About us
Czech National Ballet – the present
The Czech National Ballet in Prague occupies a solid position in the Central European context. Its founding in 1883 gave rise to the continuous evolutionary tradition of Czech professional dance. A truly cosmopolitan company, the Czech National Ballet is currently made up of 80 dancers of 19 nationalities. This diversity affords it a colourful scale of means of expression, with the results being a blending together of numerous dance schools and styles, mutual enrichment and inspiration.
The Czech National Ballet’s dialogue with global dance theatre has been cultivated over the long term, with this trend having been further developed by its current Artistic Director, Filip Barankiewicz.
Ranking among the big players of the European dance scene, the company has enhanced its renown by regularly collaborating with foreign choreographers, coaches, stage directors and designers. The experience with various movement phraseologies serves to spice up the artistic work, helping the company to find its Central European identity.
The Czech National Ballet operates at four venues. In the 2023/24 season, the company will give 117 performances on Czech stages and 21 shows within foreign tours. It has premiered three new productions: the mixed bill BEYOND VIBRATIONS, the unique project HOLO HARMONIES – The Cross-Border Live Experience and the feature-length ballet COPPÉLIA. The company’s current repertoire consists of the productions ROMEO AND JULIET, CINDERELLA, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE NUTCRACKER – A CHRISTMAS CAROL, ONEGIN, FORSYTHE / CLUG / MCGREGOR, BPM, LA SYLPHIDE and LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE (presented within a tour of Oman).
Besides performances, we pursue other regular activities and projects (ballet workshops, pre-performance lectures pertaining to the specific production, autograph sessions), which of late include the educational programme DANCE ON, encompassing open classes, individual coaching and a choreography laboratory, within which the participants can witness the gestation of new works.
Czech National Ballet premieres in the 2023/24 season
“I believe that by serving as inspiration theatre plays an essential role in our culture. We identify two components – commitment to innovation and commitment to a troupe of artists, our company – as our core values. It is through the body language of metaphor and in the arena of emotion that our soul is given utterance and our lives with others find common ground. We commit, through that expressiveness, to innovation – we dedicate ourselves to awareness, to the challenge and joie de vivre. Finally, by adhering to these values and being active citizens, we accept our own role in the life of our shared community, nurturing the contacts with our audience and artists, as well as our colleagues at all the National Theatre venues. Bearing in mind these core values – innovation, artistry and active citizenship – our 2023/24 season will be a season of diversity and richness of styles.”
Filip Barankiewicz, Artistic Director of the Czech National Ballet
The 2023/24 season’s flagships are two new productions and a unique project.
The triple bill BEYOND VIBRATIONS is made up of works by distinguished contemporary choreographers: Krzysztof Pastor’s Moving Rooms, Hans van Manen’s Frank Bridge Variations and Marco Goecke’s Fly Paper Bird. Bringing to bear modern movement vocabulary, all three pieces seek singular aesthetics, feature distinct creative refinement and profound metaphoric message, yet are also characterised by vibrating “instruments” – dancing bodies and sonorous strings. The triple bill received its Czech premiere on 5 October 2023 at the National Theatre in Prague.
Ronald Hynd’s COPPÉLIA, after Marius Petipa’s version, has extended our collection of story ballets and further enhance the quality of the company’s repertoire. Linking up to our experience, the production confirms the validity of the classical ballet legacy. The mesmerising comic ballet for audiences young and old is one of the treasures of global culture. It has been staged worldwide ever since its premiere in Paris in 1870. Set to Léo Delibes’s sublime music and featuring Roberta Guidi di Bagno’s enthralling scenery, Hynd’s 1985 choreography radiates classical beauty. The new Czech National Ballet production premiered on 16 May 2024 at the State Opera in Prague.
HOLO HARMONIES – The Cross-Border Live Experience, a new Mauro Bigonzetti creation, affording the astonishing chance to discover novel dance and music experience, unfurled simultaneously at the State Opera in Prague and the Theater Baden-Baden. The one and only performance, held on 1 December 2023, was the world premiere of a unique project, unprecedented in terms of scale, blending live theatre and state-of-the-art technologies, virtual reality and holograms. With the dancers sharing the moment on stage with musicians from Baden-Baden, the holograms were virtually indistinguishable from the flesh-and-blood artists in Prague. We strove to conduct a dialogue beyond time and space, shift the limits of perception, and raise questions within artistic and cultural experience, as well as humanity at large.
Czech National Ballet in the 2024/25 season
The centrepiece of our artistic vision is the commitment to offering you a diverse repertoire, encompassing classical, neoclassical and contemporary works. We believe that such a large variety of styles affords both the dancers and the theatre-goers profound and fulfilling experiences.
We do our utmost to make our repertoire balanced yet dynamic, ranging from iconic classical ballets to top-notch contemporary creations. We showcase the Czech National Ballet artists’ talent and versatility.
The 2024/25 season’s repertoire is made up of the following productions: Swan Lake (choreographed by John Cranko), The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol (choreographed by Youri Vàmos), Cinderella (choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot), Coppélia (choreographed by Ronald Hynd), Romeo and Juliet (choreographed by John Cranko), Beyond Vibrations (choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor, Hans van Manen, Marco Goecke), bpm (choreographed by Eyal Dadon, Yemi A.D., Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar), Kafka: The Trial (choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti), A Streetcar Named Desire (choreographed by John Neumeier) and La Sylphide (choreographed by Johan Kobborg, on tour).