Meet the Dancer: Marijana Dominis

October 2024—Marijana Dominis grew up in Zagreb, Croatia, and she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a dancer. “When I was just 3 years old I started walking on my tippy toes all the time. My mom knew right away which classes she needed to put me into! Who knew that would be something I do professionally now and love it more and more every day!” 

Eventually Dominis trained at the Munich Ballet Academy, and danced with the Finnish National Ballet before joining The Sarasota Ballet in 2019 as Coryphée. In 2021, she was promoted to Soloist, and finally became a Principal Dancer in 2022. 

Since being at The Sarasota Ballet, Dominis has danced in a wealth of performances, such as Ashton’s Birthday Offering, Dante Sonata, Façade, Les Patineurs, The Sleeping Beauty Vision Solo, Valses nobles et sentimentales;  Balanchine’s Divertimento No.15, Donizetti Variations, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Theme and Variations, Western Symphony; Bintley’s A Comedy of Errors; Bond’s Excursions; Broad’s Frequency Hurtz; Graziano’s En Las Calles de Murcia, The Pilgrimage, Shostakovich Suite, Sonatina; Hart’s John Ringling’s Circus Nutcracker; House’s Living Ghosts; Kobborg’s La Sylphide; Lang’s Shades of Spring; MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, Las Hermanas; Taylor’s Brandenburgs, Company B; Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs; Walsh’s I Napoletani; Wright’s Giselle, Summertide; and Robbins’ In The Night.

When asked what her favorite role was, Dominis says, “‘One for my baby’ from Nine Sinatra Songs by Twyla Tharp. That role was the one that taught me more about artistry and how important the connection is between me and my partner. Also, the music took me back to my childhood when I used to listen to Frank Sinatra at home with my family.”

Visit SarasotaBallet.org for updates on the 2024/2025 season.