{{short description, Polish ballet dancer
Stefan Holnicki (1768 – ''died after'' 1797), was a Polish ballet dancer. He was a member of the Polish Royal Ballet and belonged to the pioneer generation of ballet dancers in Poland.
Life
He was a serf of count
Antoni Tyzenhauz
Antoni Tyzenhauz (1733 – March 31, 1785) was a noble from the Tyzenhaus family, son of Benedykt Tyzenhauz. As a personal friend of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Tyzenhaus became Podskarbi, Treasure ...
on his estate in
Grodno
Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...
and Postawy, and placed by him in his private ballet school, where he was
trained by
François Gabriel Le Doux
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, Kin ...
from Paris and
Daniel Curz
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
from Venice.Bernacki: Teatr; Mamontowicz-Łojek: Szkoła Tyzenhauza s. 53, 54, 70, 86-89, 92; Wierzbicka: Sześć studiów; Muzyka 1969 nr 2 (J. Prosnak). This was the first native ballet company in Poland, were ballet had previously been performed by foreign companies (normally from France and Italy), and its dancers were the pioneer generation of native ballet dancers in Poland.
In 1785, Antoni Tyzenhauz died, and donated the entire Ballet Company and its serf staff to king
Stanisław August Poniatowski
Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch ...
in his will, after which it became the Royal Ballet National Dancers of His Majesty, which performed at the royal court and at the
National Theatre, Warsaw
The National Theatre () in Warsaw, Poland, was founded in 1765, during the Polish Enlightenment, by that country's monarch, Stanisław August Poniatowski. The theatre shares the Grand Theatre complex at the Theatre Square in Warsaw with another ...
. The ballet company was composed by thirty dancers, among whom the elite was regarded to be the group of Michał Rymiński,
Marianna Malińska
Marianna Malińska, also called ''Marianna Malewiczówna'' (1767-fl.1797), was a Polish ballerina. She was the first native ballerina in Poland.
Marianna Malińska was a serf of count Antoni Tyzenhauz on his estate in Grodno and Postawy, and pla ...
Dorota Sitańska
Dorota Sitańska née ''Piekarska'' (1767 – ''died after'' 1797), also known under her stage name ''Małgorzata Sitańska'', was a Polish ballerina. She belonged to the pioneer generation of ballet dancers in Poland as well as the first group ...
.
In 1795, the state and monarchy of Poland was dissolved and thereby also the former royal household, including the royal ballet. He organized a private ballet company composed of many of his former colleagues, which toured for two years, and departed for Grodno. In 1797, he belonged to the members of the former Royal Ballet who sign a petition to request the payment of their outstanding salary.