The national theater said that Milko Sparumbek, a Croatian dancer and choreographer who was a well-known ballet director in New York, Lisbon, and Lyon, passed away in the city of Zagreb at the age of 96.
“His artistic legacy is certainly the most significant and extensive in our entire dance history,” said the theatre’s statement, adding that Sparemblek passed on Tuesday.
Born in nearby Slovenia, the choreographer later relocated to the Croatian capital as a child, where he pursued studies in classical ballet and literature.
He began playing prominent parts in the national theater in 1948 before relocating to Paris five years later to pursue dance studies.
In addition to being a part of numerous well-known dance companies, such as the esteemed Ballet of the 20th Century, where he served as a ballet master, Sparemblek also studied contemporary dance in New York under Martha Graham and Jose Limon.
He spent three years as the director of the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet in the 1970s. He then had periods with the Lyon Ballet and Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Ballet.
He served as the ballet director at the Croatian national theater in Zagreb from 1992 until 1994.
Sparemblek starred in a number of movies and television programs over his career, in addition to staging over a hundred ballets, operas, and tragedies.
In addition to New York and Rio de Janeiro, his work has been performed in major European cities such as Athens, Brussels, Lisbon, London, and Paris.
A lover of philosophy and literature, Sparemblek also promoted the health advantages of exercise, a habit he carried into old life.
In 2018, he told local media, “The body is an instrument, and if it’s in bad condition, so will be the choreography.”
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