Press Release: Discussion with Dance Theorist Jana Hošková: In the Footsteps of Modern Ballet

On Monday, November 21, at 3:30 p.m., the Dance Art Centre in Braník will host another discussion in the series Wanderings through Dance History, organized by the Pavel Šmok Study and Research Center. The guest of the meeting entitled “In the Footsteps of Modern Ballet” will be Jana Hošková (*1929), a former dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher, later editor-in-chief of the magazine Taneční listy and critic, publishing in domestic and foreign periodicals. She combines the experience of a professional, the insight of a theorist and historian, and a wealth of experiences and personal memories of a plethora of great dancers and choreographers, not only from the Czechoslovak dance scene.

The activities of the Pavel Šmok Foundation and Institute focus on promoting and reviving the legacy of Pavel Šmok, a prominent figure in Czech choreography who had a fundamental influence on the development of dance art in the second half of the 20th century, among other things through public screenings and lectures. Our discussion will be devoted to uncovering the roots of post-war ballet art in our country: what shaped the generation represented by artists such as Pavel Šmok, Luboš Ogoun, Jiří Blažek, Jiří Němeček, Miroslav Kůra, and others who have gone down in dance history as legends? And since we are at the Pavel Šmok Institute, we will also focus on his unique contribution. Whether it is his work on the borderline between different genres and styles or why his work is so very Czech.

“Jana Hošková is our special guest. She is one of the longest-living witnesses who experienced both the beginnings of Pavel Šmok and the establishment of the Balet Praha studio,” says Ladislava Dunovská, director of the Pavel Šmok Institute and Endowment Fund. “During Monday’s discussion, she will focus on the history of post-war art in our country – she will analyze what shaped a generation of choreographers such as Pavel Šmok and Luboš Ogoun, but also Jiří Němeček and Miroslav Kůra, for example.”

“Ms. Hošková is above all a very erudite theorist of dance and dance history – she experienced the development of Czechoslovak ballet after World War II firsthand, as she was still a high school student when the war ended. She knew our leading dancers and choreographers personally, including, of course, Pavel Šmok and Luboš Ogoun,” adds Lucie Kocourková, dance historian and publicist, coordinator of activities at the Pavel Šmok Institute. “I think it would be difficult to find anyone else who could authentically convey the atmosphere in which post-war dance art was born. And we need to know our roots if we are to grow from them. Theory is not an end in itself, but a means of supporting practice.”

Discussion “In the Footsteps of Modern Ballet”

When: Monday, November 21, 2022, at 3:30 p.m.

Where: Pavel Šmok Institute and Endowment Fund, Dance Art Centre, Údolní 212/1, Prague 4 – Braník

Guest: Jana Hošková

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Media contact:

Mgr. Johana Mravcová

tel: +420 605 751 290

e-mail: mravcova@balet-praha.cz