On the Great Stage of the Montenegrin Music Center in Podgorica on January 24th, the audience will be introduced to the first professional Ballet Ensemble of Montenegro, with the ballet Masquerade choreographed by Prof. Aleksandar Ilić, to the music of Aram Khachaturian (Masquerade Suite), Dmitri Shostakovich (Ballet Suite No. 1), Johann Strauss II (Pizzicato Polka), and The Dreamliners in an adaptation by Dejan Božović.
“The plot of Masquerade is set in the square of a coastal town, beneath a sleepy full moon, where under the street lamp meet or part, converse, fall in love, and dream, the accidental or intentional passersby. Everything is exciting and genuine in this game of ours, which culminates with the chimes of the nearby tower clock and invites our protagonists to end up at a ball with a bit of unexpected magic. And as in a dream, unreal yet real, we are left to believe in the dreamlike silvery sparkling dust and wonders, even when they seem impossible,” says choreographer Aleksandar Ilić.
The performance features student Ksenija Sinđić, Danijela Simić, and student Vladimir Sekulić, along with colleagues from the Montenegro Ballet Ensemble Tamara Radonjić, Staša Šćepanović, Tijana Dragović, Katarina Vujošević, Danijela Simić, Alina Tsoumou, and Jana Jovićević. The assistant choreographer is Federika Vinćifori, sound design by Dejan Božović, costume designer Aleksandra Saša Moštrokol, and set design consultant Siniša Radulović.
At the initiative of Isidora Damjanović, the director of the Montenegrin Music Center, the Ballet Studio was founded in 2021. With this step, for the first time in Montenegro’s history, the institutionalization of ballet art is initiated and realized. Until then, Montenegro had been the only country in the region without a professional ballet ensemble, even though ballet has been present in the educational system for many years. The first audition for ballet dancers was held on December 23, 2021, and the first ballet performance on the Great Stage of the Montenegrin Music Center in 2022. After two ballet premieres produced by the Montenegrin Music Center, Tre Sorelle by Prof. Aleksandar Ilić and Mediterranean by Saša Evtimova, the first international audition for the formation of the Montenegrin Music Center Ballet Ensemble was held on November 18, 2023, with 76 candidates from all over the world, 15 of whom were accepted.
The first repeat performance of the ballet Masquerade will be staged the following day on the same stage on January 25th.
Fotografiја Aleksandar Jaredić