LENKA DŘÍMALOVÁ - BIOGRAPHY

Lenka Dřímalová – a dance teacher, choreographer, and dramaturg – graduated in Choreography and Dance Pedagogy from the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU). As part of her university studies, she completed scholarship residencies at the London Contemporary Dance School and the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London. Among her key mentors during her London studies was Kazuko Hirabayashi (former assistant to the renowned Martha Graham). In the fields of contact improvisation and release technique, she was strongly influenced by American choreographer Randy Warshaw, with whom she worked on several occasions at the ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna.

Her work in contemporary dance has included a wide range of choreographic and educational projects with international artists, and she has received several awards for choreography and original work. From 1998, she played a key role in shaping Ostrava’s Dance Theatre ZÓNA and the Tanec Ostrava Festival of Contemporary Dance and Movement Theatre. 

From 2007 to 2013, she served as the Artistic Director of the ballet company at the National Theatre Brno (Ballet NdB). Throughout her six-season tenure, she connected Brno with leading choreographers from abroad. She initiated several international co-productions, particularly with partners in Poland and Germany, and introduced Czech audiences to important works of neoclassical and contemporary dance. These included Krzysztof Pastor (Director of the Polish National Ballet) and Uwe Scholz, as well as works by Rami Be'er (Artistic Director of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company) and Cayetano Soto. The company’s artistic development under her leadership was reflected in numerous nominations and major theatre awards, including Thalia Awards for ballet soloists. 

From July 2013 until the end of the 2025/2026 season, Lenka Dřímalová led the ballet company of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. Over this dynamic thirteen-year period, she transformed the ensemble both structurally and artistically into a highly regarded international company. She built the company’s repertoire around collaborations with major choreographers, introducing works by Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Itzik Galili, Marco Goecke, Jeroen Verbruggen, and American choreographer Justin Peck to Ostrava. 

A major achievement was the substantial reinforcement of the company’s international prestige through tours and high-profile guest appearances, including performances in Bonn, appearances at the renowned Roberto Bolle and Friends galas in Milan, and a tour of Israel. Exceptional was her response to the pandemic, when she and the members of NDM Ballet received the prestigious Divadelní Noviny Award in October 2021 for organizing the highly original outdoor site-specific happenings Ballet Outside and Dancing Bridges in public spaces across Ostrava. Following the end of her tenure as Artistic Director, she continues with a new form of active collaboration with the Ostrava ballet company, where she currently serves as a dramaturg and rehearsal director for selected repertoire.

Alongside artistic direction, she has also maintained a long-standing commitment to teaching. From 1997 to 2018, she taught at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava, from 2006 to 2010 she was an external faculty member of the Dance Department at of HAMU in Prague, and between 2012 and 2013, she also lectured at the Brno Dance Conservatory.