Milko Šparemblek (1 December 1928 – 25 February 2025) was a Slovenian-born Croatian dancer,"Milko Šparemblek oduševljen plesnom senzacijom DanceStar". HRT, 31. 03. 2015 choreographer,"?Milko Šparemblek oduševljen plesnom senzacijom DanceStar!". DNEVNIK, Zagreb, 31 March 2015. stage director,"PAREMBLEKOV FAUST Dopunjena baletna verzija europske mitske priče". Jutarnji.hr , OBJAVLJENO 9 February 2015. and film director. He made about 40 ballet films and to date there have been about 150 premieres of his work in over 50 theatres around the world. Šparemblek received a number of awards including a Vladimir Nazor Lifetime Achievement Award and a Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts.
Background Šparemblek was born in Prevalje on 1 December 1928, as an only child. At the age of three, his family moved to Zagreb, Croatia to a neighbourhood called Kustošija. He enrolled in the V. high school of Zagreb and participated in athletics. He attended the University of Zagreb to study Comparative literature, that same year starting to dance at the Zagreb Opera (later known as the Croatian National Theatre) under the direction of choreographers and dancers Ana Roje and Oskar Harmoš.
Šparemblek died on 25 February 2025, at the age of 96.
Career around the work In 1948 Šparemblek joined the Croatian Ballet ensemble at the Croatian National Theatre where he studied classical, contemporary and folkloric dances. Four years later in 1952, he was promoted to Ballet Soloist by recommendation of Dame Ninette de Valois and in 1953 he left Zagreb for Paris on a Franco-Yugoslav Scholarship. He studied under Olga Preobrajenska, a graduate of the Imperial Ballet School in Moscow, and later under Serge Peretti in the Paris Opera School of Ballet. After completing his scholarship, he began dancing in small cabarets, music halls and working as an extra in movie production in order to pay for his studies.
Šparemblek became a member of several different ballet companies, including the Janine Charrat company, the Maurice Béjart company, the Ballet de l'Étoile, the Milorad Miskovitch company and the Ludmila Tcherina company. In 1956 he choreographed his first ballet called "L'Échelle".
In New York he studied contemporary dance techniques under Jose Limon and Marhe Graham.
Career as a choreographer Šparemblek was a Ballet Master in Brussels under the director M. Bejart in the Ballet de XX. Sc. He was a Director of the Lisbon Gulbekian Ballet and he was a Director of Ballet in the New York Metropolitan Opera Director of Ballet in the Lyon Opera the Lyon. In 1985, he choreographed Pastoral - 6th Symphony of Beethoven - world premiére, for the ballet company Ballet Teatro Guaíra, in the city of Curitiba, state of Paraná, in Brazil, which was also performed in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. He was also a director of Ballet in the Zagreb Croatian National Theatre,"Dinko Bogdanić: Ministar Mrsić je u pravu što balerine sa 42 šalje u penziju". Jutarnji Cultura, Ivana Mikuličin 18 February 2015 where in 2012 he choreographed the Miraculous Mandarin,"Balet Hrvatskog narodnog kazališta Split ". Story Press, 17. 10. 2012 and in 2014 he choreographed a production of the comedy "The good soul of Sichuan" by the Zagreb Municipal Theatre."KOMEDIJI Može li dobar čovjek preživjeti u ovom svijetu?". Jutarnji Kultura. 22 April 2014
Awards YearTitleWork1976Biennial of Graphic Arts, LjubljanaTrionfo di Afrodite1979Biennial of Graphic Arts, LjubljanaSymphony of Psalms1981Biennial of Graphic Arts, LjubljanaPjesme Ljubavi i SmrtiSongs of Love and Death1981Prix Anik Award, MontrealThe Miraculous Mandarin1983The Canadian Music CounselLifetime achievement1986Josip Štolcer Slavenski AwardCarmina Krležiana1986Slovenian Theater Scholars AwardLifetime achievement1986Prešeren AwardTriptih Beethoven-Wagner1987The City of Zagreb AwardMaking and realisation of the 1987 Universiade "or the 15th annual Universiade"1988Biennial of Graphic Arts, LjubljanaCarmina Krležiana1990Vladimir Nazor AwardMozart: Amadeus - Monumentum:;ask what this is1997Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumisteOverall artistic activity1998Order of Croatian Danica with a figure of Marko MarulićLifetime achievement2001Tito Strozzi AwardJohannes Faust Passion2002Vladimir Nazor AwardLife Achievement2003Marul AwardKraljevo (Krleža)2005X2 Mare Nostrum AwardsLifetime achievement2005Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumisteFric and the Singer2007Pio and Pina Mlakar Award60 years of Artistic Achievements2010International Society for the Performing Arts – Distinguished Artist AwardLifetime Achievement2013Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumisteThe Miraculous Mandarin2020Prešeren awardLifetime achievement
Television and film production YearProductionTitle and ArtistRole1958Baden-Baden TV"Fontessa" with modern jazz quartetChoreography With V. Sulich1960TV Belge (RTBF)Monteverdi: "Orfeo"Choreography1961TV Belge (RTBF)Kelemen: "Heros et Son Miroir"Dramaturgy, Dance and Choreography1961Sociète Monarch"Les Amants De Teruel"Directed By R. Rouleau; Music By Teodorakis, Sauget (Premiere At Theatre Sarah Bernard 1959) Dance, Choreography and Leading Male Role1962ORTF ParisŠipuš: "Zone Interdite"Dance and Choreography1963TV Belge (RTBF)Stravinski: "Histoire de Soldat“Dance and Choreography1963ORTF ParisD'Annunzio, Debussy: "Martyr de St. Sebastien"Choreography1963TV Köln-DüsseldorfPoulenc : "Masken" Choreography1964TV Zagreb (RTZ)R. Wagner: "Mathilde"Dance and Choreography1964TV Köln-DüsseldorfBrecht, Weill: "7 Todtsunden"Choreography1964ORTF ParisRameau: "Pygmalion" Choreography1964Saar TV"Swingle Singers"Dance and Choreography1965München TVKaper: "Lili"Choreography1965ORTF ParisClaudel, Honegger: "Jeanne au Bucher"Choreography1966ORTF ParisCocteau, Auric: "Phedre" Dance, Choreography and Co-Direction1966ORTF ParisDucas: "La Peri" Dance and Choreography1966ORTF ParisTerrasse: "Mons. de La Palice" Choreography1966München TVLabiche, Offenbach: "Chapeau de Paille d'Italie"Choreography1967ORTF ParisBrecht, Weill: "7 Peches Capitaux"Dance, Choreography and Direction1968ORTF ParisTasso, Monteverdi: "Combatimento"Choreography and Direction1968ORTF ParisMolière, Lully: "Bourgeois Gentilhomme"Choreography1969ORTF ParisRay, Kaufman: "La Bague"Dance, Choreography and Co-Direction1969ORTF ParisHenry: "Astronomy"Choreography1981Montreal TVBartók: "Mandarin Merveileux" Choreography1984TV Zagreb (RTZ)Wagner: "Mathilde" Dance and Choreography1988TV Zagreb (RTZ)Chopin: "Chopiniade"Choreography1988TV Zagreb (RTZ)Ujević, Šparemblek, Savin: "Gesta Za Tina"Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction1989RTV LjubljanaGallus: "Enigma Gallus"Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction1994RTV SlovenijaTartini: "Trilo Del Diavolo"Choreography1995RTV SlovenijaVivaldi, Wagner: "Objem"Choreography1998RTV SlovenijaKumar: "Epitaf za Srečka"Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction1999TV Zagreb (HRT)Mussorgsky: „Pjesme i Plesovi Smrti“Choreography and Direction 2000RTV SlovenijaBach: "Toccata i Fuga u D-molu"Choreography and Direction
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