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 of the Polish Royal Ballet.
Life
Dorota Sitańska was a serf of count
Antoni Tyzenhauz on his estate in
Grodno
Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...
and
Postawy, and placed by him in his private ballet school, where she was
trained by
François Gabriel Le Doux from Paris and
Daniel Curz from Venice.
[Bernacki: Teatr; Mamontowicz-Łojek: Szkoła Tyzenhauza s. 53, 54, 70, 86-89, 92; Wierzbicka: Sześć studiów; Muzyka 1969 nr 2 (J. Prosnak).] She made her debut in the "Baletu wieśniackiego" in Grodno 1778. This was the first native ballet company in Poland, were ballet had previously been performed by foreign companies (normally from France and Italy), and she and her colleagues were the pioneer generation of native ballet dancers in Poland.
In 1785, Antoni Tyzenhauz died, and the entire Ballet Company and its serf staff were donated 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, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...
in his will, and transformed to become 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 List of Polish monarchs, monarch, Stanisław August Poniatowski. The theatre shares the Grand Theatre, Warsaw, Grand Theatre compl ...
. The ballet company was composed by thirty dancers, among whom the elite was regarded to be the group of
Michał Rymiński,
Marianna Malińska,
Adam Brzeziński,
Stefan Holnicki and Dorota Sitańska. Among her parts where Wandy in "Wanda królowa polska", Kleopatra in "Kleopatra i Marek Antoniusz", and Elmiry in "Soliman II". She was a solo dancer and was called to perform at special state events, such as the inauguration of the statue of John III in 1788.
In 1795, the state and monarchy of Poland was dissolved and thereby also the former royal household, including the royal ballet. She followed the other members of the ballet to Grodno, and is last mentioned in 1797, when she, along with the others, signed a document concerning the payment of the members of the former Polish royal household.
References
* Źródło: Słownik Biograficzny Teatru Polskiego 1765-1965, PWN Warszawa 1973
* http://teatrwielki.pl/en/the-theatre/polish-national-ballet/polish-national-ballet-history/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitanska, Dorota
1767 births
18th-century Polish women
Polish ballerinas
18th-century people from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Women from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
18th-century Polish ballet dancers
Year of death unknown
Serfs
18th-century Polish farmers
18th-century women farmers