Ondřej Novotný

Biography

Born in Boskovice, studied between 1990 and 1998 at the Dance Conservatoire in Brno. Immediately after graduating, he joined the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, where he soon danced his first solo roles. He portrayed Hilarion in Giselle, Ondra in Devilish Tricks, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and the Angel of Death in The Lady of the Camellias. In the 2001/02 season he became a soloist of the Moravian Theatre Ballet in Olomouc, where he performed as Romeo and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly and the Groom in Peer Gynt. In 2002–2004 he returned to the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen as a soloist, creating numerous major roles: the Prince and Pas de trois in Swan Lake, the Soloist in Šmok’s Stand-in and Transfigured Night. In Pilsen he also rendered the role of the Second Member of the Cabaret Group in the ballet Some Like It Hot. In 2004 he became a soloist of the State Opera Prague, where he performed Pas de trois, the Russian Dance and the Prince in Swan Lake, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Prince in Cinderella, Raoul de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera, the Angel of Death and Armand Duval in The Lady of the Camellias and solos in Time of Pain and My Country. At the F.X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec he danced Franz in Coppélia and, opposite Vlastimil Harapes, in the performance A Difficult Path to Swan Lake, or The Master’s Crack-up. Since 2009 he has been a demi-soloist of Prague’s National Theatre Ballet, dancing in the ballets Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake (Benno), The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol (solo waltz, guardsmen), Goldilocks (the Fisherman, the Turnspit), Napoli (1st variation), Othello (Cassio), as well as in Petr Zuska’s modern choreographies A Little Extreme and A Little Touch Of The Last Extreme within the mixed bill titled Extreme, Brel – Vysotsky – Kryl / Solo for Three, and Symphony No. 1 in D major within the mixed bill Le sacre du printemps. Within the choreographic Miniatures at the Estates Theatre he performed in Zuzana Šimáková’s R.U.R. At the Brno 97 competition of dance artists he received an honourable mention in the B category, at the 1st international competition in St. Polten in 1998 he came fourth in the C category and was awarded a special prize for his own choreography. For the portrayal of the role of the Second Member of the Cabaret Group in the ballet Some Like It Hot he was short-listed for the 2004 Thalia Awards.