about the figures who have helmed or worked for it, including teachers, as well as the numerous ballet stars who made their first tentative dance steps at our school.

As regards the Year of Czech Music 2024, it will be marked by numerous significant cultural events. We, for our part, will duly reflect it within our annual performance.  

The new school year is particularly remarkable for us due to our very first opening of two first-year classes. The grounds for doing so were administrative and organisational. We believe that our new first-graders, enrolled in either the blue or the red group, will be happy with us, and that the best of them will one day become professional dancers.  

Besides the annual performance, held at the end of every school year, our pupils have over the long term appeared in Czech National Ballet repertoire productions. One such is The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol to P. I. Tchaikovsky’s music, in which many children have showcased their talent. Another highly popular show in which our pupils have performed to acclaim is La Sylphide, premiered last year. At the present time, the children look forward to dancing in a production of Coppélia, soon to receive its Czech premiere. Such engagements serve to prove that our preparatory school in indeed an integral part of the Czech National Ballet.

Jana Jodasová,
Director of the Czech National Ballet Preparatory School