The ballet of the Janko Borodac Theatre in Kosice

The ballet of the Janko Borodac Theatre in Kosice is one of two Slovak professional ensembles. Besides the ballet of Bratislava's Slovak National Theatre, our ballet has its own 50 years tradition. During its existence it has performed 120 ballets of classical and modern production of our Slovak and foreign composers, of which 80 were premieres. Almost everything from traditional classical literature has been performed.
Here are some historical facts about our Theatre Ballet. In 1945, when the ballet group was established, it had a membership of 15 dancers. They came mostly from Bratislava National Theatre under the guidance of its choreographer Zdenek Hornung. In 1947 Stanislav Remar was invited by the director Janko Borodac, and he became the head of Kosice Ballet. He has created an independent ballet ensemble with its 25 members. This group introduced introduced four ballet premieres within the season. A few prominent choreographers and producers have held the position of the director of the ballet independent ensemble in Kosice Theatre during that time. Rudolf Macharovsky, Stanislav Remar, Marlina Halaszova were some of the most prominent. During their tenure the ballet group grew to 35 members. Its repertoire drew especially from classical ballet such as: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Luskatchik (The nut cracker) , Giselle but also some remarkable Russian ballets: Gajane, Red poppy-seeds-flower, Flames of Paris, Laurence, Prokophiev's Cinderella, Bakchtschisarai fountain. Of prominence was the Slovak production of Laschske tance, Viktorka, Orfeus a Euridika, Raduz a Mahuliena, Rytierska balada and other. From modern psychological production we can mentioned Hiroshima and The fifth symphony by Tchaikovsky. In 1969 Marlina Halaszova from Bratislava became the ballet director. As the ballet schoolmaster she tried to introduce Russian ballet school into our ensemble. To this end she adapted the repertoire and introduced it in the form of a transcription of the famous traditional apparences (Swan Lake, Stone flower, Sleeping Beauty, Carmen, Luskatchik, Tchipolino).
In 1985, dancing as a branch of study was established at the Academy of music, and this created a reservoir of young dancers. In 1983 Juraj Goga became the ballet director. He danced 10 years in Kosice ballet as a solo dancer. He performed successfully also in the city of Brno, Olomouc, Praha and 12 years as a schoolmaster and the head of dancing ensemble PULS.
At present the ballet of Kosice Theatre has in repertoire 8 stages performances (choreography and production - Juraj Goga), which are successfully performed at Kosice Theatre and on tour.