Legend of the Linz Ballet School: Johanna Wilk is 90!

Legend of the Linz Ballet School: Johanna Wilk is 90!

When it comes to dance and the ballet culture in Linz, you can't avoid a name: Prof. Johanna Wilk-Mutard. On June 21, she will present the ballet evening in the Brucknerhaus for the 50th time, which is also a solemn highlight of her upcoming 90th birthday. For 70 years now, she tirelessly has been teaching her own ballet school, which she founded in 1956 and which has shaped thousands of students to date. Her students are now active as dancers and dance teachers not only in Austria, but also in Germany and the USA. This reports Tips

Wilk-Mutard, who was born in Vienna as the youngest of four girls and grew up in Graz, has a fascinating life story. Already at the age of five she found her way to the opera ballet school in Graz, where she received dance lessons without the support of her parents. She danced her first ballet performance at the age of just eight. With her tireless efforts for dance, she made an impressive career that she led through Austria and Germany, among other things. In the 1950s she celebrated her first great success in the Linz Landestheater. She also became particularly known for her appearances in the first ORF television ballet and in numerous feature films, including “The White Rössl am Wolfgangsee”, where she was in front of the camera with greats like Peter Alexander, such as added the ballet school linz

The passionate dance teacher

The heart of Wilk-Mutard's work is dance pedagogy. This is not only the teaching of dance, but also includes promoting individual movement, creativity and fitness. Dance pedagogy aims to support students of different ages in their body and personal education and to convey the love of dance. However, she criticizes that today's youth often lacks perseverance and concentration in order to meet the challenges in dance, according to the knowledge that is also held in the general dance pedagogy

Wilk-Mutard teaches about 20 hours a day in her school, paying special attention to individual training-adapted exercises that are tailored to the age and physical requirements of her students. Despite the many advice of her family to withdraw, she remains full of drive and motivated to pass on her knowledge and passion for dance to the next generation.

a life full of creativity

But Wilk-Mutard is not only active in the dance hall. In her free time, she passionately likes to sew costumes for her productions and even tailored her own wedding dress herself. This creative passion is also reflected in the way it teaches her students. Your strict and high demands on yourself and your students have given numerous dancers into an international career.

Personal commitment is particularly moving: Wilk-Mutard has managed to reconcile her professional challenges with her role as a mother. Her children report that it was not always easy to grow up with a mother who is challenged in dance and at school. Nevertheless, they learned a lot about artistic freedom and discipline. On June 21, she will perform her masterpiece "Sleeping Beauty" and thus captivate her audience again.

The ballet legend Johanna Wilk-Mutard is not only a luminary of her guild, but also an example of how to get a life's work with passion and dedication that still works in Linz and far beyond.