Politika 02/11/2023
REFINING THE FEMININITY
Serbian one and only “Graduate School” – The Belgrade Dance Institute, has been responsibly led by Dean dr Prof Vladimir Tomašević for ten continuous years. Cultivating the positive values of artistic and educational programs rich in various contents (classical ballet, contemporary dance, choreography, stage folk dance and others), this institution collects the experiences of gifted and creative students, crowned with highly professional artistic dance bachelor degree. Thus, many professional artists graduated from the Institute, such as, for example, ballet soloist Ada Raspor and ballerina Tamara Colić, both engaged in the Ballet of the National Theatre… Furthermore, our acclaimed choreographer Milica Cerović, engaged in the Theatre Terazije and other theatres, also graduated at department of choreography.
The Gala Concert created by The Belgrade Dance Institute and The Ballet Youth Company, staged by the pedagogue/rehearser Milica Bezmarević, first ballet soloist in the National Theatre, together with Mila Stijak, pedagogue/rehearser, staged the classical ballets “pearls” such us: “Bayadera” (1877), “The Humpdback Horse” (1864) and “Esmeralda” (1844) in an all-night performance. These “old ballets” filled with thrilling colourful images with many delicate and tender emotions require a special acting nerve, a personal dramatic expressiveness in the refinement of ballet forms of the distinguished and sincere emotionality. The emphasized narrative structures of the “pieces” from these “action ballets” rely on roles that represent the highest technical and stylistic skill of classical academicism and language (position of legs, hands, épaulements, foot techniques…), were too ambitiously set for young dancers.
In the general framework of this Gala concert, all the students of the Institute participated, without pushing under the carpet those less gifted and technically not yet confident enough, all passionately dedicated to the celebration of dance, in tribute to the body, the love, the beauty… The students/dancers who stood out by their personal artistic qualities of dance performance: Senja Stanić (third year), a danser of suggestive dramatic immediacy, Anastasija Nikčević (first year), poetic Odalisque, with a deeper subtext, Una Stepanović (third year), charming, musically impressive, Emma Case (future student at the Institute) stops the movement in a picture – symbol, Tijana Drndarević (first year) communicates playful lines and refined associations.
The secret of the enthusiasm of our critical interest in this Gala concert of the Institute, to put it briefly, was not aimed at evaluating the performing experience, but at the educational significance of ballet instruction and its mission of refining the femininity. This was achieved through the visually-aesthetic shaping of the figure to the unusual suppleness of the body, the grace, the sophistication, encouraging the transparency of enjoying the seductive, pleasant colourful images.
The essence of this classical ballet concert, made of homogenous “sweet things”, emanated the warmth of the deepest female dance being, and it allowed us to approach it in the exciting moments of their second “life” while it triumphed over the stage and over the audience as well.
Irena Krešić
Photography Belkisa Beka Abdulović