The masterpiece Laurencia by Vakhtang Chabukiani, in Nina Ananiashvili’s choreographic version to the music of Alexander Krein, was premiered by the Split Ballet ensemble on the main stage of Rijeka’s Croatian National Theatre.

Eva Karpilovska, the principal dancer of the Split Ballet, portrayed the title role, while Danyil Podhrushko performed as Frondoso. Takafumi Tamagawa and Ami Inoue danced the roles of Mengo and Pascuala, and Matea Milas took on the role of Jacinta. In addition to the Split Ballet ensemble, the performance also featured dancers from the Rijeka Ballet and students from the First Sušak Croatian Gymnasium and the Elementary School for Classical Ballet and Contemporary Dance at O.Š. Vežica. The Rijeka Symphony Orchestra performed the music by Alexander Krein under the baton of maestro Ivan Šćepanović.

Laurencia is a ballet of powerful dramatic intensity based on Lope de Vega’s play Fuente Ovejuna. Created when "choreodrama" was considered the only acceptable form of contemporary ballet in the pre-war Soviet Union, this ballet represents a return to true drama, where the movement became a means of conveying meaning. Chabukiani's masterpiece premiered in 1939 on the stage of the Kirov State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in then Leningrad (today's Mariinsky Theatre), and its popularity was further enhanced by one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, the brilliant Maya Plisetskaya, who danced the title role in the 1956 premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Laurencia was first staged in Croatia in March 2024 at the Croatian National Theatre Split in co-production with the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc as part of the K-HNK program.