Jiří Horák
Biography
He was born on July 23, 1966 in Jilemnice. Following his graduation from the Conservatory of Music and Dance in Ostrava, Jiří Horák continued his studies at the A.J. Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg in the classes of B. Bregvadze and C. Shatilov. In 1987 he became Principal Dancer at the National Theatre Prague, where he created all the lead roles in the theatre’s classical repertoire, including the Princes in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty, James in La Sylphide, Albert in Giselle, Romeo o Romeo and Juliet, Basil in Don Quixote, Armand in La Dame aux Camélias, etc. In 1997 he was engaged by the National Theatre in Brno, where he also worked as a ballet master and teacher. He was often invited to other ballet theatres as a guest, including, for example, the World Ballet Festival in Japan, Salzburg Dance Theatre, Laterna magika in Prague… His choreographic debut was a production of Daphnis et Chloé at the National Theatre in Brno. He has also created more than 10 full-length ballets, including Peer Gynt, Manon, Catulli Carmina, The Bell-Ringer of Notre Dame, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker etc.
He currently teaches classical dance at the Prague Dance Conservatory. As a ballet teacher, he has worked with the Ballet company of the Theater am Rhein Düsseldorf and the Kibbutz Dance Theatre. He is frequently invited to sit on the jury of various ballet competitions.