Martynas Rimeikis
Martynas Rimeikis graduated from the Ballet Department of the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts in 1999 and in that same year was appointed soloist with the ballet company of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since then various tours have taken him to the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland and elsewhere.
As a principal dancer with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre he has appeared in the majority of leading roles, including Espada (Don Quixote), Yorgos (Zorba the Greek), Hilarion (Giselle), Chekist (Red Giselle), Othello (Desdemona), Franz (The Blue Danube), Žygimantas Augustas (Barbora Radvilaitė), Prince Lemon (Cipollino), Nathanaël (Coppélia), Gurn (La Sylphide), King Mark, Rivalen (Tristan and Isolde), Čiurlionis (Čiurlionis) and Don José (Carmen).
A few years ago the Creative Impulse project initiated by Krzysztof Pastor, LNOBT’s former Artistic Director of Ballet, turned into a stepping-stone for Rimeikis as a choreographer. It was here that he expressed himself as a talented choreographer and a sensitive director of choreographic miniatures. His debut production was Waiting for Godot, presented during the first Creative Impulse in 2012, and his Journey followed the next year. His other creations for this project also included Adagio for Strings (2014) and Alone (2016).
In 2014, his miniature Waiting for Godot was presented at Internationale Tanzmesse NRW – one of the biggest dance events in the world. His one-act ballet, Everywhere We Weren’t (set to the music by Max Richter) was produced the next year and included in a triple bill of one-act ballets Bolero+ at the LNOBT, garnering him the first Golden Cross of the Stage award for best choreography. His first full-length ballet Der Prozess after Franz Kafka was mounted at the LNOBT in 2017, winning him and composer Mindaugas Urbaitis yet another set of Golden Crosses for best choreography and best music. His third production for the LNOBT – one-act ballet Days, Minutes to the music by Marija Paškevičiūtė – was presented in the spring 2019, not long before the premiere of his second full-length dance performance Eglė, Queen of the Grass Snakes based on Eduardas Balsys ballet at the Klaipėda State Music Theatre. Both productions garnered him the third Golden Cross of the Stage for best choreography.
