Croatian National Theatre (Rijeka Ballet)

Though founded in 1946 as a part of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc, the work of the Ballet ensemble is marked by the full-length ballets. This is mostly due to the ballerina Olga Orlova (Kiev, 1903 – Rijeka, 1991), who came to Rijeka in 1949 to take over the pedagogical and choreographic leadership of the ensemble. Orlova studied ballet with Branislava Nižinska (from the famous Nižinski ballet family). In 1921 she came to Zagreb with Margareta Froman’s troupe, with which she performed numerous notable roles. The knowledge she passed on enabled the ensemble to perform its first full-length show in 1952, Boris Asafjev’s Bakhchisarai Fountain. Orlova also staged Coppelia by Leo Delibes, which was held in the same evening as Silfida, choreographed by Ratko Andrić-Drndarević (one of the first soloists of the Rijeka Opera Ballet). This initial period of the Rijeka Ballet ended in 1954 with the inclusion of a work of Croatian ballet heritage The Gingerbread Heart by Krešimir Baranović, choreographed by Nevenka Perko (1907-1986) in the Ballet repertoire.