Altin Kaftira (born 1972 in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

) is a former

danseur A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

with the

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He danced with the Ballet from 1995 on, and from 2000 to 2007 was the Ballet's principal dancer (working with choreographers such as

Hans van Manen Hans Arthur Gerard van Manen (; born 11 July 1932) is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer. He studied under Sonia Gaskell and Françoise Adret. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 to ...

Rudi van Dantzig Rudi van Dantzig (4 August 1933 – 19 January 2012) was a Dutch choreographer, company director, and writer. He was a pivotal figure in the rise to world renown of Dutch ballet in the latter half of the twentieth century. Early life and trainin ...

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left R ...

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

and Ted Brandsen), and has danced in almost a dozen

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

ballets. In 2007, he left to pursue a career as a

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. One of his first film assignments was the production and direction of the 75th anniversary gala for Hans van Manen. In 2002 the then-president of Albania,

Rexhep Meidani Rexhep Qemal Meidani (; born on 17 August 1944) is an Albanian physics professor, diplomat and politician. Meidani was the 4th President of Albania from 1997 to 2002, and the second to be elected after the first multi-party elections in 1991. ...

, awarded Kaftira with the title of Art's Ambassador of the Nation. In an interview with Kaftira just before his retirement, Dutch critic and writer Herman Stevens, in an article in the Dutch magazine ''

HP/De Tijd ''HP/De Tijd'' is a Dutch language monthly opinion magazine published by the Audax Groep. Its editorial offices are in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Alongside ''De Groene Amsterdammer'', ''Vrij Nederland'' and ''Elsevier'', it is one of the most influe ...

'', called him an audience favorite, a star possessing the most charisma of any dancer at the National Ballet.

Kaftira as principal dancer, Dutch National Ballet

*February - March 2000:

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

in ''

Apollon musagète ''Apollo'' (originally ''Apollon musagète'' and variously known as ''Apollo musagetes'', ''Apolo Musageta'', and ''Apollo, Leader of the Muses'') is a neoclassical ballet in two ''tableaux'' composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. ...

'' (

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

), Muziektheater, Amsterdam *May 2001: ''Twilight'' (music by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

*December 2004: Petrushka in ''

Petrushka Petrushka ( rus, Петру́шка, p=pʲɪtˈruʂkə, a=Ru-петрушка.ogg) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. Italian puppeteers introduced it in the first third of the 19th century. While most core characters came from Italy ...

'' (

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pat ...

), Muziektheater, Amsterdam *2005: Don Giovanni in ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' (music by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, choreography by

Krzysztof Pastor Krzysztof Pastor (born 17 December 1956 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a Polish dancer, choreographer and ballet director. He was resident choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam from 2003 to 2017, director of the Polish National Ballet ...

), Muziektheater, Amsterdam *August 2005: the husband in '' The Concert'' (music by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

, choreography by

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

Edinburgh Playhouse Edinburgh Playhouse is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. With 3,059 seats it is the second largest theatre in the United Kingdom after the Hammersmith Apollo. The theatre is owned by Ambassador Theatre Group. Building history The theatre opened ...

*November 2006, ''Vier Letzte Lieder'' (music by

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

, choreography by

), Sadler's Wells Theatre, London *August 2006: ''Into the Agape'' (choreography by Altin Naska), Atheneaum Theatre,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

*2006: Romeo in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' (music by

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

, choreography by Rudi van Dantzig),

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

References

External links

Altin Kaftira
Albanian male ballet dancers 1972 births Living people University of Arts (Albania) alumni {{Albania-bio-stub