Milko Šparemblek

{{Short description|Croatian dancer and choreographer (1928–2025)}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Milko Šparemblek

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|12|1}}

| birth_place = Prevalje, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (modern-day Slovenia)

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2025|2|25|1928|12|1}}

| death_place =

| nationality = Croatian

| known_for = Theatre, television, film

| occupation = Dancer, choreographer, stage director, film director

| years_active = 1947–2025

}}

Milko Šparemblek (1 December 1928 – 25 February 2025) was a Slovenian-born Croatian dancer,{{cite book|author=Zvonimir Bukovina|title=Kustošijanske minijature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hsNiAAAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Azur Journal|pages=78–79}}[http://www.hrt.hr/278438/magazin/milko-sparemblek-odusevljen-plesnom-senzacijom-dancestar "Milko Šparemblek oduševljen plesnom senzacijom DanceStar"]. HRT, 31. 03. 2015 choreographer,{{cite book|title=Dubrovnik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbNnAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Ogranak Matice Hrvatske Dubrovnik|page=193}}[http://dnevnik.hr/showbuzz/clubzone/milko-sparemblek-odusevljen-plesnom-senzacijom-dancestar---378647.html "?Milko Šparemblek oduševljen plesnom senzacijom DanceStar!"]. DNEVNIK, Zagreb, 31 March 2015. stage director,[http://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/kazaliste/sparemblekov-faust-dopunjena-baletna-verzija-europske-mitske-price/474523/ "PAREMBLEKOV FAUST Dopunjena baletna verzija europske mitske priče"]. Jutarnji.hr , OBJAVLJENO 9 February 2015.{{cite book|title=Arhivski vjesnik|volume=28-31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6NQAQAAIAAJ|year=1986|page=174}} 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.{{cite news |title=Ballet dancer Milko Šparemblek dies |url=https://english.sta.si/3398253/ballet-dancer-milko-sparemblek-dies |access-date=25 February 2025 |publisher=STA |date=25 February 2025}}

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,[http://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/kazaliste/dinko-bogdanic-ministar-mrsic-je-u-pravu-sto-balerine-sa-42-salje-u-penziju/477571/ "Dinko Bogdanić: Ministar Mrsić je u pravu što balerine sa 42 šalje u penziju"]. Jutarnji Cultura, Ivana Mikuličin 18 February 2015{{cite book|author=Alan Rich|title=To Hell with Orpheus|work=New York Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60|date=12 October 1970|pages=60–|issn=0028-7369}} where in 2012 he choreographed the Miraculous Mandarin,[http://www.story.hr/zapocela-sezona-baleta-hnk-split-113652 "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.[http://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/kazaliste/dobra-dusa-iz-secuana-u-komediji-moze-li-dobar-covjek-prezivjeti-u-ovom-svijetu/792469/ "KOMEDIJI Može li dobar čovjek preživjeti u ovom svijetu?"]. Jutarnji Kultura. 22 April 2014

Awards

class="wikitable"
YearTitleWork
1976

|Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana

|Trionfo di Afrodite

1979

|Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana

|Symphony of Psalms

1981

|Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana

|Pjesme Ljubavi i Smrti
Songs of Love and Death

1981

|Prix Anik Award, Montreal

|The Miraculous Mandarin

1983

|The Canadian Music Counsel

|Lifetime achievement

1986

|Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award

|Carmina Krležiana

1986

|Slovenian Theater Scholars Award

|Lifetime achievement

1986

|Prešeren Award

|Triptih Beethoven-Wagner

1987

|The City of Zagreb Award

|Making and realisation of the 1987 Universiade "or the 15th annual Universiade"

1988

|Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana

|Carmina Krležiana

1990

|Vladimir Nazor Award

|Mozart: Amadeus - Monumentum:;ask what this is

1997

|Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumiste

|Overall artistic activity

1998

|Order of Croatian Danica with a figure of Marko Marulić

|Lifetime achievement

2001

|Tito Strozzi Award

|Johannes Faust Passion

2002

|Vladimir Nazor Award

|Life Achievement

2003

|Marul Award

|Kraljevo (Krleža)

2005

|X2 Mare Nostrum Awards

|Lifetime achievement

2005

|Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumiste

|Fric and the Singer

2007

|Pio and Pina Mlakar Award

|60 years of Artistic Achievements

2010

|International Society for the Performing Arts – Distinguished Artist Award

|Lifetime Achievement

2013

|Croatian Theatre Award?!?!hrvatsko glumiste

|The Miraculous Mandarin

2020

|Prešeren award

|Lifetime achievement

Television and film production

class="wikitable"
YearProductionTitle and ArtistRole
1958

|Baden-Baden TV

|"Fontessa" with modern jazz quartet

|Choreography With V. Sulich

1960

|TV Belge (RTBF)

|Monteverdi: "Orfeo"

|Choreography

1961

|TV Belge (RTBF)

|Kelemen: "Heros et Son Miroir"

|Dramaturgy, Dance and Choreography

1961

|Sociète Monarch

|"Les Amants De Teruel"

|Directed By R. Rouleau; Music By Teodorakis, Sauget

(Premiere At Theatre Sarah Bernard 1959)

Dance, Choreography and Leading Male Role

1962

|ORTF Paris

|Šipuš: "Zone Interdite"

|Dance and Choreography

1963

|TV Belge (RTBF)

|Stravinski: "Histoire de Soldat“

|Dance and Choreography

1963

|ORTF Paris

|D'Annunzio, Debussy: "Martyr de St. Sebastien"

|Choreography

1963

|TV Köln-Düsseldorf

|Poulenc : "Masken"

|Choreography

1964

|TV Zagreb (RTZ)

|R. Wagner: "Mathilde"

|Dance and Choreography

1964

|TV Köln-Düsseldorf

|Brecht, Weill: "7 Todtsunden"

|Choreography

1964

|ORTF Paris

|Rameau: "Pygmalion"

|Choreography

1964

|Saar TV

|"Swingle Singers"

|Dance and Choreography

1965

|München TV

|Kaper: "Lili"

|Choreography

1965

|ORTF Paris

|Claudel, Honegger: "Jeanne au Bucher"

|Choreography

1966

|ORTF Paris

|Cocteau, Auric: "Phedre"

|Dance, Choreography and Co-Direction

1966

|ORTF Paris

|Ducas: "La Peri"

|Dance and Choreography

1966

|ORTF Paris

|Terrasse: "Mons. de La Palice"

|Choreography

1966

|München TV

|Labiche, Offenbach: "Chapeau de Paille d'Italie"

|Choreography

1967

|ORTF Paris

|Brecht, Weill: "7 Peches Capitaux"

|Dance, Choreography and Direction

1968

|ORTF Paris

|Tasso, Monteverdi: "Combatimento"

|Choreography and Direction

1968

|ORTF Paris

|Molière, Lully: "Bourgeois Gentilhomme"

|Choreography

1969

|ORTF Paris

|Ray, Kaufman: "La Bague"

|Dance, Choreography and Co-Direction

1969

|ORTF Paris

|Henry: "Astronomy"

|Choreography

1981

|Montreal TV

|Bartók: "Mandarin Merveileux"

|Choreography

1984

|TV Zagreb (RTZ)

|Wagner: "Mathilde"

|Dance and Choreography

1988

|TV Zagreb (RTZ)

|Chopin: "Chopiniade"

|Choreography

1988

|TV Zagreb (RTZ)

|Ujević, Šparemblek, Savin: "Gesta Za Tina"

|Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction

1989

|RTV Ljubljana

|Gallus: "Enigma Gallus"

|Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction

1994

|RTV Slovenija

|Tartini: "Trilo Del Diavolo"

|Choreography

1995

|RTV Slovenija

|Vivaldi, Wagner: "Objem"

|Choreography

1998

|RTV Slovenija

|Kumar: "Epitaf za Srečka"

|Dramaturgy, Choreography and Direction

1999

|TV Zagreb (HRT)

|Mussorgsky: „Pjesme i Plesovi Smrti“

|Choreography and Direction

2000

|RTV Slovenija

|Bach: "Toccata i Fuga u D-molu"

|Choreography and Direction

References

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