Dorota Sitańska


Dorota Sitańska née Piekarskich, also known under her stage name Małgorzatą Sitańska, was a Polish ballerina. She belonged to the pioneer generation of ballet dancers in Poland as well as the first group of the Polish Royal Ballet.
She was a student of François Gabriel Le Doux from Paris and Daniel Curz from Venice in the private ballet school of count Antoni Tyzenhaus, which was situated in his estate in Grodno, and made her debut at the age of eleven in 1778. This ballet company was the first native ballet company in Poland, where ballet had previously been performed exclusively by Italian and French dancers, and it was composed by the first native dancers in Poland.
In 1785, Antoni Tyzenhauz died and donated his ballet to the king of Poland, who made it the first Royal Ballet in Poland. The ballet company was composed by thirty dancers, among whom the elite was regarded to be the group of Michał Rymiński, Marianna Malińska, Adam Brzeziński, Stefan Holnicki and Dorota Sitańska. Among her parts where Wandy in "Wanda królowa polska", Kleopatra in "Kleopatra i Marek Antoniusz", and Elmiry in "Soliman II". She was a solo dancer and was called to perform at special state events, such as the inauguration of the statue of John III in 1788.
In 1795, the state and monarchy of Poland was dissolved and thereby also the former royal household, including the royal ballet. She followed the other members of the ballet to Grodno, and is last mentioned in 1797, when she, along with the others, signed a document concerning the payment of the members of the former Polish royal household.