Press Release: The Pavel Šmok Institute and Endowment Fund Publishes a Biography of the Legendary Choreographer

The Pavel Šmok Institute and Endowment Found, which is dedicated to building an archive and digitizing the legacy of the famous choreographer, is publishing his biography. Those interested in the history of dance and ballet, as well as his fans, can pre-order the book via the Donio crowdfunding portal. Readers can also obtain a pilot publication summarizing the history of Šmok’s first ensemble, Ballet Prague. The new biography covers his entire artistic career, following it step by step from his student years to his internationally acclaimed choreographic masterpieces.

“The campaign through a verified crowdfunding portal guarantees contributors that the project organizer is a reliable institution, and contributions can be sent with just a few clicks, while we obtain part of the funds for the final printing, which is the most expensive phase in the production of a new book. In addition, the campaign helps us to popularize Pavel Šmok’s legacy, because in addition to historical research, we also want to show which aspects of Šmok’s work are timeless,” explains the author of the new publication, dance historian Lucie Kocourková.

Pavel Šmok (1927–2016) is one of our most famous and important choreographers, who changed the face of dance on stage after World War II. After a short career as a dancer, he began to devote himself fully to choreography in the late 1950s, and in the 1960s, together with Luboš Ogoun, he founded the Balet Praha / Ballet Prague ensemble, an equivalent of a small theater, but for modern ballet. Balet Praha’s international success was followed by Pavel Šmok’s three-year engagement as artistic director of the ballet in Basel. In the mid-1970s, he founded another company in Prague, which became famous under the name Pražský komorní balet (Prague Chamber Ballet) and which continues in his footsteps to this day.

“Pavel Šmok’s choreographies excel in musicality, humor, and a specific kind of directorial thinking,” lists Lucie Kocourková. “His success was due to a huge amount of natural talent and life circumstances. Thanks to his studies in acting and his friendships with directors, he acquired a theatrical approach to choreography, while his studies of technique and his interest in photography and film were prerequisites for his innovation and for him becoming the first author of dance films in our country. He very quickly fell under the spell of Czech music, and thanks to him, a number of compositions by Leoš Janáček, Bedřich Smetana, and Antonín Dvořák made it to the stage in the form of dance works.”

The publication focuses on the characteristics of his work in different periods, whether it was the experimental 1960s full of searching for new forms and themes, later lyrical choreographies celebrating the music of Czech composers, or dance theater pieces. Many viewers are certainly familiar with some of Pavel Šmok’s most famous choreographies, such as Listy důvěrné (Intimate Letters), Sinfonietta, Zjasněná noc (Bright Night), Trio g moll (Trio in G Minor), Americký kvartet (American Quartet), Z mého života (From My Life), Po zarostlém chodníčku (On the Overgrown Path), Stabat, and Holoubka (The Dove). His work was also appreciated by foreign dance theorists such as Horst Koegler and John Percival. And not only his work, but also the effort he put into running the Prague Chamber Ballet as an independent dance company without a permanent founder.

You can support the publication of this book on the Donio portal here: bit.ly/Pavel_Smok_Donio

“In addition to Pavel Šmok’s biography, we will also publish a complete history of the Prague Chamber Ballet itself in the coming years, and we do not want to forget the anniversary of choreographer and co-founder of Ballet Prague Luboš Ogoon, who will have been born 100 years ago in 2024,” adds the director of the Pavel Šmok Institute, Ladislava Dunovská Jandová. “We are continuing to organize discussions with artists associated with the work of Pavel Šmok and his ensembles, which we offer primarily to conservatories. We plan to launch the publication about Pavel Šmok in May,” she adds.

About us

The Pavel Šmok Institute and Endowment Fund manages and preserves the complete works of choreographer Pavel Šmok and is building an archive of the works of the Balet Praha and Pražský komorní balet ensembles.

It is based in the Dance Art Centre in Braník and is gradually creating an archive and video library focused on the work of artists associated with these ensembles, an online database of choreographies and personalities available on the Ballet Prague Heritage website, and many activities that keep the art of dance alive. Under the Ballet Prague publishing label, it publishes the series “Studio Ballet Prague and Prague Chamber Ballet – History and Personalities,” with Pavel Šmok’s biography being its second volume.

Follow us on social media:

facebook.com/InstitutPavlaSmoka

facebook.com/prazskykomornibalet

facebook.com/LucieKocourkovaBlog/

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Media contact:

Mgr. Johana Mravcová

tel: +420 605 751 290

e-mail: mravcova@balet-praha.cz