Marina Kesler

(choreographer and repetiteur)

EDUCATION AND WORK
Marina Kesler graduated from the Tallinn School of Choreography in 1988 from the class of Tiiu Randviir and joined the ballet troupe of the Estonian National Opera. In 1992–2010 she worked as a teacher at the Tallinn Ballet School.  Since 2010, she works as a repetiteur at the Estonian National Ballet. In 1997, she obtained master’s degree from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS, Moscow). At the Estonian National Opera she has been the choreographer for several opera and operetta productions. She has created works also for Bel-Etage and Endla theatres. In addition, she has created choreographies for operetta and opera performances.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
She came among the three best at the X International Moscow Choreographers’ Competition 2005 and received a prize for the dance piece “Danse sacral” (I. Stravinsky) and for “Ne me quitte pas” (J. Brel). Marina Kesler received the Annual Estonian Theatre award in 2007 for “Werewolf” (Estonian National Opera) and in 2021 for her production of “Anna Karenina” (Estonian National Opera) to the music of Dmitry Shostakovich. In 2011 and 2021, she was awarded the Colleague Prize of the Estonian Professional Dancers’ Union and in 2021 the Ida Urbel grant by the Estonian Ballet Union. In 2021, she received the Estonian National Opera Colleague Award.

BALLET PRODUCTIONS
“One Day” (2006)
“Bernarda Alba’s House” (2008)
“Werewolf” (to the music of L. Sumera, R. Kangro, A. Pärt and L. Auster, 2007)
“Othello” (to the music of A. Pärt, 2010; Israel Ballet Company, 2012; ESTO Days in San Francisco, 2013)
“The Generous Tree” (Nargenfestival, composer Tauno Aints, 2011)
Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” (2012)
Tubin’s “The Goblin” (2015)
“Death and the Maiden” (2015)
“Undine” (2016)
“Taming of the Shrew” (2018, Jerusalem Ballet)
“Three Sisters” (2019)
“Anna Karenina” to the music of Dmitry Shostakovich (2020)
“The Glass Menagerie” (2021)
“Carnival of the Animals (2022)
“Cinderella” (World Ballet Series Los Angeles, 2023)
“Cinderella” (Tallinn Ballet International Summer School, 2023)
“The Nutcracker” (World Ballet Series Los Angeles, 2023)

OTHER PRODUCTIONS
“Carmen Loves Jazz“ (Saaremaa Opera Days, 2018)
Highlights of Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto” (Tartu City Days, 2023)

Ballet Master for the following productions:
MacMillan’s “Manon” 
Cranko’s “Onegin”
Schiavoni’s “Medea”, “Alice in Wonderland”
Balanchine’s “Serenade”, “Who Cares?”
Edur’s “The Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”, “La bayadère”
Martinez’s “The Corsair”
Lifar “Suite en blanc”
Meckler/Ochoa/Salem’s “Streetcar Named Desire”
Skeaping’s “Giselle”
Harangoszó’s “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs”
Stevenson’s “The Nutcracker”

Educational projects:
Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of the Animals” (2022)