People of dance

Feliks Malinowski

dancer

Dancer He was born on 30 June 1936. At the age of 14 he started studying at the State Ballet School in Warsaw; he left the school after four years to join the Polish Dance Company of Eugeniusz Papliński. As a soloist, he went on many tours in Poland and abroad (the USSR, GDR, Czechoslovakia). Since January 1957 till the end of 1958 he was a soloist in the Łódź Opera, dancing as a partner, among others, of: Maria Łapińska, its prima ballerina. In 1959 he moved to the Warsaw Opera where he played, among others, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Paris and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Albert in Giselle and other solo parts. In 1960 he went on a six month placement at the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) where he and his partner, Olga Sawicka, made a guest appearance, playing the leading parts in Giselle. After returning to Poland, he continued his work as a dancer in Warsaw, performing in many concerts and TV programmes. In 1965 he was given the opportunity to dance Pas de deux in Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach choreographed by Jean Babilée. He left to Paris and took part in this production to partner prima ballerina of the Hamburg Opera Gerda Daum. In 1964 Sonia Gaskell offered him to join Het National Ballet. However, neither the Opera nor the Ministry of Culture approved the proposal. The same story happened in 1966, this time with Maurice Béjart. In the second half of the 1960s, being at the height of his career, he lost his all parts in the repertoire and was not featured in new ballets to come, as he did not accept the situation in the group. In these circumstances, he gave in his notice in March 1970 and his decision was accepted. He left to Beirut to a revue theatre in Casino du Liban, and three years later to Paris as a soloist in Moulin Rouge, then in Folies Bergère where in 1981 he finished his career. Since 1974 he has worked as a teacher of classical dance in Parisian studios and conservatoires; he is also invited by theatres in Ajaccio, Bastia, Dijon, Lyon, Toulon, Valence, Montpellier, Villeurbanne, Clermont-Ferrand, Palermo, Milan, Karlsruhe, Nancy. Juror in ballet competitions.