By Uvil Zajmi
Memorie.al / A young, beautiful, elegant girl, athlete, but also a ballerina and actress, a real “Miss”. What was the charming Albanian girl who drove the Soviets crazy when she danced?! She was attractive, not only when she played, but above all very beautiful, with an elegant body and black hair that accompanied her every movement. I followed her closely during the first part of her sports career, when she was in Tirana, then when she went to Fier, I lost track of her. The idea of where she was, what Pavllina Llaci was doing, always bothered me, especially after the ’90s and onwards. Surprisingly, I met her son, Edmond, a doctor by profession, in Tirana, who informed me that Pavlina had been living in Turin, Italy for years.
I was very curious to meet her and that is what happened. The first impact was extremely impressive. A woman who preserved the features of a time, with a modern look, a hat, like a famous actress, who, although she has left behind a brilliant career, carries years of life, retains charm, beauty. A life that began as an orphan, in the Children’s Home, to the desire for ballet and the right to study at the Technical School of Physical Education in Tirana.
Then, marriage, first child and career until the age of 37. Enthusiastic, with an admirable memory, her long story was truly moving. She returns to the 57th tour in Moscow, where she stood out in the Albanian group at the World Festival of Youth and Students, for her beauty and dancing that surprised the Soviets. Then, the story of the German who went crazy for her, his desire to walk with her and the rejection by the leaders of the delegation.
“Where there was a dance evening and a good movie, you would find me there,” she says, laughing. Later came the transfer to Fier, an actress with the United School theater and living for many years in Italy with her daughter, Suela, a ballerina in the staff of Maria de Filipi’s “Amici.”
Mrs. Pavlina, how was your childhood?
On May 2, 1937, in Korça, in the Kaçka family, a daughter was born. Pavlina Kaçka, that was my name and I would keep this surname until the moment I celebrated, to change it to my husband’s Llaci. It was a difficult childhood. A life that began in the Children’s Home, when we were very young and would remain orphans. My father died young, after being hit in the head by a shell during the bombing. After three months, out of despair, my mother had a stroke. She was not even 40 years old when she left us children, three sisters and two brothers, alone. I was 5 years old. We grew up in the Children’s Home, where we also finished primary school
How did you get involved with dancing?
I had it by nature, I liked dancing. In the children’s home, I was nurtured by the nuns who raised me, who taught me to dance, made dresses for me and at dinner we children would gather and I would dance. That’s where my passion and desire to become a ballerina was born.
How did you come to Tirana?
Always under the care of teachers, together with my two sisters and two brothers, we finished 7-year school in Korça. After that, I applied for a scholarship for ballet, but it turned out to be for sports. With Mediha Velçani (Lubonjë), we left the Physical Education school and secretly went and rehearsed in ballet. Medi had the strength to break away and continued ballet, I did not. After graduating from the Physical Education Technical School, I was a physical education teacher, even in the early days, at the “Qemal Stafa” high school in Tirana.
You became a mother when you were very young, 17 years old. What is your love story?
The story began when I was in Physical Education school, my husband was giving military training to the students, he took a liking to me, his sister came in, who got to know me, we became friends and when I finished the third grade, the matura, in 1954 I got married. I wasn’t even 17 years old and a year later I gave birth to my son, Mondi. In 1997, my husband passed away. That period was extremely difficult and out of despair, boredom, I started smoking. I had a husband, a friend, a coach, sports fans, everything.
Have you also been a famous athlete…?
I have spent most of my life, my career, with sports. I have played for over 3 decades, being active with “17 Nëntorin”, “Apoloninë”, of Fier and the national basketball team for girls, I was even its captain. I left active sports at the age of 37.
How did you get to Moscow?
It was 1957, July-August, when the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students and the 3rd World International Friendship Games were held in Moscow, where many Eastern countries participated, including Albania with a large group of athletes, both male and female, as well as the Artistic Ensemble of Songs and Dances. I remember that we traveled for weeks at sea. We left Durrës on the Soviet ship “Bielloostrov”, which had come specifically to pick up the Albanian delegation, and we headed straight to Odessa, then by train to Moscow. I had a great friendship with Vaçe Zela. I remember very well that Vaçe sang on the ship and then recorded them.
What was the reception like in the Soviet Union at that time?
The reception was wonderful. At night, we were woken up by people who were waiting for us, wanted to meet us, hugged us, exchanged gifts, and then, traveling by train from one city to another, at the stations, Soviet citizens stopped us, they respected us immensely. We wore white kerchiefs on our heads to distinguish us as Albanians. It turned out that in that month there were a lot of weddings, like in Albania. We joined in the dances they danced and without any problem, it didn’t impress us, especially me…! I liked dancing and I immediately got used to their music, their dances, dancing like them, which surprised them. I danced well, even though I had just given birth to a son.
What do you remember about the festive atmosphere?
The long stay in Moscow was very entertaining, along with the sports activity, it was accompanied by dinners, entertaining evenings that the locals organized in hotels and beautiful, often improvised, settings. Everything to the sound of music, fun dances, where all the athletes, artists, including the ensemble, gathered. Of course, we were not free, but shy in our movements, you could not go dancing alone, always accompanied. The Russians preferred to dance with Albanian girls. Everyone danced beautifully, people came to see us. There were many sympathizers, the environment was filled.
What music was danced to?
Every kind of music. There was dancing, dancing with an orchestra, from modern music for the time, to those characteristics of Russia, but also of their countries. I entered wherever I could and was admired by others. I felt that they were looking at me and talking when I danced, but I did not understand what they were saying. Meanwhile, I did not do any toilet, because we did not know.
Did you like them?
There was silence, they stopped and looked at me with curiosity, this is true, I attracted attention and after the dance they came and complimented me. Among them, there was also a foreigner who constantly followed me when I danced.
Was he a fan of yours?
He was a German, who was there and one evening, he found a moment and came to take me for a dance. “Madam,” he said to me, “would you like to go for a walk together tonight, is that possible?” And in his hand he was holding a big yellow stuffed monkey that he was going to give me. “I have to get permission,” I replied, “because I am not allowed.” “Okay,” he said, “I will go,” and he went and talked to the leaders of the delegation: “I can’t,” they said, “she is tired, there is a match tomorrow.” After receiving this answer, he left upset, he did not expect the rejection, and out of desperation he did not even give me the stuffed animal (laughs).
You’ve also done theater, right?
Yes, it was a coincidence. I played in a play organized by the United School, where my husband worked. The play required several women, and for this reason, the wives of the officers were cast as actresses, including me. I played the role of the mother, and I even cried because the script required it. The scene was touching, and all the Skanderbeg cadets started crying after me.
You spent a good part of your life in Fier, how did you end up there?
It was the 1970s, when the forced circulation movement broke out, and the cadre movement was also involved in this. As a soldier, my husband was assigned to the Fier Corps. I went too, and at first, we stayed for three months at the Turizmi Hotel, then they gave us a house.
How did you experience leaving the capital?
Leaving the Tirana environment, social circle, friendships, after 20 years and going to Fier, in a completely new atmosphere where I had to start from scratch, since everything was changing, was not easy. I quickly adapted. Along with sports, I started working as a physical education teacher at the “Janaq Kilica” school. Fier welcomed me very well.
And what direction did your children take?
The eldest son, Edmondi, started with basketball, they trained together, but until the youth, then he devoted himself to studies, and today he is still a well-known doctor. The second, Iliri, with the football of “Apolonia”, until the ’90s, then he went to Greece, where he is still today. While the daughter, Suela, was the only one of the children who followed my first passion, that of childhood, ballet, dance.
Was that your unrealized dream…?!
I gave birth to Suela in 1976, 19 years after my second son. Since I did not continue ballet myself, I wanted my daughter to become a ballerina and I nurtured this passion in her. When she finished fifth grade in Fier, I brought her to Tirana, gave her rehearsals, and enrolled her in a ballet school with Zoica Haxho, M. Erebara, T. Beshiri, Kozeta Bakiu, Ramazan Këllezi, etc. After graduating from the Ballet School in Tirana, she became involved in television programs of those years. She participated in the first “Miss”, in which Valbona Selimllari was declared the winner, while Suela came in fourth place. But she also appeared in several successful, highly watched shows, such as the television spectacles of Vera Grabocka and Adi Krasta, “12 Dances Without a Saturday”.
Has she also tried out outside Albania?
He was 13 years old when he went to Italy. When the riots of ’97 happened, he was in Tirana and in that chaos, he left by helicopter. He had a friendship with Kledi Kadiu, who during an anniversary introduced him to Maria de Filipi. “She graduated from ballet school with me”, he said. And as soon as she saw him: “You will come to my staff on the show ‘Amici’, on ‘Canale 5’, in Rome”, he said, taking her and there he worked with her for five years.
What does Pavlina Llaci do today?
I have been living in Turin for years, with my daughter, and I am a grandmother of many. Ballet, the first dream, remains the one that is not forgotten, which continues to be so even today, but archived in the drawer of life. Memorie.al
