Born in Warsaw, Poland, Berenika Jakubczak graduated from the city’s Roman Turczynowicz Ballet School, where she studied classical dance with Florentyna Kilińska, Barbara Sier-Janik, Ewa Głowacka, and Teresa Memches. She also completed dance workshops in Dresden (Palucca Schule), Warsaw, Poznań, and Lądek Zdrój. In 2001 she reached the finals of the 12th Polish National Dance Competition in Gdańsk. In 2002 she was invited to Marseille to take part in an artistic project by the Ballet des Jeunes d’Europe. Having retuned home, she joined the ballet company of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. In Warsaw she danced pieces by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Boris Ejfman, Yury Grigorovich, Natalia Makarova, Lorca Massine, Irek Muchamiedow, Emil Wesołowski, and Andrzej Glegolski.
Paralel to her career as a dancer, Ms Jakubczak pursued an interest in advertising, obtaining a degree from the Promotion, Media and Show Business University in Warsaw. Following an injury sustained in 2009, she retired from the stage and took up a post with the Teatr Wielki’s promotion department. Eager to stay more closely connected to ballet, she received Krzysztof Pastor’s recommendation and the Teatr Wielki’s support to study choreology at the Benesh Institute, Royal Academy of Dance, London. Having received a certificate in dance notation in 2011, she rejoined the Polish National Ballet as choreographer’s assistant and choreologist. She mainly assists Krzysztof Pastor. She transferred his choreographies and assisted him when he staged Tristan und Isolde, Bolero, and Romeo and Juliet at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre; Adagio & Scherzo at the Augsburg Theater; and Bolero with the Polish National Theatre. At the Teatr Wielki, she has also assisted Millicent Hodson, John Neumeier, Ashley Page, Toer van Schayk, and Jeanette Vondersaar. Working alongside the ballet masters and mistresses of the PNB, she leads rehearsals to practice existing work or recreate choreographies that are being revived.
(photo: Ewa Krasucka)
