JAN Entertainment is the largest and most prominent production company focused on producing world musicals, original works, dance theatre, ballet, opera, and large-format television and theatre show programs, operating in Slovakia and one of the largest production companies of this focus in Eastern Europe. All JAN Entertainment productions are carried in the spirit of the company's philosophy - to captivate the viewer's emotions and leave them with a lasting artistic experience.
Founder & Artistic Director
He studied choreography at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava under the direction of professor Štefan Nosáľ and at the Institute for Dance and Dance Instruction in Antwerp, Belgium. Later, he acquired job as the solo dancer at the H.F. Dansetheatre Amsterdam and taught modern dance at the International Dance Stage Bornem in Belgium.
In 1993, he established the 12-member ballet troupe Torzo, which was the first attempt for a professional theatre of modern dance in Slovakia. He introduced his first full-length production, Responsio Mortifera. For Torzo, he created several other choreographies: Padajúce dni (Falling Days), UM-BA, To hlasy ľudu slovanského (The Voices Of Slavonic People), Jarný program (Spring Program), Stravinsky's Weddings. At the same time, he was working on productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mary Stuart, Little Shop Of Horrors for Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra and Sweet Charity, Oliver Twist for the State Theatre in Košice.
In 1994, he was awarded the 1st prize in a choreographic contest in Nitra and became a finalist of the Prix Volinine Paris 1994 Contest.
In 1995, he created the first choreography for the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava – the children's ballet Z rozprávky do rozprávky (From a Fairy-tale to a Fairy-tale). With the 50-member ensemble of the Slovak National Theatre, he produced The Rite Of Spring by Stravinsky.
In 1997, he became the co-founder and artistic director of the Bratislava Dance Theatre (BDT), for this troupe, he created the production of Weddings, The Firebird, the children's musical O Jankovi Hraškovi (Story Of A Boy, Little As A Pea), and a multimedia project, Romeo + Juliet. At the same time, he produced Tance na sklonku leta (Dances at the End of Summer) and A Little Night Music for Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Theatre in Bratislava, Dvořák´s Goblin for Janáček National Theatre in Brno, and Faust and Marguerite for the State Opera in Prague.
Two years later, he directed and choreographed the musical Grease, which experienced 200 repeated performances in GOJA MUSIC HALL, Prague, and produced The Magic Flute for J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the Czech Republic. In 1999, he was awarded the Crystal Wing for the production of The Tree for Slovak Folk Art Ensemble. In 2000, he founded the dance theatrical troupe JAN. The author's program ... on Your Graves was presented in the World Financial Center in New York City, USA.
He choreographed the musicals Some Like it Hot, Hamlet, Balada o zlodejovi koní (Ballad of A Horse-Stealer), Gypsies Go to Heaven, and The Cage of Fools for Nová Scéna Theatre in Bratislava and Zorba The Greek for Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra.
He directed and was the author of choreography of the dance mega-project, Circus The World for Slovak Folk Art Ensemble. At the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, he produced the original ballet Rasputin for the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. At F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, he cooperated at the musical Na skle maľované (Painted On The Glass).
The premiere of his original production of The Firebird became a milestone in his creative work as he produced it with the Japanese ensemble Tokyo Metropolitan City Ballet, in New National Theatre,Tokyo (2004). With the JAN company, he created and produced the rhythmical-dance show GASP, which has been visited by 120,000 viewers so far.
In 2004, the Bratislava Dance Theatre produced a multimedia project Romeo + Juliet at the International Arts Festival in Tokyo. In the same year, he created the classic ballet, Spartacus for the Slovak National Theatre and the original Slovak musical, Dirty Dancing, premiered at the ARENA Theatre in Bratislava.
Early in 2005, he prepared the musical The Full Monty for F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec. In April 2005, he established the Slovak Dance Theatre. The first performance of the SDT - Bolero/A Mother's Story – was successfully presented in Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. He adapted the cultish Slovak musical Na skle maľované (Painted On The Glass), for Nová Scéna in Bratislava.
Later that year, he produced My Country for the State Opera in Prague and again presented The Firebird in Tokyo, Japan. The following year, he prepared the adrenaline show Slovak Street Session for the Arena Theatre and the second run of the production of ... on Your Graves. He produced the musical Don't Take Our Princess Away for Nová Scéna in Bratislava.
In 2007, he produced the musical Blood Brothers at F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, at Nová Scéna Theatre in Bratislava has premiered the dance show GASP 2, and for the Slovak National Theatre, he produced the original ballet fairy-tale Popolvár (Ashman). The Slovak Dance Theatre premiered his dance-theatre production Labuťko (Swannie - Inspired by Swan Lake), which toured Slovakia.
In 2008, he staged the world-famous musical West Side Story for the Nová Scéna theatre in Bratislava. In the theatrical season of 2008/2009, a successful world tour of the Slovak Dance Theatre with his production of The Firebird took place. The tour featured cities such as New York, London, Amsterdam, Bytom, Krakow, Antwerp...
In 2009, he produced the original musical The Chicks at the Heineken Tower Stage Theatre in Bratislava. In March 2010, he premiered his dance-theatre piece created for the Slovak Dance Theatre - Carmen. In the same year he staged the musical Robin Hood for the Kalich Theatre in Prague. The Kalich Theatre also presented his original musical The Eighth Continent, which he first directed for the Nová Scéna theatre in Bratislava.
In 2012, his production of the musical Grease premiered at Kalich Theatre and the ballet The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the State Theatre in Košice. This was followed by the musical Romeo and Juliet for Bratislava's Nová Scéna theatre and the ballet Richard III for Opera Graz (2013).
In 2014, his next musical production, Saturday Night Fever, premiered at the Kalich Theatre. In the same year, a world tour of Carmen added new locations featuring the cities of Rome, Graz, Quebec, and the Chinese capital Beijing, where the audience received the show with great acclaim.
In 2015, he produced the musical of the musicals - Jesus Christ Superstar. The success of this legend is confirmed by more than 20,000 enthusiastic spectators who visited the Tower Stage Theatre. Numerous professionals also acclaimed the production: "Phenomenal" (musical.cz), "Breath-taking performance" (Ľubomír Feldek). In the spring of 2017, this production went on tour to various parts of Slovakia. In 2015, another hit musical Atlantis came with music by Miro Žbirka and lyrics by Kamil Peteraj with its premiere at the Kalich Theatre in Prague. The huge success of this production is also reflected by great acclaims: "Ďurovčík and Žbirka conquered Prague" (Nový čas), "Energy, versatility and contagious joy." (MF Dnes), "Again a great acting and singing cast." (musical.cz). In 2016, Ján Ďurovčík also produced the hit musical Atlantis at the Tower Stage Theatre, which was a great success. This is proved by 42 performances in Bratislava. The Atlantis tour in 2016 - the largest tour in the history of Slovak musicals so far, set off on a journey around Slovakia to meet tens of thousands of spectators in 23 locations, where 63 performances took place. At the end of 2016, the original Slovak musical The Cream Princess was presented featuring the authors of lyrics, Kamil Peteraj, and music by Pavol Hammel. In 2017, with the ensemble of the Slovak Dance Theatre, he again presented his production of Richard III on a Slovak tour. In 2017 and 2018, the second world tour of Carmen took place presenting this production in countries such as Mexico, Croatia, Serbia, and Finland. In 2015, the nationwide tour said goodbye to the musical The Eighth Continent, which became the most successful Slovak musical of all time and was seen by more than 400,000 spectators. The unceasing audience demand for this most successful musical resulted in the return of this production to the stages around Slovakia in the following all-Slovak tour in the 2019/2020 theatrical season. The musical The Eighth Continent was also successfully produced in the Czech Republic, and the number of performances in Slovakia and the Czech Republic together reached a staggering number of 700 reruns. The dance-theatre production The Tree, for which Ján Ďurovčík won the already mentioned prestigious award The Crystal Wing, was re-staged in 2018 with the SDT ensemble and received great acclaim on a nationwide tour. Among his works for children, the musical Bambuľka must be mentioned, based on the television masterpiece that has been a Czechoslovak phenomenon for almost 40 years. The world premiere of this musical took place in 2018 in Bratislava's Istropolis. Other important premieres of Ján Ďurovčík's works include the Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, which he staged for the Slovak National Theatre in 2017. This production was included in the permanent repertoire of the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre. The last great production of Ján Ďurovčík, presented at the Nová Scéna theatre, was the original Slovak musical Rasputin. With this production the Nová Scéna theatre opened the 2018/2019 theatrical season. As a director, Ján Ďurovčík also collaborates with numerous popular artistic groups, the most important collaborations have been the show concerts with the band IMT Smile in the programs IMT Smile and Lúčnica - Made in Slovakia, and IMT SMILE hiSTORY. The last music-dance-theatre show in 2019 was the production of The Duchon's, dedicated to the Slovak singing legend Karol Duchoň. In 2019, his next author's musical Water and Blood Above Water premiered at the Bratislava Nová Scéna theatre, which immediately received very enthusiastic acclaims from audiences and very favourable reviews. His multimedia project Romeo + Juliet was presented by the SDT in January 2020 with an official premiere, which took place in Bratislava's Iuventa with a subsequently planned nationwide tour. Ján Ďurovčík has also been the guarantor and organizer of the special ballet festival Chorea for the last three years (2017 - 2019). Within the framework of this festival, he managed to attract and mediate to the Slovak audience the world's top classical and modern ballet. In addition to Slovak ballet stars performing in foreign ballet ensembles, the festival also presents foreign soloists coming from renowned world ballet ensembles.