Hana Vláčilová

A former soloist of the Czech National Theatre, Hana Vláčilová in one of the outstanding figures of the Czech ballet community. In the course of her successful career, during which she won several international awards, she performed in dozens of roles, mostly of the classical repertoire, and left a lasting impression in the minds of her audience as a brilliant ballerine with a gift of extraordinary musicality, natural acting talent and outstanding technique.

From 1968 to 1973 she studied at the Prague Dance Conservatory. Her Prague studies were followed in 1974 by a study stay at the Vaganova School in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) where she was taught by N. M. Dudinskaya, ending her stay with a graduation performance on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. In the same year she joined the National Theatre Ballet and as early as 1976 she became one of its soloists. Over the following twenty-five years she appeared on stage e.g. as Cinderella, Giselle, Odette/Odilia in Swan Lake, Clara in the Nutcracker, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Kitri in Don Quixote, Lisette in La Fille mal gardée, Frygia in Spartacus, Maria in the Fountain of Bachchisarai, Sylphide in La Sylphide, Swanilde in Coppélia, Katarina in the Stone Flower, Marguerite in Doctor Faustus, Olympia in Hoffmann's Stories and in many other roles. She was also a regular guest dancer of the Berlin Comic Opera and the Berlin State Opera, performed in Spain, France, Austria, Poland, the former Soviet Union, Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Australia, the United States and Cuba. In 1972 and 1976 she won the 1st and 2nd prize at the Varna International Ballet Competition; she was also awarded 2nd prize at the Tokyo Ballet Competition in 1976, 1st prize at the Bratislava Ballet Competition, the 1978 German Critics Award and the 1995 Philip Morris Ballet Flower Award. She has been teaching at the Prague Dance Conservatory since 1994 and has worked with the members of the National Theatre Ballet since 1998. From 1999 to 2004 she was Laterna Magica's Ballet Director and since 2005 she has been working with the Prague State Opera Ballet as a teacher and ballet master.