In the 2024/25 season the Polish National Ballet receives a boost of youthful energy embodied by its now eleven-person strong junior company made up of fresh ballet school graduates. PNB Junior enters its second year supported by the Polish ministry of culture.
Originated by Krzysztof Pastor, Director of the Polish National Ballet, the project seeks to bridge the gap between ballet school training and the demands of professional ballet companies. PNB’s newly created, 10-person strong junior company will work separately from the major company for a year or two to hone their artistic and technical skills and attain the qualifications needed to join PNB or another Polish ballet company as a professional dancer. The junior dancers will be offered special coaching from PNB’s experienced artists and master classes led by international ballet masters. They will present their own artistic programmes on our small stage and subsequently in other Polish theatres, as well as take part in the major company’s daily programme and shows. It is with great pleasure that we can inform that six of the original members of PNB Junior were offered the chance to join the senior company in September 2024. They are: Weronika Gałązka, Maria Grzymała, Kamila Lechowska, Paweł Dobrzyński, Cezary Szlachta, and Roberto Olivieri.
Following the six dancers' transition to the senior company, PNB Junior began the season with a new roster. Joining Łucja Ulbrych, Maciej Duda, and Mikołaj Spiżewski are Zuzanna Korytkowska, Aleksandra Pastuszka, Jagoda Świderska, and Kajetan Stabeusz, all four graduates of the Warsaw Ballet School, Maja Augustyniak (Gdańsk Ballet School, John Cranko Schule, Stuttgart), Antonio Casti (Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett), Antonino Modica (Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milan), as well as an eleventh member, Kyle Lippoth of the Ballett-Akademie der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, whose participation in BNB Junior is sponsored by Fundacja Przyjaciół Baletu.
Former Principal Dancer Dawid Trzensimiech remains the coach and coordinator of PNB Junior. In his work, he is supported on a daily basis by Irina Wasilewska, as well as guest teachers, including Richard d’Alton, Yannick Boquin, Katarzyna Kozielska, Alan Land, and Aurelien Scannella.
(photo: Ewa Krasucka)
