Kociołkowska, Bożena (EN)

Kociołkowska Bożena, *27 March 1941 Warsaw, Polish dancer, ballet teacher and director, social activist. Graduate of the State Ballet School in Warsaw, where she studied under the supervision of I. Szymańska, L. Wójcikowski and O. Jordan. In 1960, she joined the State Opera in Warsaw and in 1961, she danced the iconic part of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, which she later performed on the Warsaw stage over 100 times in three different choreographic arrangements. In 1962, she became a soloist of the ballet of the Teatr Wielki with a temporary seat at Nowogrodzka Street and from 1965, she continued this work in the rebuilt Teatr Wielki, where in 1967–86, she was the first soloist. She took part in stage concerts and ballet programmes and films on TVP. She performed on other Polish opera stages and abroad.

She was one of the most talented Polish ballerinas of the 1960s and 1970s. Her activity after the end of her stage career was also rich and diverse. In 1979, she graduated in dance pedagogy from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. She taught at the Warsaw ballet school and abroad, and in the 1981/82 season, she was a ballet mistress at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. She was involved in choreography in musical theatres (Gdynia, Poznań), operetta theatres (Wrocław, Gliwice) and drama theatres (Łódź, Lublin, Zabrze). She directed the ballet of the Baltic State Opera and Philharmonic (1992/93) and the Grand Theatre in Łódź (1993/94). She was artistic director of the State Ballet School in Warsaw (1994–95), the General Ballet School in Bytom (1998–2007) and chairwoman of the Ballet Section of ZASP (1991–94) and the Choreography Section of ZAiKS (1995–99). In 2008, she set up the Foundation for the Art of Dance [Fundacja na rzecz Sztuki Tańca] and became its president; on her initiative, among other things, the sculpture “In Tribute to Polish Ballet Artists” was created, unveiled in 2016 next to the Teatr Wielki on ul. Moliera in Warsaw. She has also written journalism on ballet topics. She has been awarded the following awards: the Gold Cross of Merit (1979), the Gold Badge of Honour “For Services to Warsaw” (1980), the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1986) and the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2006).

Literature: B. Kociołkowska and T. M. Lerski Pierwsza dama warszawskiego baletu, Warsaw 2016; J. Sibilska-Siudym Bożena Kociołkowska [https://archiwum.teatrwielki.pl/baza/-/o/bozenakociolkowska/192181/20181, access: 12.02.2023].