Graduate of the Milan “La Scala” ballet school began his professional career at the National Theatre in Brno, later worked in the ballet company of the Czech National Theatre in Prague, where he became a demi-soloist, and also worked at the Prague “Laterna Magica” theatre. From 2019 to 2026, he worked at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, where he was the ballet rehearsal director and assistant to the artistic director. This experience gave him the opportunity not only to work with dancers but also to contribute to the formation of the repertoire and the company, as well as artistic planning.
Gianvito Attimonelli comes to KVMT with a clear vision – to strengthen the ballet company, expand its repertoire, give dancers the opportunity to try different ballet styles and grow as versatile artists. His plans include more classical, neoclassical, well-known works, new encounters, and a closer connection between the theatre and the Klaipėda audience.
In this interview, Gianvito Attimonelli talks about why he chose Klaipėda, what kind of ballet company he found here, what he would like to change in it and where he sees it in a few years, as well as about his stage experience, dream roles, audience development, and even possible ways of community engagement.
– Why did you decide to choose Klaipėda State Musical Theatre specifically?
– There are many opportunities in the world of dance. I had more than one choice, but I believe that Klaipėda State Musical Theatre has incredible potential. That was one of the reasons why I ultimately decided to work here. It is a new experience for me and an opportunity to contribute to a theatre that has a very clear vision and activity plan for the future.
– How did you learn about Klaipėda State Musical Theatre?
– I learned about Klaipėda State Musical Theatre from Marco Ribaud, a choreographer who worked here as a guest teacher. His daughter Jade Ribaud was also a dancer in this company, so both of them spoke very well about the theatre and told me a lot of good things about it.
I must say that my decision was also influenced by the new theatre building and the overall vision presented by the head of the ballet department Aurelijus Liškauskas and the theatre director Goda Giedraitytė. We quickly found common ground, so I finally decided to take this opportunity.
– Tell us about your professional activity before coming to Klaipėda State Musical Theatre.
– I graduated from the Milan “La Scala” ballet school. I studied there for seven years – I entered the second year and after seven years received my diploma. It was one of the best experiences of my life because I learned a lot there. From the age of twelve, I lived independently, which is more or less a usual part of a professional ballet dancer’s path. When you want to study ballet professionally, you often have to learn independence very early.
While studying at the “La Scala” ballet school, I had the opportunity to work with the dancers of the “La Scala” ballet company and go on tours. We danced in various theatres – the Paris Opera, Genoa’s Carlo Felice Theatre, and, of course, Milan’s “La Scala” itself. I remember that in the first years, when I was only twelve, I had to dance in high professional theatres within the first three months. It was an amazing experience and a huge opportunity at such a young age.
Later, I had many more opportunities to work with “La Scala” dancers and participate in various productions, including Rudolf Nureyev’s “The Nutcracker.” There were really many opportunities, so I gained a lot of stage experience from that period.
After graduation, I could have gone to the United States, Spain, and elsewhere. However, starting a professional career in Italy was quite difficult. There, a system of permanent employment contracts operates, so in many places there simply are no free positions. Of course, trade unions try hard to protect workers’ rights, but due to this system and political reasons, many theatres and their ballet companies were closed. Therefore, you can meet many Italian artists worldwide. For this reason, wanting to start a ballet artist career, I decided to move to the Czech Republic.
From 2008 to 2012, I worked in the ballet company of the National Theatre in Brno. There I had many great opportunities to dance and participate in ballet gala programs in various countries around the world.
In 2012, I moved to Prague and joined the ballet company of the Czech National Theatre. There I reached one of the most important stages of my career – I was promoted to the demi-soloist position. I had the opportunity to work with famous world choreographers and travel a lot.
After a few years at the Czech National Theatre, I moved to another of its divisions – “Laterna Magica.” It was a theatre where dance was combined with video projections. I found it very interesting there and learned a lot.
It was there that I also started giving ballet classes to my colleagues, the company dancers. This was my first serious teaching experience and, in a way, the beginning of what I do today.
– Has your field of activity changed?
– This experience gradually led me to another area of the ballet world – the work of a ballet rehearsal director. Later, I started teaching at the Prague Conservatory and also worked at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. There I gradually became the assistant to the artistic director. I was responsible for dancer selection, company formation, repertoire – basically, I worked directly with all these things.
This job also gave me the opportunity to travel a lot. It was quite difficult to find suitable dancers, so I had to go to various countries to look for ballet artists needed for our repertoire and invite them to the company.
– So, the shortage of dancers is a problem everywhere?
– Yes.
– Why?
– It is not easy to attract dancers to cities like Ostrava, and in this case, Klaipėda. These theatres are not so well known, and the cities are large, so dancers do not always want to move here. If we invited them to Prague, Vilnius, Milan, or Madrid, it would be much easier.
However, in cities of a different type, it is more difficult to do this, even if the quality of the productions we created in Ostrava and now do in Klaipėda is, in my opinion, of the same level. Sometimes it can even be higher because here choreographers have the opportunity to truly express themselves. In large theatres, choreographers are sometimes more pressured to do what the theatre or repertoire needs at the time. This is quite common in such big cities. Therefore, I think a big advantage is the opportunity to give creators more freedom.
– Do you notice that young people’s interest in ballet is decreasing?
– Yes, I clearly notice a generational change. First of all, I see that fewer and fewer boys are interested in ballet. As usual, there are still many girls, but the number of boys wanting to choose ballet is decreasing more and more. Therefore, finding male dancers is really very difficult.
– How did you evaluate our ballet company and dancers?
– The level of the KVMT ballet company is very high and definitely corresponds to the repertoire danced so far. I hope that now, as the artistic director, I will be able to bring part of my vision into the repertoire. For that, we needed dancers of a different profile as well.
But the foundation is very strong. There are dancers in the company who, in my opinion, have incredible potential. I believe that the repertoire I want to create in Klaipėda will allow that potential to be revealed even better.
– Is there anything you would like to change or do differently?
– Of course. My goal is to stage more well-known ballet performances in Klaipėda. I mean not necessarily only classical ballet but generally well-known works recognizable to the audience. This is one of the main visions of my repertoire.
– And what is your dream for the future?
– Since the size of the company determines a lot, I am happy that we will finally have 26 dancers. As far as I know, this is the largest size of this company in the entire history of the theatre. I sincerely thank G. Giedraitytė and A. Liškauskas for giving the opportunity to assemble a company of this size.
With 26 dancers, we will be able to responsibly plan larger and more complex ballet performances. Therefore, my goal in the coming years is to gradually include more such works in the repertoire. Of course, this takes time.
I think this will make the theatre even more interesting to the Klaipėda audience. It is very important to me that there are more narrative-based performances in the theatre. Theatre, in my understanding, is not only entertainment – it also has an educational function, it must tell stories and communicate with the audience.
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I like the repertoire the company has had so far, but I would like to bring more storytelling into it, more performances that could interest even more people.
– How to interest and cultivate the audience’s interest in dance, especially when we talk about more abstract or conceptual performances?
– Sometimes people are still a bit afraid of more abstract or conceptual dance. I think our job is to help the audience get used to it, gradually introduce them. But we must not forget classical productions. We cannot focus only on one part of the audience – we have to think about all viewers and try to make the theatre interesting for everyone.
– How do you think the audience should be taught this? Maybe it should start with children?
– This is definitely a difficult question. My personal experience was somewhat different. I myself studied at a rather conservative school where most attention was paid to ballet and classical repertoire. And that was great – I learned a lot there.
But later, starting to work in ballet companies, I gradually realized that I was interested in looking for something deeper, not just what is directly written in the performance libretto. I think such works are also very important because they encourage people to think and find their relationship with what they see on stage.
Therefore, we must give the audience a certain starting point. For example, you can say: “This performance is about love.” Then a person comes to watch it already having a certain thought and through movement, through dance, can see their understanding of love. I think this is very important.
Therefore, it would be useful to organize talks before performances, meetings with the audience, discussions. It would be necessary not only to show the performance but also to give people the opportunity to discuss it.
– Maybe the audience could be interested in dance in unconventional spaces – going out into the city streets?
– Yes, definitely. It would be very interesting to organize various activities in city spaces. I think it could be a great idea if the weather permits. So far, since I have been here, I have only seen the sun, so I hope it will continue that way.
– And to establish a connection with the residents of the Klaipėda region?
– That is my dream. I would really like to establish a connection with, for example, the basketball team. I think it would be fun to create a joint project. Moreover, ballet could be very useful for basketball players because it develops coordination. I have seen that, for example, the Australian rugby team uses ballet elements in training. We could come up with something similar here.
– What do you plan to do with the KVMT ballet company in the next few years?
– First of all, I would like the company to become as versatile as possible. I want to give dancers the opportunity to work not only with contemporary works but also to transition to neoclassical repertoire. Of course, this season we will also have classical works.
I think this is what helps dancers become professionals and gives them more opportunities to express themselves. They all have classical education, so I believe that the more open they are to different styles, the better artists they will become.
My goal is to create a versatile company that after a few seasons could perform a repertoire of various kinds.
– What do ballet dancers need most to want to stay in the company?
– Dancers need daily motivation. If it is not there, they get bored very quickly, and if they do not get a role or the opportunity to reveal themselves, they also get disappointed quite quickly. We are both artists and athletes. Therefore, every day we need some stimulus, something that motivates us. Of course, we maintain physical form by coming to work, training, rehearsing every day. But what really motivates us is art.
Therefore, we try to invite a guest teacher or artist at least once a month so that dancers get new impulses and can get acquainted with a different approach. This season is special because we will present three dance premieres. Dancers will have the opportunity to work with many different choreographers, and I think this will be very useful for them.
– Your dream role. Have you had the chance to dance it?
– Since I studied at a very classical ballet school, one of the roles that I think suited me best and that I really enjoyed dancing was the Jester in the ballet “Swan Lake.”
One of the most wonderful experiences for me as a dancer was William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.” It was one of the best works I have danced in.
Also, a very important experience was Youri Vámos’s production of “Coppélia.” It was my first season in the National Theatre in Brno. There I could grow not only as a dancer but also as an artist. The performance was technically demanding – it required a lot both technically and artistically. It included quite a bit of pantomime, so I discovered talents in myself that I did not know I had. After all, at school, we mostly studied ballet.
I found this new talent very interesting. Later, because of this experience, it became much easier for me to perform various roles. So these three works were very important to me at different stages of my life and career.
– Do you like Klaipėda?
– So far, I can say only good things. It is very nice to work with the large KVMT team; I feel at home.
I lived in the Czech Republic for 18 years, and there is no sea there. Therefore, water and the sea are very important to me – it immediately gives the city uniqueness.
I see that Klaipėda is changing and developing a lot. I was surprised by some things I did not expect to find here. First of all, of course, the theatre itself – its architecture and design are very modern and advanced. It made a big impression on me.
– Do you find things to do in your free time?
– Of course. First of all – I go to the sea. Of course, I understand that in winter everything will probably look a bit different, but I have other hobbies as well. I think over time I will find more things to do in Klaipėda. I will look for more music and other interesting activities.
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