Last night, the ballet “The Nucracker” by Peter I. Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Prof. Aleksandar Ilić was performed. Gala Jovanović, soloist of the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) and Petar Đorčevski, ballet soloist of the National Theater in Belgrade, performed the main roles of Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince. The roles of Clara and Nutcracker were performed by Andrijana Marin and Aleksandr Polupanov, supported by the ensemble of students of the Belgrade Dance Institute and the Youth Ballet Company. This was also the last performance of this winter fairy tale for this time of year.
Gala Jovanović was born in Belgrade, where she graduated from the “Lujo Davičo” Ballet School in the class of Professor Milica Bezmarević, and continued her education at the Vienna Ballet Academy, which she graduated with the highest grades. During his final year at the Vienna Academy (2007), he received an offer to join the Theater class and learn the repertoire of the Vienna Volksoper.
In 2007/2008, she started her career at the Volksoper in Vienna, and after a series of roles, ballet director Manuel Legris offered her to move to the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper), where she began a new chapter in her career. She received the Demi soloist contract in 2015.
She played numerous roles, including: “Mirta” (Giselle); “Mercedes” (Don Quixote); “Queen Dryad” (Don Quixote); “Lilac Fairy” (Sleeping Beauty); “Villa Karabos” (Sleeping Beauty); “Gypsies” (Romeo and Juliet); Rubies and others.
She collaborated with numerous choreographers such as Forsyth, Killian, Klug, McGregor, Toss and many others.
With the Vienna Ballet, she held numerous guest appearances: Paris, Madrid, Muscat, Tokyo, Osaka, Saint Petersburg…
At the prestigious competition in Lausanne (Prix De Lausanne), she made it to the quarter finals, where she received an offer to study at the Vagan Academy. In 2018, Gala Jovanović was also the face of the Belgrade Dance Festival in Belgrade and received a VIP invitation award in the same year.
Since 2022, he has been a guest pedagogue at the Academie De Danse in Vienna, where he teaches classical ballet and repertoire.
Gala Jovanović is also a student of the Belgrade Dance Institute at the Department of Ballet Pedagogy.
And her partner, Petar Đorčevski, in the role of the Prince, has a brilliant career behind him. He took his first ballet steps at the Lujo Davičo ballet school under professor Mirjana Nesić. While still in school, he plays in the ballet ensemble of the National Theater in Belgrade. A turning point in both his education and his further professional career took place in 2004, when Petar went to the Princess Grace Ballet School in Monaco for training. In the same year, he enrolled in the National Ballet School of the Opera in Vienna. In the 2005/2006 season, he was engaged in the Vienna State Opera, where he played in the plays “Alice in Wonderland”, “Coppelia”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Spartacus”. Already in the next season, he moves to the ballet ensemble of the Slovak National Theater, where he performs new roles in “Bajadera”, “Swan Lake”, “Spartacus”, “Sylphids”, “Sleeping Epotica” and others.
In 2006, he became a member of the SNG Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, where he received the status of distinguished first soloist. He performs in the entire repertoire, playing leading roles in numerous ballets. In the 2013/2014 season, he joined the Ballet Ensemble Ballet Revier in Germany.
He won the Lydia Wisiak award for the role of Tybalt in “Romeo and Juliet” by Sergei Prokofiev, as well as for his solo interpretation in the ballet evening Mozart vs. Schumann. He was a guest at many important festivals around the world. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the artistic director of the Ljubljana Ballet.
The project is implemented with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade.
