Zonta Club of Vilnius shows the Zonta Spirit through ballet

On 8 December, the Zonta Club of Vilnius, Lithuania, invited friends for a presentation on the history of ballet and to watch the documentary film "Ode to Lithuania Ballet." Zontian Laima Lingytė, the director of the film and the author of the screenplay, reveals the face of Lithuanian ballet, which is very old and has endured a lot.

In "Ode to the Lithuanian Ballet," Laima wanted to dispel the stereotype that Lithuanians do not know how to dance and do not have good ballet artists. The film shows the development of Lithuanian ballet art from the culture of the courts to the present day. 

The film commemorated the 90th anniversary of Lithuanian ballet when the first ballet performance of "Coppelia," by L. Delibes, was staged in Kaunas in 1925. Lithuanian patriotism during the brutal war and post-war years, during the Soviet era and in free Lithuania, encouraged artists to create. The film shows performances of the best ballet artists in world-class competitions and excerpts from Lithuanian performances by the most talented ballet masters.

A former choreographer, Laima says she wanted to pay tribute to Lithuanian ballet and its history, and she has succeeded. "Ode to the Lithuanian Ballet" is considered a significant contribution to the history of Lithuanian culture. For her script and direction of the film, Laima was awarded the 2017 Vincas Kudirka Prize.