Ivan Liška Extends Contract as Artistic Director of the Bavarian State Ballet until 2016

State minister Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch is delighted that Ivan Liška accepted the offer to extend his contract as artistic director for an additional three years after the season 2013/2014. "It is reassuring to know, that the future of the renowned ensemble remains in good hands," said Heubisch. "I have been the artistic director of this wonderful ensemble for 13 years now", says Ivan Liška, "longer than any director before me. I will continue my work with unprecedented passion for dance, always aiming to share the expressive power of captivating choreographies with my dancers, my team and the audience." Born in Prague in 1950, Ivan Liška trained at the Prague Conservatory. After graduation in 1969 he emigrated to dance with the Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany. From 1974 to 1977 he was a soloist with the Ballet of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Staatsballett since 1989) and then went to become principal dancer with the Hamburg Ballett where he danced many leading roles in John Neumeier's creations - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Matthew Passion, As You Like It, ballets to Gustav Mahler Symphonies I, III, IV, IX, X, Peer Gynt, Odysseus - as well as in works by Jerome Robbins, Murray Louis, John Cranko, Hans van Manen, Lar Lubovitch, Maurice Béjart, Antony Tudor, George Balanchine.
In Hamburg, Liška tried his hand at choreography in various workshops and in 1997 he created a ballet - The Dispute after Mariveaux in Brno, in his native Czech Republic.
In 1997, Liška moved to Munich to prepare for his office as ballet director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett. In 1998 he started his first season with the company. Since then he has not only increased the number of classical recreations of the  St-Petersburg-Era with ballets such as Raymonda and his productions of Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire after Marius Petipa, he has also initiated various contemporary creations for the Bayerisches Staatsballett including Emma B. by Jean Grand-Maitre, Le Sacre du printemps by Saburo Teshigawara, Händel/Corelli by Lucinda Childs, After Dark by Jacopo Godani and The Silver Rose by Graeme Murphy. Further works of the repertoire: Portraits of Jiri Kylián, Mats Ek, John Neumeier and his A Cinderella Story, Hans van Manen, William Forsythe's Artifact, second detail, Limb's Theorem, George Balanchine, Jerôme Robbins and Kenneth MacMillan's Manon. Under Liška's direction the Bayerisches Staatsballett has toured to Russia, Hungary, Germany, Spain, India, Italy, Prague, Greece, Turkey and China.
In 2007 the Bavarian State Ministry awarded Liška with the medal for special earnings for Bavaria in a united Europe. In 2008, he received the "Outstanding Contribution Prize for Cultural Exchange” by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. On July 9, 2009, Bavarian prime minister Horst Seehofer awarded him with the "Bavarian Order of Merit". In February 2012, he will be honoured with the German Dance Price for his world carrier as a dancer and his work as Artistic Director of the Bavarian State Ballett.

Source: Bayerisches Staatsballet München Photo: Bettina Stöß