Donvena Pandoursky, a Bulgarian ballet master with an impressive European career, graduated from the State Choreography School in Sofia in the late 1970s and joined the Sofia Opera Ballet. In 1988 she graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St Petersburg as a ballet director. Since 1989, she has lived and worked in Germany.

She has worked with the ballet companies of Stuttgart, the Ballet of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein – Düsseldorf, the Ballet of the Pfalztheater – Kaiserslautern, the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, the Ballet of the Gothenburg Opera House – Sweden, Béjart Ballet, the London City Ballet and the Mariinsky Ballet in Saint Petersburg. She is also the author of ballet librettos and film scripts. In 2023, she founded the Academia de Balet Westfälische in the German town of Ascheberg.

For over three decades, Donvena and her husband, Mihail Pandoursky, have lived in the German city of Münster, where she presents classical and neoclassical ballets. A few years ago, her close friend, the renowned choreographer Silviya Tomova, invited her to see her latest creation—the Ballet Troupe of Stara Zagora State Opera. “I was struck by this vibrant ballet troupe, made up of dancers from various nationalities—very colorful, all highly professional and deeply motivated”, says Donvena Pandoursky.

It was then that the idea to create a production for them was born. In the meantime, she invited them to perform in Münster. The success was remarkable, the German audience was very satisfied. “In Münster, people are already asking—when will the Bulgarians return? Everyone is talking about it, and they pronounce the name Stara Zagora very well”, Donvena Pandoursky added. There are few places in Western Europe where classical ballet is still performed, but people still need it because “it reflects the human being’s natural, innate sense of beauty and aesthetics.” However, Donvena believes it is becoming more and more difficult.

"Basically, ballet is an expensive art. In Germany there is a wave of dance theatre almost everywhere. It can be done by just a handful of people and without any set design. It also has its place and right to exist. But often in dance-theater, in what is called modern dance, the sense of professionalism is lost or blurred, and you can’t always understand the content. I believe that while people may be impressed during the first five minutes of something like that, if there’s no dramaturgy, no concept, not even music, whatever is happening on stage doesn’t touch your soul. And since humans are born with a soul into this world, they need emotion, they need ideas. That’s why I firmly believe that ballet will always continue to live as a high art—one that carries beautiful music and grace to the finest strings of the human soul", Donvena Pandoursky said.

Donvena Pandoursky draws energy from music, literature, films, her returns to Bulgaria, its beautiful nature and clean air. She enjoys seeing close friends here and likes the simple human emotions. What does she believe in?

"I believe in goodness. I believe that there is goodness in every person. And I think that even when things are really difficult, when it sometimes feels like there’s no way out, you must not allow yourself to be weighed down. You must always lift your eyes upward, to the sky, and find joy even in the smallest thing you can catch with your eye or ear in that moment. That’s very important—that a person believes in goodness and always tries to look upward and forward."