RETURN

Rosalia Hladek

Choreographer, Dancer
She was born in Brno, Czechia, on 21/5/1905. She first studied rhythmic-musical education at Margarete Kallab’s School in Brno (1918/21). She then studied in Dresden at Émile Jacques-Dalcroze’s Hellerau School and graduated with an instructor’s diploma (1921/24). In 1922, she became member of the Valeria Kratina’s dance group at Hellerau and participated in the German premiere of Bartók’s ballet The Wooden Prince [A fából faragott királyfi] (1923). In 1924, she first performed as a soloist in Dresden. She taught dance at Hellerau School (1924/28). She began choreographing in 1925. In 1927, she performed for the first time in Vienna as a soloist. During the period 1928/30, she managed the School of Gymnastics and Dance at the Conservatory of Basel and developed her own modern system of dance education. She choreographed Stravinsky’s music in the ballets The Soldier’s Tale [L'histoire du soldat], Petrushka and Pulcinella for the State Theater of Basel. During the 1930s, she participated in many European dance conferences, choreographed and performed numerous modern ballets in European cities, went on European and international tours and received awards at the International Choreography Competitions (Paris, 1932) and Artistic Dance Competitions (Warsaw, 1933). In 1940, she directed the opera Orpheus and Eurydice [Orfeo ed Euridice] at the Vienna State Opera. She taught modern dance in Germany (1940/41) and theatrical education at the Conservatory of Vienna (1942/52). After the war, in Austria, she composed ballets, founded her own dance group and led Austrian and international educational institutions of dance and rhythmic gymnastics. She was repeatedly awarded in Austria and Germany. She passed away in Vienna, on 3/7/1995. She collaborated with the Greek National Opera once, when she choreographed the ballets in the newly founded institution’s production of the opera Orpheus and Eurydice [Orfeo ed Euridice] (Odeon of Herodes Atticus, October 1942).