Azem Shkreli knew that there was also one of our ballet dancers who worked together with the greatest ballet dancer in the world, Rudolf Nureyev. It was Abdurrahmon Nokshiqi, Abi. He called him, at that time he was working at the Berlin Opera, and he called him and he came to Prishtina. They appointed him as the coordinator. We called him the head of the ballet.
So, in the theater, we had three working units. There was the Albanian drama, the Serbian drama, and the ballet. Each of the three had a head. We had Abi, Abdurrahmon Nokshiqi. Then he had the obligation to coordinate the performances together with the artistic council. There was an artistic council because in the theater there was an artistic council which made the annual program of performances or, for example, of premieres.
Tashi kur osht’ ardhë puna me bo qit’ baletin të Akil Kocit, ‘Sokoli dhe Mirusha’, për shembull kanë ra në kontakt me Akil Kocin kompozitorin. E kanë thirrë, kanë bisedu me to. Librin thojnë e ka bo vet ai. Tanshi e kanë thirrë, kond me marrë, kanë ra në kontakt me Sarajevën edhe e kanë marrë koreografin nga Sarajeva edhe e kanë pru në Prishtinë. Kemi fillu ushtrimet edhe e kemi qit’ premierën, atëherë, ‘Sokoli dhe Mirusha’. Unë e kom lujtë Mimçin, roli i dytë ka qenë. Sokolin e ka lujtë, kolega jem Rrustem Sellca”.
Now, when it came time to make Akil Koci’s ballet, Sokoli dhe Mirusha, for example, they contacted the composer Akil Koci. They called him, talked to him. They say he wrote the book himself. Then they called, who to take, they contacted Sarajevo and brought the choreographer from Sarajevo to Pristina. We started rehearsals and we premiered, back then, Sokoli dhe Mirusha. I played Mimçi, it was the second role. Sokol was played by my colleague Rrustem Sellca.
Elez Nikçi was born in 1953 in Shtupeq i Madh, Municipality of Peja. In 1972 he graduated from the School of Ballet in Skopje. In the same year, he started to work at the Provincial Folk Theater (National Theater of Kosovo) as a first generation ballet dancer in Kosovo and in 1990 he was fired from his job. From 1990 he started to work as a bodyguard, while after 2000 he was the bodyguard and head of security of Ibrahim Rugova.