President Milanović Receives Representatives and Students from the School of Classical Ballet from Zagreb, on its 75th Anniversary
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović today received representatives and students of the School of Classical Ballet from Zagreb, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The School’s seven and a half decades of artistic work were marked with a concert featuring students of the Ballet Department and the Folk Dance Department, under the patronage of the President of the Republic.
The students from the School of Classical Ballet held a short performance for President Milanović – the composition “Falen budi” and the ballet performance “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy. Martina Kralj, the School’s director, introduced the President to this leading Croatian educational institution in the field of ballet arts. Since its establishment in 1949, the School has operated as a vocational art school, whose educational programme is centred to meet the needs of theatres, professional ensembles and television outlets, and has focused on the education of ballet pedagogues. The Department for Folk Dance has been based at the School since 1983.
During the meeting, representatives of the School of Classical Ballet pointed out to President Milanović the problems the School is facing due to inadequate space for teaching classical ballet. Namely, for about twenty years the School has been relocated from its original address due to structural issues with the original school building, also stemming from the consequences of the Zagreb earthquake. Today the School operates in several locations, and most of the teaching takes place in the premises of the Open University, where the classrooms are only partially adapted to the School’s needs, it was said at the meeting.
In addition to Martina Kralj, the School’s director, the meeting in the Office of the President was attended by the head of ballet subjects, Emilija Sorić, and the head of the Department for Folk Dance, Valentina Šepak Molnar, as well as the president of the school board, Saša Grunčić, as well as the following students of the School of Classical Ballet: Nika Bulić, Franka Fiket, Irma Galunić, Marin Bjeliš, Neva Dokmanović, Eva Škalamera, Bruna Ćališ Katarinčić, Nina Budja Dujmušić, Katja Kušen, Ana Marija Marković, Marija Šćević, Thomas Šepak, Ana Jagatić, Jana Jurman and Gabriel Grbac.
President Milanović was accompanied by Jadranka Žarković, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Education.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta