Věra Ždichyncová passed away
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The dancer and choreographer Věra Ždichyncová died on 18 September 2017 at the age of ninety.She began her professional dance career in 1939 in Ostrava. During the war she was a member of the Königsberg ballet. In 1945 she briefly worked with the choreographer Nina Jirsíková in the Theatre of 5 May. Then she returned to Ostrava to collaborate with Emerich Gabzdyl who offered her the position of a soloist in his company.
In 1948 she joined the National Theatre Ballet in Prague, under the direction of Sascha Machov. During Machov’s era she impersonated characters such as the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Princess in Swan Lake, Rollerka in Filosofská historie, Wasp in The Sleeping Beauty and others.
From 1951, Věra Ždichynchová taught company classes in the National Theatre and became the assistant choreographer. At the same time, she was studying dance pedagogy at the Academy of Performing Arts, from where she graduated in 1956. At the Music Faculty of the Academy she taught the methodology of classical dance for almost thirty years. With Prof. Olga Pásková, she co-authored the textbook Základy klasického tance (The Rudiments of Classical Dance). From 1966 to1983 she worked as a ballet mistress and assistant choreographer in the National Theatre. Her son is Pavel Ždichynec, a long-time soloist with the National Theatre ballet company.