Marija Rakic invites Bahrain This Month’s Farrah Saville to her studio to talk ballet, Bahrain and building her dream on the island. She opens up about representing Bahrain in Paris as part of a dance delegation at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
It’s a cold winter’s day in Bahrain – windy and icy. Marija Rakic talks to us from her ballet studio in Seef which overlooks the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. “I started dancing when I was eight years old at the National Ballet School ‘Lujo Davico’ in Serbia. My parents took me there one rainy day and I had an audition in front of a jury of 15 people and luckily, I was accepted, meaning I have been dancing for 24 years!”
“There was the war in Serbia in 1999, so I had to stop dancing for six months as schools were not open. As the war ended, I was pushed by my teacher to start doing ballet classes with a generation two years older than me, so I could progress faster. That is why I graduated high school two years before my own generation,” she explains.
Marija’s dance career includes a history of dancing at the top ballet schools in the world. At the tender age of 16 Marija was accepted to a ballet academy in Salzburg, Austria. Just a year later she received an official invitation to study at a ballet academy in Madrid, Spain followed by an acceptance to Perm State Ballet School in Russia.
“I graduated as one of the top students and immediately after began receiving offers for job opportunities in Russian theatres. My professional career started at a theatre in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia. After two and a half years there, I received an offer to work in Moscow and started touring with The Moscow Ballet Company around Europe. We danced in main theaters in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, such as Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro de Liceu (Barcelona) and Teatro Elfo Puccini (Milan),” she reminisces.
Adding to her illustrious career, she accepted a job offer with ‘Ballet La Classique’ Elik Melikov and performed on stage of RAMT and the historic Bolshoi Theatre just a year later. “By 2014 I was working between two theatres: Teatrul de Sibiu in Romania and The Moscow Ballet Company,” she states.
An injury forced her to stop her professional dancing career in 2016, and so she joined a ballet school in Qatar. After nearly five years in Qatar, she accepted an offer in the Kingdom of Bahrain where she is currently a ballet teacher.
Her experience, passion and talent led her to represent Bahrain in France at the International Dance Council of UNESCO. She laughs: “I received a phone call from an unknown number and did not want to answer, but after a few missed calls, I picked up. It was a call from France – the International Dance Council of UNESCO.”
“I had been selected to become a member of the council and so the International Dance Council President, Prof. Dr. Alkis Raftis, came to Qatar for a few days to meet me and I have been an active member ever since,” she adds.
In December 2022, the ballerina represented Bahrain’s delegation at the Annual International Dance Congress at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. “More than 40 countries were represented at the congress, and we discussed issues and options for improving the future of dance across the world,” she states.
Working in Bahrain has opened a new world for Marija. “When a three-year-old child tells me that they love dance, I am always interested to know the reason. Some of them just want to wear tutu ballerina dresses, while some of them love it because they feel happy when they dance,” she says.
“Ballet is good for physical health and exercising helps kids develop good habits. In addition, it makes them mentally stronger and disciplined. Most importantly, it makes the kids happy and provides them with a safe place and additional professional opportunities in the future,” she adds.
Bahrain has several dance schools, and locals and residents alike have been known to be quite talented in art and dance, but Marija believes there is room for improvement.
“Unfortunately, there is no professional dance or ballet school, but with any luck that will change in future. Hopefully, there is the possibility of establishing a national dance school in the future too – that is my dream here. Young Bahraini talents deserve that, and so it is one of my biggest ambitions to establish Bahrain’s National Dance or Ballet Company,” she says.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), in collaboration with Common Ground International, recently announced that the Imperial Russian Ballet, will be coming to Bahrain in March – an event that Marija believes will have a positive impact on the dance scene in the country.
“I am really excited to have the opportunity to see Imperial Russian Ballet in Bahrain, as it is one of the leading tour ballet companies in Moscow, directed by the previous Bolshoi Ballet Soloist, Gedeminas Taranda. I used to have ballet classes with them in Moscow and have had many of my colleagues who have worked or are working there. It is a wonderful opportunity for my students, and for the whole country to host such a world level ballet performance. Hopefully, it will motivate kids to love ballet even more!” she says with enthusiasm.
As for the future, Marija says: “My hopes are that one day we will have a national professional ballet school in Bahrain aside from a dance or ballet company. I also hope that we will host an International Dance Congress for dance professionals around the world someday. Most of all, my biggest hope is that the artistic and dance scene in Bahrain will flourish further, and I hope to contribute to the growth of this mindset in the country.”
To keep up with Marija, follow @ballerinabahrain on Instagram.
