Morgan Beckwith: Southport, CT

Origins of Mystic Ballet

Goran equates the creation of his company to the birthing of a camel (with two humps). After retiring from a life of an economist with a PHD in business management and marketing Goran was fortunate enough to explore what intrigued him. For him this meant leaving Serbia, being able to truly see the world and make new and enchanting acquaintances. He was involved with the arts his whole life. However, he received pressure from his parents at a young age to become a “provider,” and learn a lucrative skill. It might have been this very restrictive and socialist upbringing that urged him to get deeply involved with the arts later in his life.

In America he met his wife Desiree, a principal dancer at the time, and sought to be involved in this intriguing cultural world. After marrying Desiree and acknowledging that the feuds in his native country were not going to be resolved in the near future Goran knew he would not be returning to his hometown. This would be the first time someone in his family had emigrated from their town in five hundred and seventeen years. But he acknowledges that he was in fact already the black sheep for marrying a foreigner. Originally him and his new wife were to move to the Caribbean Islands. However his friends rolled their eyes saying, “Goran, you will either blow up this island or dig a tunnel.” So the day of his flight reservations he decided to make his stay in the United States permanent. However, the process of choosing a town was more difficult than imagined. They drove from Phoenix, Arizona up and down the east coast narrowing down their search to New England. Goran new that he wanted to settle in a small community, one where him and his future family could belong. But he said there was the slight problem that, “people in New England take twenty years to accept you.”

And here he is twenty years later, the artistic director of a ballet company who serves the children and adults of the community through an extensive classical ballet school, and thought-provoking performances.

More to come about the unique formation of this Ballet Company germinated from this steadfast and idiosyncratic entrepreneur.