Daria Klimentova

Prima Ballerina

Daria was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, now known as the Czech Republic. She started gymnastics when she was 5 years old and was spotted as a future Olympic talent and placed under the guidance of the country’s top trainers. At the age of 10 she entered the Prague State Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where once again her teachers picked her out as a great natural talent, and placed her in a programme designed for future Principal Dancers. She was entered into numerous International Ballet Competitions, including “Prix de Lausanne” (won Paris Dance Foundation award) and the “International Ballet Competition in Pretoria” (won Gold Medal). After 8 years Daria graduated, with highest honours, with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the National Theatre and was immediately offered a soloist contract (the highest level in the Czech Republic) with the National Theatre Ballet Company in Prague. During her time with the company in Prague she created the role of Margarita in ” The Lady of The Camelias” to such popular and critical acclaim that it was filmed and is still regularly shown on Czech Television. In 1991 (just two years after the fall of Communism in the Czech Republic) she was invited to join the Capab/Kruik Ballet, based in Cape Town, South Africa. Whilst in the company Daria was filmed in the role of Titania in “Midsummers Night Dream”. She regularly returns to Cape Town with her present partner, Vadim Muntagirov, to guest, most recently in April 2012 for Giselle.

After one year in Cape town in 1992 she was invited to join The Scottish Ballet by the then Artistic Director, Galina Samsova, where she stayed for 3 years before being invited to join English National Ballet by the then Artistic Director, Derek Deane. Her repertoire encapsulates all the major classical ballet roles and works by many contemporary choreographers. She has a close working relationship with Christopher Hampson who created the award winning ballet “Double Concerto” on her.

Since 2003 Daria has been the founder and Director of the Prague International Ballet Masterclasses held at the magnificent studios of the National Theatre Company in Prague. Bringing together her friends, such as Tamara Rojo, Nicholas Le Riche and Julio Bocca, to spend intensive time in the studio with the next generation of ballet stars. 

Her regular partners these past three or four years include Friedemann Vogel from Stuttgart and Vadim Muntagirov from Russia. 

In 2011 the BBC, having followed English National Ballet for a year, broadcast a series of three documentaries entitled “The Agony and the Ecstasy”. These featured Daria and Vadim Muntagirov in two of the episodes. One dealing with the preparations for the famous “in the round” Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the other showing  the chaotic creation of the Sugar Plum role in Wayne Eagling’s new Nutcracker at the Coliseum Theatre, London. 

In 2011 Daria was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Dame Beryl Grey, for the Dance Critics Circle in London.

In 2012 Daria was pronounced Best Female Dancer of the Year, also by the Dance Critics Circle in London.

Daria has performed all over the world and is in great demand as a Guest Artiste. This year alone has seen her travel to Taiwan, South Africa, USA, Vietnam, Italy, the Czech Republic, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and Shanghai. Her performance of Giselle in Prague has been filmed this year and broadcast on Television. Czech Television have also made several documentaries on Daria’s life (some of which are available on YouTube), following her around the world.

 

Photographer

Daria has always been interested in Photography.

 Her pictures have been published in The Independent newspaper, Balletto 2000 magazine, Dance Europe and the Dancing Times, also several books and magazines throughout Europe, including Glamour Magazine, have published her work.

She was a finalist in the prestigious Channel 4 Y2K Competition and has exhibited at the Photographers Gallery in London, the Royal Albert Hall, the National Theatre and several other galleries in Prague and at the Czech Centres in New York, Warsaw and Berlin. This coming summer of 2010 will see her having her second exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

 

Many Dance organisations, including English National Ballet, frequently use her pictures for promotion and for many years Daria published the official English National Ballet Calendar herself.

She has photographed the Wear Moi Dance Wear catalogue and then was recomissioned to do all their new website images. The National Theatre and the Bila Labut Gallery in Prague are both due to stage another exhibition of her photographs this coming winter. 

Finally there will be an exhibition of 50 examples of her work at the Royal Albert Hall, during the run of Swan Lake  there in June 2010.

 

Director

Daria Klimentová’s

International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague

Prima Ballerina Daria Klimentova was born in Prague and danced in companies around the world including the National Theatre Ballet Company in Prague, until joining English National Ballet. She frequently returns to her home town, and has always wished to take dancers and teachers of the highest calibre to Prague, so that students and rising stars of the future could benefit from their vast experience and at the same time enjoy one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Her aim in presenting the Masterclasses, which she started in 2003, is to:

 1: Enable closer links between students, aspiring dancers and high calibre performing artists.

2: Promote the city of Prague, and the cultural heritage of Bohemia, especially dance.

Looking around at summer schools on offer, Daria decided to fill a gap in what was available, and give people a chance to learn from the star Artistes that they may have seen on stages around the world. It is rare to have an opportunity to attend intense masterclasses from artists who are still performing, and we wanted to change this. The National Theatre Ballet Company in Prague has been very supportive of this venture, and has made available their superb studios and facilities.

Daria and the National Theatre are keen to promote Prague and the Arts and this is an opportunity to combine the two for a complete cultural experience in the heart of Bohemia in the dream that is Prague. Future years will see many stars giving master classes at this event; many of Daria’s peers have offered to attend in the years to come, so if you can’t come this year, watch this space for next year!