Jaroń Elżbieta, *30 June 1941 Żyrardów, Polish dancer and ballet teacher. She began her education in the violin class at the State Music School in her hometown, but graduated from the State Ballet School in Warsaw, where she studied under I. Szymańska, L. Wójcikowski, and O. Jordan. In 1960, she joined the State Opera in Warsaw. In 1961, she won first prize at the 2nd National Stage Dance Competition in Warsaw. In 1962, she became a soloist with the ballet company of the Grand Theatre, then temporarily based on Nowogrodzka Street, and from 1965 she continued her work in the rebuilt Grand Theatre, where she was a principal dancer from 1967 to 1985. She performed both classical and contemporary repertoire. She took part in stage concerts and ballet programs on Polish Television, which produced a film about her titled Elżbieta Jaroń Dances (dir. J. Żukowska, 1974). She also performed abroad.
She was one of the most talented Polish ballerinas of the 1960s and 1970s. Towards the end of her career as a principal dancer of the Grand Theatre ballet, she also began working as a dance teacher, and as early as 1969–71 she taught at the Warsaw Ballet School. In 1980, she also completed her studies in dance pedagogy at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. During the 1984/85 season, she worked as a guest dance teacher in Spain: at the Escuela Superior de Ballet in Torrelavega, serving also as ballet mistress for the local ballet company, and at Rosita Segovia’s ballet studio in Barcelona. She briefly directed the ballet at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw (1981–82) and the Warsaw Operetta (1989–93). Her awards include the Gold Cross of Merit (1979), the Gold Badge of Honour “For Services to Warsaw” (1980) and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1987). She was married to Andrzej Ludwicki (1939–2012), a soloist with the ballet of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, and after his emigration and their divorce, she married journalist and screenwriter Ryszard Gontarz (1930–2017).
Literature: J. Sibilska-Siudym Elżbieta Jaroń [https://archiwum.teatrwielki.pl/baza/-/o/jaron-elzbieta/192201/20181, accessed: 12.02.2023].
Pas de trois (Swan Lake, choreography N. Konius and A. Sobol after V. Bourmeister and P. Gusev, music P. Tchaikovsky, 1962)
Fire Fairy (The Tale of the Stone Flower, choreography A. Tomski, music S. Prokofiev, 1962)
Chosen One (The Rite of Spring, choreography A. Rodrigues, music I. Stravinsky, 1962)
Young Girl (The Four Temperaments, choreography F. Adret, music P. Hindemith, 1962)
Swanilda (Coppélia, choreography F. Parnell, music L. Delibes, guest performance at the Łódź Opera 1962)
Chloé (Daphnis et Chloé, choreography A. Rodrigues, music M. Ravel, 1963)
Street Dancer and Queen of the Dryads (Don Quixote choreography A. Chichinadze, music L. Minkus, 1964)
Kitri (Don Quixote, choreography A. Chichinadze, music L. Minkus, 1965)
Deviless (Pan Twardowski, choreography S. Miszczyk, music L. Różycki, 1965)
Pas de trois and Odette-Odile (Swan Lake, choreography R. Kuzniecowa after M. Petipa and L. Ivanov, music P. Tchaikovsky, 1966)
Pas de deux (Nocturne and tarantella, choreography W. Gruca, music K. Szymanowski, 1966)
Giselle (Giselle, choreography A. Chichinadze, 1968 and choreography A. Gridin and I. Michajlichenko, 1976, both productions after J. Coralli, J. Perrot and M. Petipa, music A. Adam)
Fairy Godmother (Cinderella, choreography A. Chichinadze, music S. Prokofiev, 1969)
Danse profane (Danse sacré – Danse profane, choreography W. Borkowski, music C. Debussy, 1971)
Dziewczyna (Metafrazy, choreography M. Bochenek, music J. Maksymiuk, 1971)
Aegina (Spartacus, choreography J. Czanga, music A. Khachaturian, 1973)
Ballerina (Petrushka, choreography L. Wójcikowski after M. Fokine, music I. Stravinsky, 1973)
Her (Desire, choreography J. Makarowski, music G. Bacewicz, 1973)
Queen of the Underworld, Queen of the East, and Deviless (Pan Twardowski, choreography W. Gruca, music L. Różycki, 1973)
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake, choreography B. Khalilov after A. Gorsky and A. Messerer, music P. Tchaikovsky, 1973)
Swanilda (Coppélia, choreography A. Messerer, music L. Delibes, 1974)
Miss Julie (Miss Julie, choreography B. Cullberg, music T. Rangström, 1975)
First Soloist (Les Sylphides, choreography R. Kuzniecowa after M. Fokine, music F. Chopin, 1975)
