Pavel Ďumbala

Formerly dancer and currently choreographer and head of ballet ensemble of the Prague State Opera, Pavel Ďumbala danced solo parts at the State Theatre in Košice while still a student. Among his most notable creations there were the Nutcracker, the Jester and Pas de trois in Swan Lake, or Colin in La Fille mal gardée. After graduation he became a member of the Army Arts Ensemble in Prague, and then returned to Košice, this time for a shorter period. There ensued a string of engagements, at Pavel Šmok’s Prague Chamber Ballet, at the Karlín Musical Theatre and at the National Theatre in Prague, along with guest commitments for Prague’s Laterna magika and Unia nova ensembles, and with the art agency, Bohemia Art. From 1988 he furthered his studies of dance teaching at the Academy of Music and Drama in Prague. He scored his most memorable ballet stage triumphs with creations of character parts, some of which earned him prestigious awards. While with Pavel Šmok’s Prague Chamber Ballet, he appeared in the choreographies Musica slovaca, From My Life, Sinfonietta, or The Kreutzer Sonata. At Laterna magika, he danced a leading part in The Minotaur, at the National Theatre, he was featured in productions of Dance Hall, Voyages, Americana, in Jiří Kylián’s Returns, Field Mass, and Evening Songs, in Vaculík’s ballets, A Youth and Death, Little Herr Friedemann, Tchaikovsky, and Some Like It... From 1997 he was artistic director, dance coach, choreographer and dramaturge of the J. K. Tyl Theatre ballet ensemble in Plzeň. His first choreographies were for opera, operetta and drama productions. The 1999/2000 season saw the production of his first full-length ballet, Don Quixote, after Marius Petipa and Alexandre Gorski. In the 2002/2003 season he prepared a new choreography for the ballet La Fille mal gardée.

Since the 2003/2004 season, he has been head of the Prague State Opera ballet ensemble. Here, he partnered Pavel Šmok in choreographing and stage-directing a production of Prokofiev’s Cinderella, which has stayed on the company’s repertoire to this day, and with which the ensemble toured in Greece, northern Italy, and Sicily. In 2007 he stage-directed and choreographed, in tandem with the former prima ballerina, Hana Vláčilová, a highly acclaimed production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, another staple item of the repertoire still going strong.