Marianna Malińska

Marianna Malińska, also called Malewiczówna (1767-fl.1797), was a Polish ballerina. She was the first native ballerina in Poland.

Marianna Malińska was trained as a member of the private ballet company formed by count Antoni Tyzenhauz on his estate in Grodno and Postawy, and trained by François Gabriel Le Doux from Paris and Daniel Curz from Venice. She made her debut in the "Baletu wieśniackiego" in Grodno 1778. This was the first native ballet company in Poland, were ballet had previously been performed by foreign companies (normally from France and Italy), and she was thus alongside her colleagues, among whom the most prominent were Michał Rymiński, Dorota Sitańska, Adam Brzeziński and Stefan Holnicki, the first native ballet dancer in Poland.

Upon the death of Antoni Tyzenhauz in 1785, the ballet company was taken over by the king and transformed into the Polish Royal Ballet. Marianna Malińska was counted as the first ballerina of the troupe and was several times awarded personally by the monarch. Among her parts were Silii in "Kapitan Sander na wyspie Karolinie", Eliany in "Małżeństwo Samnitów"), as well as parts in "Hylas i Sylwia", "Kora i Alonzo, czyli Dziewice słońca", "Lucas et Colinette", and "Mirza i Lindor".

Along with the rest of the ballet, she left Warsaw after the partition of 1795 and were present to sign a document in 1797 regarding the costs of the now dissolved Polish royal court. Her life after 1797 is unknown.

References

• Źródło: Słownik Biograficzny Teatru Polskiego 1765-1965, PWN Warszawa 1973