Dancer and actor in the Lithuanian ballet in the end of the 20th century. A case study of Loreta Bartusevičiūtė

Abstract

Loreta Bartusevičiūtė (born 1958) is one of the most important Lithuanian ballet soloist of the end of the 20th century. Her artistic career was a new stage of the history of Lithuanian ballet, connected with the development of Lithuanian ballet school, its new artistic and technical quality. The article analyses her work having in mind the connections of her technical qualities and acting skills, showing the unique features in the classical and contemporary ballet performances and analyzing their reasons. The scenic carrier of Loreta Bartusevičiūtė lasted 22 years; she danced almost all parts in the performances of the ballet repertory of the Lithuanian State Ballet and Opera Theatre. Her roles were based on the tradition of classical ballet and advices of her coaches Nikolai Morozov, Lijana Dišlerė, Tamara Sventickaitė, as well as on her artistic intuition, which enabled to reveal unexpected layers of the role. The most important roles of Bartusevičiūtė in classical ballet productions were Giselle, Coppélia, La Sylphide, Odette and Odile in “Swan Lake”, Aurora in “The Sleeping Beauty”, and Kitri in “Don Quixote”; an important element of the final outline of these roles were technical skills of the dancer. Bartusevičiūtė, creating roles in the repertory of the contemporary choreography, collaborated with choreographers, who helped to show her artistry and sometimes even created certain parts of their performances dedicated to Bartusevičiūtė: these were the cases of “Phaedra” by Jurijus Smoriginas, “Phantasy Carmen” and partly “Medea” by Anželika Cholina and “Eglė Queen of Grass Snakes” by Egidijus Domeika. The artistic individuality of Loreta Bartusevičiūtė, based on unique emotional incarnations and expressive forms of movements, became an essential feature of their choreographic works.