On July 3^rd, 2013 at the Nostitz Palace in Prague, the medal of the Ministry of Culture Artis Bohemiae Amicis was awarded to dancer, choreographer and ballet master Saša Machov in memoriam for "spreading the good name of Czech culture". The award was upon proposal by the Dance Association of the Czech Republic presented by the Minister of Culture Alena Hanáková to Saša Machov’s nephew, Ing. Petr Švec, accompanied by his daughter. In the presence of leading personalities of the Czech dance scene everyone remembered the 110^th anniversary of the birth of this influential artist, whose merits to the Czech ballet have not been adequately acknowledged yet.

The Minister of Culture recalled the unique personality of Saša Machov that was artistically formed by his cooperation with personalities of the Czech theatre avant-garde and foreign ballet alike, and his tenacious struggle with political power over the arts. Zdeněk Prokeš, member of the committee of the Dance Association of the Czech Republic expressed regret over the loss of continuity of choreographer’s oeuvre and urged the younger generation not to forget the roots Czech ballet is based on. Dance critic Vladimír Vašut reminded us of the acclaim every Machov’s production won among the professional and the general public alike and his wife counted the number of flowers, the soloists under his direction were regularly showered on the stage with. Petr Švec then recalled his childhood memories of the ballet studio, where, with heaps of sweets from dancers he watched in surprise the professional rigour of his otherwise benevolent uncle and admired his pedagogical talent.

Artis Bohemiae Amicis medal for spreading the good name of Czech culture has been awarded in the past to other personalities of the Czech dance scene as well. In 2008, dancer and choreographer Ivo Váňa Psota was awarded the prize in memoriam, dancer and choreographer Zora Šemberová received the award on her 95^th birthday in the same year. The award has been bestowed by Ministers of Culture since 2000, among the first recipients of the medal are also choreographers Jiří Kylián and Pavel Šmok.


Saša Machov, real name František Maťha Dancer, choreographer and director Saša Machov was a student of Elizaveta Nikolska, prima ballerina of the National Theatre in Prague. In 1927, his avant-garde orientation brought him close to the Prague Free Theatre of Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich, where he worked first as an actor and dancer until 1929, and then again from 1936 to 1938, when after the departure of Joe Jenčík he became a choreographer: he created choreographies for productions such as Balada z hadrů, Nebe na zemi, Těžká Barbora, Pěst na oko. From 1929 to 1934 he was the head of the State Theatre in Ostrava ballet ensemble and as a choreographer he participated in the creation of 27 opera and 49 operetta productions. From 1934 to 1936 he worked in the theatre of E.F. Burian, whose piece Fagot a flétna in 1929 featured Machov’s debut as a dancer.

Under the Nazi threat he emigrated to Greece, where he worked as a ballet choreographer of the Greek Royal Ballet in Athens and founded there a dance school as well. After the German invasion of Greece he voluntarily joined the Czechoslovak expeditionary army, from 1941, he fought in the Czechoslovak African Corps. During the African campaign against Rommel in 1943 he contracted malaria. He was sent for treatment from Tobruk to London, where he became a guest choreographer of the Bartered Bride, which opened the door of the Sadler's Wells Opera to him; here he directed, organized concerts for Czechoslovak soldiers and worked as a choreographer with the film and revue scenes.

Although he was offered to stay at the Sadler's Wells Opera after the war, he returned to Prague, but could not find any job there. He was approached by E.F. Burian, the director of the State Theatre in Brno at that time, thus he moved to Brno and in the season 1945/1946 became the artistic director of the ballet ensemble, however, he was engaged mostly as an opera director. In the season 1946/1947 he was appointed the choreographer of the National Theatre in Prague, then in 1948 the head of the National Theatre Ballet. In five seasons under his direction the National Theatre ballet attained a truly world class status. He strived to create a distinctive Czech ballet both in dramaturgy and direction. He mounted productions based on the music by Stamic, Janáček, Dvořák; it was in these works that he was closest to the idea of creating a distinctive, unmistakably Czech ballet, however, he managed to bring a Czech flavour into the productions of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (1948) as well.

Machov’s personality combined the qualities of a perceptive choreographer and an excellent dramaturge and director, his main assets being his musicality, sense of poetic metaphor, striking dramatic condensation and exquisite artistic refinement. As for his dancers, he required maximum creative synergy on their part, he could assess and develop their natural artistic potential. He raised the traditionally underrated ballet genre to a level comparable with drama and opera and contributed to its newly gained social prestige and unprecedented popularity among audiences. Among his greatest achievements in choreography are the productions Viktorka and Romeo and Juliet (1950). The political situation after the February 1948 culminated in his expulsion from the National Theatre in Prague and as a result of political persecution, which he suffered as a participant in the Western resistance, he voluntarily ended his life on June 23^rd, 1951.

(Source: Czech dance vocabulary, V. Vašut: Saša Machov)