Regina Križaj is a Slovenian ballerina born in Zürich. She was invited to join the Ljubljana Ballet Ensemble as soon as she graduated from the Ljubljana Ballet School (under Professor Magda Vrhovec Dedović) in 1988. Her first opportunity to prove herself as a soloist was her role of Dulcinea in Don Quixote, which she danced in 1994. In 1995 she took part in the International Ballet Competition in Helsinki (for which she prepared under the mentorship of Mrs. Lidija Sotlar), where she reached semi-finals in a rather fierce competition of talented contestants.

Since then she has danced many roles from both classical and modern ballet repertoire: Pyrrhic Dances (Chimera), Tango (a ballet by J. Lopez), George Gershwin – A Ballet Evening, The Second Slovenian Ballet Symphony, Ana Karenina (Kitty), Coppélia on Montmartre (Swanhilda), The Sleeping Beauty (Lilac Fairy and Aurora), Firebird (Beautiful Princess ), The Taming of the Shrew (Bianca), The Green Table (Partisan), Giselle (Myrtha), Swan Lake (Odette, Odile), Crazy Painter (Maria Filipescu), La fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter) (Lisa), Love Stories …, The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol (Clara), The Landscape of Thoughts, The Attraction of Opposites, Cinderella (Fairy Godmother), Serenade, Veronika Decides …, The Architecture of Silence, Mozart vs. Schumann, Don Quixote (Dulcinea), Yin & Yang (She is Missing ...), Tango for Rachmaninov – Rhapsody, Swan Lake – this time … after Prešeren (Ana Jelovšek), La Bayadère (Nikya), Giselle by David Dawson (Myrtha), Under the Stars - A Ballet Evening (What a Wonderful World), Visibleinvisible (Miniatures), Classics and Tango (The Dying Swan), Stravinsky – A Ballet Evening (The Children from the Edge of Reality), Coppélia (Madame), The Sleeping Beauty (The Lilac Fairy), Tristan and Isolde (Brangaene), Heartmeat/Cacti, Doctor Zhivago (Amelie)…

She is a principal dancer of the SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana (Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana) since 2005.

In 2002 she received the Lydia Wisiak Award for her interpretation of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake. She also received the prestigious Župančič Award for her artistic work as well as for her ballet opus of two successive years, especially for the performances Classics and Tango, The Fusion of Centuries and La Bayadère. In 2013 she also received the Prešeren Fund Award.

She has been engaged as a mentor for practical education at the Higher Ballet School within the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory since 2015.

In the 2016/2017 season she appeared in the following performances: Romeo and Juliet, Heartmeat/Cacti, Doctor Zhivago and Swan Lake.

Last updated in January 2017