For viewers, ballet is usually associated with fragility, grace, and perfect aesthetics. However, the elegance seen on stage hides another – much harsher – reality. Behind the lights, music, and ovations lie daily injuries, exhausting physical strain, and psychological pressure, which young ballet artists, according to Marija Simona, were often forced to cope with alone.
In the lifestyle show “Life is Beautiful,” the prima ballerina for the first time openly spoke about experiences that, according to her, have remained untold until now.
“We are no different from Olympians – absolutely not. Injuries happen everywhere, there are medicines and drugs everywhere, because living without pain is practically impossible. To manage stress levels and maintain nine hours of daily workload, discipline has to be cosmic. To withstand psychological pressure and not cry, as children we bit our cheeks until they bled – so that physical pain would divert our thoughts from what we experienced in the hall,” said M.S. Smolskienė.
According to her, the most painful experiences began at the very start of her professional path. At that time, the ballet training system, as the choreographer states, was accompanied by a very strict approach, where psychological and physical abuse was considered almost an inseparable part of education.
“First and foremost, there was very strong psychological abuse. And physical? They would throw a bench at you. If you got slapped or had bruises – that was still the easiest scenario. It was impossible to complain to anyone – you would be immediately expelled from school. So we just closed ourselves off and suffered silently,” recalled the prima ballerina.
However, the painful stories did not end at ballet school. At 19 years old, despite talented performances and excellent evaluations, Marija Simona made the decision to leave the stage of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre. The reason, according to her, was not only professional choices but also a refusal to obey the backstage rules of that time.
The choreographer does not hide – she had to face demands to pay “envelopes” for contracts. Refusing to play by such rules, she chose another path – to pursue career heights abroad.
This interview is special also because for the first time Marija Simona’s husband Erland sat in front of the cameras. The couple, now in their 12th year of marriage, jointly lead their own “Baltic Ballet Theatre” and today base their creative path on independence.
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Speaking about the backstage of Lithuanian culture, both do not mince words. They describe the situation very sharply – as a “fight against cultural mafia and complete injustice.”
Meanwhile, their performances successfully travel beyond Lithuania – shown in France, Germany, Monaco, and the Netherlands. However, in their homeland, the creators, according to themselves, do not always feel welcome.
“The Baltic Ballet Theatre” does not receive state funding, so every new performance becomes not only a creative but also a financial challenge. Despite this, the couple does not retreat and continues to strive to create independent art.
And sometimes thoughts turn much further beyond Lithuania’s borders.
“My husband and I think about emigrating to Australia every week, I won’t lie. There are offers and halls in Sydney or Melbourne, friends are waiting. But I am held by roots. I love Lithuania madly, my parents, the forests, the Nemunas River, and Nida. We are root sick, so for now we stay here and keep fighting. Together with Erland, we are changing the system and want to turn ballet into beautiful, pure art, breaking established harmful traditions,” admitted M.S. Smolskienė.
Is it possible to change a system that the artists themselves were once forced to keep silent about? And how long will the creators, whose performances are already awaited on foreign stages today, stay in Lithuania?
Answers to these and other questions – in a sensitive, unscripted, and very open conversation between Marija Simona and Erland in the show “Life is Beautiful”:
