Jarmila Jeřábková (8 March 1912 – 21 March 1989) was a Czech dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is considered to be a pioneer of Czech modern dance, having taught
Isadora Duncan's method from the 1930s.
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Life
Born in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, she was the daughter of violinist František Jeřábek, the leader of the National Theatre orchestra, while her mother had studied art and music in Munich. Interested in Sokol
The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a so ...
, the Czech youth sport movement, she took summer classes from 1929 to 1932 at Schloss Klessheim
Schloss Klessheim is a Baroque palace located in Wals-Siezenheim, west of Salzburg, Austria. The palace was designed and constructed by Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach for Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun in 1700. It ...
near Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
, where she trained in dancing under Elizabeth Duncan, the sister of the innovative dancer Isadora Duncan.
She married Ing. Ladislav Mikulík but kept her surname. They had two sons, Radvan and Zbyněk Mikulík.
Career
From 1932, Jeřábková taught music and dance, first at Slaný, then in Prague where in 1937 her school became known as "Jarmila Jeřábková’s School of Artistic Dance founded under the personal direction of Elizabeth Duncan". Like the Duncans, she also arranged open-air summer courses at Velké Opatovice Castle. From 1935 to 1948, she staged performances with her pupils in Prague and other Czech towns. They included stylized Slavonic dance (performed to the music of Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
's Slavonic Dances) and works accompanying the music of the Czech Choir. Members of the group included Onta Jankovská, Marta Horová, Dáša Bittnerová, Jarina Smoláková, Elvíra Mařatková, Dana Bořkovcová and Běla Dintrová. As a result of socialist nationalization, the school was abolished in 1948 but was later revived as a cultural centre.
From 1949, Jeřábková took up a number of pedagogical and research assignments in body posture, physical education, gymnastics and music. More importantly, she taught children's dance at the State Conservatory (1962-64).[
In the 1960s, she revived her classes in Prague, building up a new group of dancers. In 1968, after contacts with the Duncanists, she and her group were invited to perform at the Raymond Duncan's academy in Paris. The following year the presented their programme in ]Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
at a celebration for Isadora Duncan's 90th anniversary. It was also presented in Prague, Rakovník and Liptovský Mikuláš. In 1972, Jeřábková presented a programme of contemporary music and dance at the Divadlo Komedie in Prague where her group consisted of Eva Blažíčková, Živana Bonušová, L. Dyrová, Ljuba Eremiášová, Helena Metličková, Nea Nováková, Zdena Pilková, Hana Pivcová a Libuše Švábová.[
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Legacy
Jarmila Jeřábková died in Prague on 21 March 1989, leaving a small but cherished national legacy.[ She is credited with Isadora Duncan's approach being adopted in Prague. Today, Eva Blažíčková, one of Jeřábková's former colleagues, continues to support her work.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerabkova, Jarmila
1912 births
1989 deaths
Czech female dancers
Dance teachers
Dancers from Prague