Although the ballet studio with a “modern” mission was founded in the 1970s, Ostrava has a much longer history of teaching children stage dancing – more than a century – dating back before the founding of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in 1919. Its foundation probably consisted of the children of the theatre members working at the National House in Moravian Ostrava. A few years later, Achille Viscusi, the first choreographer and head of the NDMS Ballet Company, founded a vocational ballet school. The school was also attended by the legendary Ostrava dancer and choreographer Emerich Gabzdyl, the future head of the Ostrava Ballet. This tradition persisted even though, at the time, no official company operated under this name. However, as there were practically no specialized schools for the lower age groups, the professionals had to train the children for ballet productions themselves. During the First Republic, children were encouraged to dance, for instance, by a married couple Lia and Jaroslav Häusler (in the first photo, taken by Ateliér Ružek), later by the ballet soloist Milča Pírková, in the 1960s by Julie Jastřembská, in the 1970s by Ludmila Táborská-Rozehnalová – up until 1979, when the ballet studio commenced its activities. They were supported by the then head of the ballet, Albert Janíček, while Helena Hurychová was in charge of pedagogical leadership.
The children from the Ballet Studio were always excited to dance with their idols. Fireflies (1982), From Fairy Tale to Fairy Tale (1994), The Wayward Daughter (1985), The Nutcracker (2001, 2010), Cinderella (1991, 2015), etc. These are only some of the ballet productions in which children who trained at the Ballet Studio performed. However, they have also danced in opera productions. Children were and are often taught directly by NMST Ballet soloists, including Libuše Kuklová, Tamara Černá, Olga Borisová-Pračiková, Libor Bernklau, Zuzana Holeková-Štarková or Barbora Kaufmannová. Instructors included, among others, Irina Nazarenko, Filip Skála, Naďa Andrlová, Veronika Beňová, Jana Zelenková, Petra Kováčová, in the recent past, Michaela Vápeníková, Natalia Adamska, and currently Anna Knollová, Rita Pires, Laura Moreno Gasulla and guest pedagogue Eva Vajsová.
For the 2023/2024 season, the Israeli choreographer and director Itzik Galili is staging a new production of Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen, where children from the NDM’s Ballet and Opera Studios will have the opportunity to encounter professionals. The children are currently dancing in ballets such as Coppélia, The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol and Swan Lake.
