Support the Publication of Pavel Šmok's Biography on Donio.cz

We are preparing to publish Pavel Šmok’s biography, and you can be among the first readers! We have launched a pre-sale through the Donio crowdfunding portal. The new biography covers his entire artistic career, following it step by step from his student years to his internationally acclaimed choreographic masterpieces. Among the rewards, you can also choose other publications about ballet and its personalities or membership in the Friends of the Prague Chamber Ballet Club.

“A 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 Lucie Kocourková.

You can support the publication on the Donio portal. We are very grateful for every contribution. We will send out rewards after the campaign ends and the book is physically printed, which will be in the first half of June.

In the new publication, we primarily follow in the footsteps of his genius and, through his most famous choreographies, reveal what made him unique. “Pavel Šmok’s choreographies excel in musicality, humor, and a specific kind of directorial thinking,” lists the author. “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 their way onto 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 (Confidential Letters), Sinfonietta, Zjasněná noc (Brightened Night), Trio g moll (Trio in G Minor), Americký kvartet (American Quartet), Z mého života (From My Life), Po zarostlém chodníčku (Along 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.

Join us so we can celebrate together! Choose your rewards at Donio.