The hardest thing for me was memorizing the choreographies. As long as StarDance is successful with people, it belongs on Czech Television, says stuntwoman Hana Dvorská

Hello. We are filming at your home, where you invited us. You said you have been living here for approximately 40 years. Is this your apartment, or are you renting it?

I live here as a tenant and I'm happy. I found out that paying rent is advantageous for me. I don't mind it and it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not some kind of apartment hoarder. I don't need to own property, I need a roof over my head and renting is the simplest solution for me.

So you never had a mortgage?

Luxusní vila na prodej v Šáreckém údolí, Praha 6

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No.

We are in Prague 5. What do you like here and what would you possibly change?

I like that I have the metro nearby, so I can travel all over Prague and I'm everywhere quickly. I walk a lot. I can get to Wenceslas Square and anywhere else relatively quickly, so I don't have to drive.

I do have a car, but if I went out with it, I could then spend an hour driving around the block before I'd find parking. So I prefer to walk or ride a bike. For example, I can get to Kavčí hory in fifteen minutes. I can also travel comfortably by bike to other places.

I also like that I'm in the center and have everything within reach. Although I live at an intersection and it's quite busy here, I'm satisfied.

And what bothers you, on the other hand?

Actually, nothing bothers me here. Currently, for example, the new Smíchov City is being built towards Smíchov Station. This involves certain limitations – cars and trucks drive here, sometimes the water doesn't work due to construction work, or other complications appear. But that's part of the city's development. I'm simply a happy person.

If you were purely theoretically considering moving to another part of Prague, where would you go and why?

I don't want to move to another part of Prague. But if I had to choose, I might consider Letná, near Stromovka, or perhaps somewhere in Kunratický Forest, in short, close to nature.

But I have my hill here, Mrázovka, and that's completely enough for me. I have a garden plot there in an allotment colony. I can run there in five minutes. It's uphill, which I like, because at least you do something. Then I sit in the garden and watch everything sprouting and growing.

I grow peaches, plums, blackberries, strawberries and also flowers there. I always look forward to when my harvest grows and I can pick it. I even want to start keeping bees. I don't have time for it yet, but if someone bought me a voucher for some beekeeping club for Christmas, I'd be happy to sign up. It seems like a meaningful activity to me.

I can also run here. Although it looks like I'm right in the centre, in a moment I'm at Petřín. From here I can continue through the Castle towards Letná, or the other way to Ladronka. Simply put, I'm absolutely happy here.

Funkcionalistická vila na prodej, Praha-západ, Okolí Prahy

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How often do you go running?

Until I had my artificial knee, I ran every day. Actually, I went running almost daily for most of my life.

How long is your usual route?

Usually an hour is enough for me, which is approximately ten kilometres. I'm not a long-distance runner. I really enjoyed running and occasionally I would do a faster section too.

Because I was involved in stunt work, I gradually destroyed my knee. I underwent one surgery, a second one, a third one. There were constantly problems appearing with ligaments or menisci. In the end, I had to have a knee endoprosthesis done.

With it, I can't run as much anymore. If I ran every day, my knee would swell, hurt and wear out. They might have to give me a new endoprosthesis, and I don't want that. That's why I only run once a week now. Otherwise, I exercise several hours every day.

Do you go to a regular fitness center?

I'm an instructor at a fitness center. I have my own morning project called Hanka Dvorská's Bootcamp – www.sportujme.cz. I teach classes for the public three times a week. They take place from 6:45 to 7:45 in the morning.

When I finish teaching the morning lesson, I go to the Form Factory fitness center, where I lead more group classes according to the schedule. I teach people yoga, pilates, shaping, spinning and other activities.

Besides that, I'm also a parachuting instructor. I organize courses where people can have a beautiful jump from an airplane.

I've already jumped.

By yourself?

No, not by myself.

That's like kindergarten. A person has to jump by themselves.

I also go swimming. Five years ago I started doing cold water swimming, so I swim regularly. It's great.

Your stunt career is very rich and interesting. As a stuntwoman, you have participated in many Czech and foreign films. Among the more famous ones, we can mention for example Spider-Man, Van Helsing, or The Chronicles of Narnia. How does a Czech stuntwoman get to such Hollywood films?

Personally, I didn't get to them on my own. I am a member of the company Filmka, which brings together film stunt performers. It used to be headed by Ladislav Lahoda, now it is led by Robin Lahoda. He is the one who provides stunt performers for individual film projects.

I started as a stuntwoman in 1978. Back then I began training at Filmka and participated in the filming of Czech films. Later, Czech stunt performers went to shoot Titanic, for example, I think sometime in the first half of the nineties.

So a foreign production contacts a stunt company, which then selects suitable people?

Yes. Ladislav Lahoda had an overview of a large number of stunt performers. When a script arrived, he would read it and decide who would be suitable for individual roles.

If there was a female role in a film, when I was younger, I often dubbed young actresses. Today there aren't as many opportunities for me, but when something suitable comes up, they call me to see if I have time, and I go for it.

When I get a role, it's usually a one-day or several-day job. It's not typically an engagement for three months. An exception was, for example, filming the movie Trojan War, for which I was away for a long time.

So I have to have another job to earn money. That's why I work as an instructor and coach.

How do you perceive the impact of artificial intelligence on cinematography? Do you think there's a risk that stunt performers' work won't be needed in the future?

I don't really understand that much. I don't know exactly how these technologies are created and how they work. From what I've heard, though, they don't threaten us that much yet.

Paradoxically, a real stunt action can be simpler and cheaper than creating it using artificial intelligence. When I'm supposed to perform some fall or car crash, for example, a coordinator, driver and other people involved in the action come. We have everything rehearsed and it has to work on the first try.

For example, I used to perform various demanding stunt actions myself. Today I no longer do such things, but the principle remains the same: the action is prepared, everyone knows what they have to do, and then it is executed.

From what I've heard, many people have to be involved in creating such a scene. For the action to look credible, they might spend a whole week on it, while the actual stunt performance can be done in a short time. Moreover, the resulting work may not look as realistic.

Maybe technology today can create very convincing footage, but it still doesn't seem to me that it would be more cost-effective. When we stunt performers are alive, know how to do it and have experience with it, why shouldn't we continue doing our job?

Let's move on to StarDance. When the offer to participate came, did you need some time to think about it, or did you accept the offer immediately?

I went for it right away. I found out about the offer about two days before the deadline when I was supposed to respond. It was quite a quick matter, so I said yes.

I like challenges, dance and sports. I enjoy learning new sports disciplines, so I told myself I would go for it.

What do you think dance and stunt work have in common?

It's hard work. I had to train my whole life for stunt work too. I did various sports and had to be constantly physically prepared and resilient.

StarDance was also quite hard work. The training and the dancing itself were challenging for me because they involved completely new movements. I've been exercising my whole life and I'm used to athletic movement, but suddenly I also needed to bring gracefulness into my body.

Was it difficult for you to learn that?

Yes. There was relatively little time for preparation. Professional dancers have been dancing since childhood, maybe thirty years, and have everything perfectly ingrained. We had to learn it in a short period of time.

It was challenging for me to get into it. Some participants, for example, study at DAMU or FAMU and are close to movement and dance thanks to their school as well. I went to dance classes in 1975, and only for half a year. Moreover, we didn't learn very much there back then. So it was a big challenge for me.

What was the absolute hardest thing for you on StarDance?

The hardest thing for me was memorizing the choreographies. I feel like my memory doesn't serve me as well anymore. Young dancers would be shown a routine and they would memorize it immediately. I had a big problem with that.

No matter what I did, it was difficult for me to remember how the individual steps followed one another. That was more challenging for me than the physical side of dancing itself.

Can you compare the intensity of training in stunt work and preparation for StarDance?

I don't think they can be compared at all. They are completely different things.

A stunt performer must be physically fit in all areas. They need endurance, flexibility, spatial awareness, strength and a solid body. It's not one-sided training. They must be prepared for different situations and roles.

For example, I must be able to swim, kayak, ski, ride a bike, have peripheral vision and react quickly. It's such a versatile sport, actually everything combined. That's exactly what I enjoyed about stunt work.

I also enjoyed StarDance, but I didn't find it physically demanding in the sense that I would suffer from fatigue. Rather, my muscles hurt from doing something I didn't know how to do. It was challenging to learn new movements, similar to when someone learns to snowboard. You simply have to learn it.

And what about stage fright? When you were used to big film cameras, were you worried before performing?

That was a problem. I don't quite understand it myself, because I normally perform in front of people in the gym and I'm completely comfortable there. I've filmed movies, stunt work went well for me, and I never got killed doing it.

I am confident in front of people when I'm doing something I know how to do. I don't want to brag at all, but I trust myself in these things. But if I found myself at a mathematics olympiad, I would be completely lost.

I practiced dancing a lot, but I knew myself that it wasn't quite there yet. When I saw professional dancers dancing so beautifully, and then I compared their performances with mine, my confidence gradually decreased. Fear is half the failure. And that applies to stunt performers too.

Did your experience from your stunt career help you in StarDance?

It definitely helped that I have a toned body and good posture. I wasn't tired after training sessions. I would happily train from morning to evening and keep dancing, but my dance partner didn't want to as much.

But it can't really be compared to a stunt career. The advantage was that I didn't feel fatigue and didn't mind training constantly at all. The problem was more that I couldn't memorize the choreographies.

Your dance partner was Michal Kurtiš. What surprised you about him and how was working with him?

I was surprised by how well he can do it. Professional dancers are from a completely different universe. They can perfectly control their body in dance rhythm. On the other hand, they might not be able to run a marathon. Everyone is good at something different, but Michal danced really perfectly.

He thought that since I'm an athlete, it would be easy for me. But in the end he found out that I'm quite stiff and that there isn't much dance gracefulness in me. He was perhaps a bit disappointed by this, because he expected it would go better for me.

Recently, there has been a public debate about whether StarDance belongs on Czech Television. What is your opinion on this? Do you think such an entertainment show belongs on public service television?

As long as a million and a half viewers watch it, I think it belongs there. I don't understand these things very well, but I've heard that the show has high viewership. As long as it's successful with people, let them keep it there.

Who are you rooting for in StarDance now?

To everyone. There was really a great group and excellent dancers. Some are naturally less experienced. For example, Tomáš Polák is a singer, not a professional dancer, so it doesn't come as easily to him as to, say, the participants from DAMU and FAMU. But he tries all the more and everyone is rooting for him.

We all support each other, plus we're friends. So I really don't know who I should be rooting for. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for absolutely everyone. It's exciting for me and I'm curious how it will turn out, because everyone has a chance.

It also depends on viewer voting. Nobody told us how many people voted or what exactly the results look like. We simply find out afterwards who won and who was eliminated. As a result, anyone can win.

Is there anyone among the contestants who particularly caught your attention?

Our Vojta is exceptional for me, that is Vojtěch Dyk. He's a great person. I think he has lots of female fans and fans. Even if he didn't dance well, people would like him. But he also dances well, because in my opinion he does everything well.

He is incredibly fair, funny, smart and beautiful. Every woman loves him. I think he has a great chance, but we'll see. It's never that straightforward. In any case, I'm rooting for everyone.

Thank you very much for the interview.