Misha took care of himself

back to

main roles thanks to

consistent and sustained rehabilitation

Lead principal dancer at the Finnish National Ballet, Michal Krcmar, talks about how, through consistent and persistent training and an encouraging environment, he was able to dance demanding leading roles again after a severe cruciate ligament injury. The injury that could have ended his career instead became a challenge to use creativity, imagination and lots of good advice to move his body forward towards a towards the return to his career. One of the decisive factors was consistent, persistent and conscious strength training, which he now includes in his daily morning warm ups.

The article by Anita Jokela

LEAD PRINCIPAL DANCER at the Finnish National Ballet, Michal Krčmář, who is 36 years old, has had a long and illustrious career as a technically skilled and versatile interpreter of various roles.

It began in 2009 at home in Czech Republic at the Bohemia Ballet the company of the Prague State Conservatory. It continued at the Prague State Opera Ballet in 2010, and in Helsinki in 2011 as a soloist at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, where he still dances. He was appointed to Principal dancer later in 2011 and to Star dancer of the company in 2015.

Michal - commonly known as Misha - can boast a considerable list of roles, both on the home stage and as a guest at many famous opera houses around the world. He has danced Albrecht in Giselle, Solor in La Bayadère, Des Grieux in Manon, and today is back as the Prince in Swan Lake and Basilio in Don Quixote, along with some of the greatest works from the Romantic era.

In addition, he has created very interesting recent works, many of which have been seen in Helsinki: For example, Jorma Elo's work Sibelius about the life of the composer Jean Sibelius and John Neumeier's Death in Venice. The journey of fictional writer Gustav von Aschenbach and an interesting study of Mr. Hyde in the production Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Val Cani-paroli. All of them are roles that require an expressive performance. Not to mention the vampire Count Dracula in choreography by Krzysztof Pastor, who is now back in the National Ballet's repertoire.

Michal Krcmar is not only a dancer but also a frequently hired teacher and choreographer, giving master classes all over Europe. At the International Ballet Competition in Helsinki in June, many young dancers enjoyed his valuable teaching in morning classes and other courses.

EXCITING REPETITION

I'm watching a rehearsal for the new premiere of Swan Lake. Misha is rehearsing a pas de deux between the prince and the swan princess Odette. It is the young Chinese Principal dancer Zhiyao Chen who is the Swan Princess and now it is the white scene in act two. He advises his ballerina regarding the placement of legs, arms, and head at different angles during poses and in the interaction. Everything is discussed discussion and rehearsed. All details put together, so that the audience can enjoy ballet art at the highest level.

A LOOK BACK

The feeling in his body was good, everything was going to be OK that winter morning, in January 2025 in the ballet studio at the National Opera when he jumped into a dynamic cabriol front. But this time he lands unluckily, even though he has done that jump thousands of times. He ends up badly on the floor and with the pain of his knee. It all ends in the emergency room at the university hospital and with a long break from dancing. Things like this happens where there is an overload in a specific part of the body, a sudden change in direction of movement can lead to an injury, physiotherapist Aala Koski tells me. At the hospital, an MRI scan of the injured leg is taken, and the diagnosis is Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the knee, an anterior cruciate ligament injury (cruciate ligament rupture).

TIME FOR REFLECTION

After the accident, Michal realized that he had possibly lost the opportunity to ever dance again, or that he would be able to do so-called extra walking roles on stage. Something that hardly appealed to him. A dancer who has been awarded the title of first premier dancer has high expectations of himself. Nothing but leading roles are out of the question, I understand during our conversation in a café:

"I also thought about quitting and retiring. It's common for dancers with similar problems to have difficulty functioning after injury like this… " Misha continues.

His wife Stefania also encouraged him to try to move forward, saying that the audience would continue to appreciate seeing him on stage. He didn't really want to back down either. Misha radiates calm and confidence as he talks about his thoughts and choices after the accident and the important support he received from people around him. Now it was about to start and keep going. The goal of getting back on stage and into leading roles. OR NOT. There are two options, to operate on the knee or to not and rely on other treatments. The decision was ultimately surgery. After the procedure, everything seemed to have gone well, but then it was time for rehabilitation. A comprehensive and intensive program that Misha created himself. He talks about persistent and versatile training every day, without skipping a single day. In addition to the injured knee, the whole body needs to be trained. Fitness must be built up, step by step. It required willpower because the strength was lacking at the beginning, but very slowly was coming back as the exercises became increasingly demanding. In the beginning, he randomly tested whatever he could think of to continue with, and before the operation, it was just a matter of getting the knee to function in some way.

-I spent over three weeks doing light training - various movements - to be able to bend my knee a little, balance a little and do very simple things. The knee felt so unstable that there seemed to be no hope of continuing my career. Therefore, I decided to have surgery and after it the whole rehabilitation process had to start again and all rehabilitatio seemed to go a three times slower than before the surgery. In the days after the operation, Misha carefully moved around with crutches, and began to find out how his body reacted to different movements using all kinds of training equipment and opportunities. The muscles in his leg needed to be strengthened, and he cautiously tried out movements where the knee was trained comprehensively from different angles, which led further. He says he had no idea how difficult and strenuous the work would be. Every day he used furniture at home to support himself for any movements he came up with. He stands straight, alternates the weight load, lifts one leg, gently bends his legs and body, stretches and flexes. Work pilates instructors and chiropractic specialists abroad. It was months of training until glimmers of light in rehab began to appear. With imagination, the training became more varied, he says. Misha used wooden logs and all sorts of tools that I found in an old garage and in the garden where I was during the summer. Some of this is documented on Michal's website with pictures and short videos. Misha did his first run five months after the injury on his 35th birthday in June 2015. I wanted to test myself, but it felt strange, because I could only feel one leg. In September 2025, he started participate in the ballet's morning classes. Before classes some warm-up exercises for the knee is needed, using exercise bands to stabilize the knee and strengthen the quadriceps and hamstring muscles. In addition, there are some specific movements that are important to ensure safety in training and to improve performance in ballet exercises. Strength training with weights (see picture on the left) also became important part. I started my training at the ballet barre, slowly, with less turn out. No jumps were included in the training yet. It went better and better, and in October I came back to work, with the crazy goal of dancing The Prince in The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by the end of November. They actually tried to persuade me to start with something simpler, but I insisted on wanting to do what know so well.

IMPORTANT SUPPORT

Michal Krčmář says that he wouldn't be where he is now or have been able to do it at all without all those who supported him, at work and at home. He especially mentions the ballet master Jarmo Rastas, who helped him in many ways, even with practical matters; and his wife, the dancer Stefania Cardaci-Krčmář, who is also a member of the National Ballet and is well acquainted with what was needed to be done. The goal of being able to dance again was achieved with the help of a very disciplined dancer, and the result was that Misha was able to dance the role of the Prince in Nutcracker at the end of last year. Later in the spring it was time for an even more demanding role as Basilio in Don Quixote.

THE WISE PHYSIOTHERAPIST

One of the people whose help Michal Krčmář is extremely grateful for is the leading physiotherapist at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Johanna Osmala. In a conversation, she explains that dancers can choose between Pilates, yoga and functional training according to their needs and preferences, since people's and dancers' bodies are different. At the same time, she says that versatility and the aim of achieving positive results are most important for rehabilitation and training in general. It is important that the body receives different stimuli, but the training must also be systematic and individually designed, in order to achieve the desired goals. Rehabilitation must also continue during daily training in general, to increase confidence in one's own body. or an injured body part. Once an injury has been diagnosed, it is important to determine what rehabilitation should be offered, without forgetting emotional support. Michal was independent in his rehabilitation process, which Johanna Osmala appreciated, but points out that he received guidance from professionals. The result depends on the dancer's willpower, the ability to move forward and the persistence and carefulness of following his programmed training session every day. As for Michal, he feels he has received the important professional and emotional support he needed. Together with his own persistent work with the aim of dancing the most demanding roles in ballets, it has paid off. He wanted to share his experiences to help others in similar situations.


 

JOY IN WORK IS BACK

Currently, Michal has taken on the role of prince in the first cast of Swan lake. At the same time, he is rehearsing a duet with Minna Tervamäki, the choreography of which he has done himself. She, in turn, is celebrating her 40th anniversary as a dancer, both at the National Ballet and subsequently as a freelance dancer and choreographer. At a rehearsal, I see how harmonious and beautiful their interplay is. Minna bends her back backwards in a nice cambré during a twist with one foot on the tiptoe on the floor. She even exclaims how delighted she is with the steady grip her partner uses to care for her like a ballerina, and that she feels very safe with him. Which Misha seems very happy to hear.

YET I STILL COULD

Through inventive and personally designed training, lead principal dancer of the Finnish National Ballet Michal Krcmar has returned to leading roles again after a severe cruciate injury.