Filip Barankiewicz’s directorship of Czech National Ballet evaluated positively by experts

Filip Barankiewicz’s directorship of Czech National Ballet evaluated positively by experts

During his first season with the Czech National Ballet, its new director Filip Barankiewicz abandoned authorial pieces and gave preference to classical ballets. The technical level of the company is rising, it seems to be more compact and balanced and not depending on the soloists only. That is what all experts and publicists addressed by the Czech News Agency agree on.

“Filip Barankiewicz has assumed the position of the Czech National Ballet’s artistic director with clear dramaturgical vision. During his first season, he built on the qualities of the artists who his predecessor, Petr Zuska, had directed towards contemporary dance,” points out Lucie Dercsényiová, dance journalist and Taneční aktuality’s editor. Under Zuska’s leadership, the company excelled in his own pieces, but in this aspect Barankiewicz makes a switch.
He brings to the company the much-loved classics – The Rite of Spring by Glen Tetley, George Balanchine’s Serenade and Frederick Ashton’s The Wayward Daughter that is to be staged for the very first time in the National Theatre. “Barankiewicz introduces a new perspective and ballet aesthetics, along with important impulses for the dancers who see the new ballets as exceptional challenges in their careers, “said Dercsényiová.
“The first two premieres of the season have proved that the technical level of the company has increased, be it the result of a different dramaturgy or different rehearsal plan. The overall image is not created exclusively by the soloists, but by the whole company,,” explained the dance journalist Lucie Kocourková.
“A well-balanced repertoire has been expected from Barankiewicz. By giving the opportunity to less-known young choreographers, he covers all segments of dance art except for contemporary dance that doesn’t suit the big stage,” describes Kocourková the new premiere of Slovanský temperament (Slavic Temper), a multiple bill consisting of three choreographies by Czech, Polish and Russian creators. She believes ‘balance’ has become Barankiewicz’s new motto. “And so far, it is beneficial for both the audiences and the company.”
“The new director shifts the core of the repertoire towards classical titles and it is clear from the past premieres that he accentuates strong stage performances, such as Alina Nanu or Nikola Márová in The Wayward Daughter and Ondřej Vinklát in Glen Tetley’s Rite of Spring,”noted Taneční aktuality’s editor-in-chief, Josef Bartoš. He remembers the company’s third and last premiere of the first season under Barankiewicz, which took place on 14 June. “This premiere will close his first year as the artistic director and will draw possible perspectives,” he said. The dance critic and teacher Nina Vangeli assumes that Barankiewicz’s repertoire can be described as “diverse”. “But at the same time, it is obligatory, unmarked, in one word – mainstream,” she said to the Czech News Agency. “Barankiewicz has succeeded Zuska and his great era. He has brought noble experience of a dancer appearing in Hans van Manen, William Forsythe or Jiří Kylián’s choreographies. His choices in Prague so far are safe bets, with titles by Glen Tetley and George Balanchine, or the super-classic Wayward Daughter, Frederick Ashton’s iconic piece,” points out Vangeli.

Source: Art Institute – Theatre Institute and Czech News Agency