Presenter of TV Nova, Kristina Kloubková, finally has a reason sincerely to laugh every day. That is because the mother of five-year old Jasmine fell in love head over heels. One unsuccessful marriage is behind her, but now she believes that she met her destined prince in shining armour, with whom she will be to the end of her life. Kristina talked to Luxury Prague Life about how she and her partner met, what they are now going through and how they see their future together.
At school, Vašek was my senior by two years. Coincidentally, in fact this is a bit funny, my first boyfriend was from his class. But we have never met in adulthood as "a man and a woman". After two years, when I finished school, I and my two classmates went for a screen test to Mr Kylián, where Vašík danced in NDT1 and we even spent a night at his place. Vašek accommodated us and the next day we went for a screen test. But at that time there was no spark between us and I didn´t succeed with Kylián. Last summer, after 22 years we met in Prague by chance. I was looking at him, thinking: He looks like Vašek Kuneš, I will go to say hi. So I went, and I introduced myself: "I am Kristina Kloubková, we went to school together ..." And he was like: "Hi!!!..." Well, and - nothing!
And when I´ve been on my own for some time, and a girlfriend of mine from Žilina was staying over, we were sitting at half past four in the morning on the balcony and we were saying whether we would ever meet ´the one´. If they exist at all. And we were laughing at the idea that we would be sitting on that balcony even after twenty years, keeping asking where the prince is. Well, and boom! It happened, Vašek invited me to his performances; he has a great company. I did not know it at that time, what kind of work does he do and what is funny, that he did not know what I did for a living either.
Perhaps he didn´t. Just as I did not know that there is some company 420PEOPLE which is super, amazing. I went to look at their performance. That is where we met up and then it went on from there.
It was. It was a ´wham´ for me also because he invited me to that performance and I found out what he does for a living, it astonished me. I had no idea what was on his CV, I knew only that he was at Kylián, but not that he went around the world, putting together choreographies.… In addition, this is quite close to my heart, and when I see someone so able and, moreover, young, I am thrilled. So, the first time he amazed me by that performance and then again, how deep he is, wise, and considering how old he is (42) as a man he simply took my breath away. With all that that implies.
He has had for ten years a temporary dance company. I saw the performance Queen of Fairies; it is about communication over networks. That is because Vašek has a daughter in Japan. Currently it is quite a sensitive topic for him and I think that his take on it is interesting; he is a choreographer that manages to put soul and feelings into the dance. That spoke to my heart.
Then I also saw Mácha´s Máj (May) at Nová scéna (New Stage) theatre. Really! The whole, classic Mácha´s May - the entire work read by David Prachař and Mr Kačer, moreover, there are musicians - Pavel Fajt on drums and Ondřej Anděra from WWW. They have clay on stage, water, a swimming pool. It is amazing, it would not have occurred to me to read May or listen to it, we all know two or three phrases. It was really incredible, people should know these poems. So far that is all I have seen, but I am looking forward to more. At the moment I am planning to see Slaughterhouse78 at Mirage with Chantal Poullain.
So far we have danced through one night at a birthday party of our friend Volta; we danced until three in the morning and it was perfect. And we are planning to… we´ve found out that we have the same dream, to learn Argentine tango. So I am looking forward to really being able to go and dance together. I actually miss dancing, that movement, very much so. So now we are looking for a dance school or a teacher who would ease us into it. So as I was browsing the internet I read an interesting thing and that is that tango means that you need to let go of your freedom. Apparently there are no given steps, it is simply that the woman must feel the man and vice versa. I would extremely enjoy it.
As the face of Nova unfortunately it is so, but I like to watch it. I enjoy it. Just as I liked to watch the show Your Face has a Famous Voice and now I am looking forward to Superstar.
I am not dealing with anything right now. I am just enjoying it. I and dealing with ´here´ and ´now´. I recently read some book and discovered that I do not want to know what will happen, I do not want to plan anything. On the contrary, I want to let it develop on its own. I feel that this is a destined meeting and that it will be forever. We are quite grown up.
I am not afraid of it.
Yet, I did. And I also hope that I will get married sometime again. (laughter) Yes, don´t laugh, I want to get married and I wish for it to be forever and I don´t care whether it will be in a year´s time or after ten years. Well, I tell myself that I know what I feel and that I would listen to myself, whether it is a yes or no, and I would be able to cancel it even on the wedding day. If I felt that there is something wrong. But now it is all going well, so I hope that it will keep going on like this.
Yes, we are getting to know each other. The two of us have children, so it is not as simple as that. I very much look forward to meeting his daughter, she is ten and lives with her Mother in Japan. It is actually quite interesting that my guy visits his daughter in Japan.
She discovered our photos together in my mobile phone. It is amazing how these children are really fast nowadays and can operate these things. So we had a discussion on the subject. So far she only talked about that he has a funny name - Vašek Kuneš and then the fact that his daughter is named Aine. So I said that it means queen of fairies and that she is Jasmine like a shrub. (laughter)
So I have explained that. We are talking but I have to be careful.
It is difficult. Jasmine loves her daddy, just as he loves her and that is how it should be, it is difficult to explain that she will always have only one daddy, but that I do not want to live alone, that I would like it if someone lived with us. It is a sensitive topic and furthermore I went through it in my childhood, so I know what it is like. I hope and believe that when they meet, they will click and will get on.
No, we are not planning anything. Not even a holiday. Moreover, Vašek does choreography, so it may well be that he will go to Japan for half a year even, because he can work anywhere in the world. But I do understand that, and, moreover, I know how clever he is, so I want him to have that, I would like him to become well-known. He is recognised abroad, but the interesting thing is that here only few people know him. So we cannot plan very much. It is difficult to plan even the week ahead. Although I have firmly set shifts, anything may happen and I would have to go to work, just as he would.
That's a hard question. Jasmine will go to school… I am rather willing to wait here for him for half a year and sometimes travel to be with him. But now I cannot begin to travel. In future? Who knows where I will be and what I will be doing?
I have a great mother; she works as a grandmother at one million percent. And my dad also offered to babysit.
Definitely. I feel much freer. According to numerology, I have finally matured at my 41 years. Of course, I still have some dreams and aspirations. But I take it all as it comes, I don´t analyse it… A lot of people ask me what will I do when I won´t do the news any more. So I say that I do not know, now I am there and if someone asked me a decade ago, where will my dancing career take me, it would never have occurred to me that I will end up on TV, presenting news. So I have no idea where will my life take me.
I have always wanted to be a ballet dancer. Always, and it didn´t bother me that they are finished at thirty. I managed to make a few choreographies, shoot a TV serial, a film, but it never occurred to me that I would make a living out of my voice and that in the morning I would be dealing with my voice box, do voice exercises and correct my child that she speaks Czech with mistakes. That has never occurred to me, you cannot plan that.
Yes, it is. I perceive it a lot, who talks how. And I have to say that even though Vašek had lived abroad for years, he speaks Czech beautifully. (laughter)
He surprises me by the day. Not only by the depth of his personality and understanding in every situation. He is not the classic guy that is not interested. He deals with everything with me, trying to understand and provide advice.
He did now, and I am pleased, he even searches the archives for me - for example the Weekend or Call Nova TV. But it is true that I, when I have free time at work, also search for him on YouTube and look at how he dances". (laughter)
That certainly applies in this case. (laughter) But remember that it is also said that dancers always belong to the four percent minority, which in my opinion is absolutely untrue. People still think that. And they also think that female dancers are tarts, and that is also not true. (laughter)
I know. Well, yes, I started. I am terrible. I will stop again. It is true that I made a bet that I will not smoke for a year and that I have fulfilled, without one day, when in the summer they took Jasmine for an operation with tonsils, she underwent mononucleosis, was anesthetised and they told me that I have twenty minutes of free time so I came out of the hospital and I started to cry. There was a lady with a stick walking past me, so I asked her for a cigarette. But then I didn´t smoke. I started afterwards, somehow, in October. At this age I don´t blame myself for anything. I simply need it now, so I will smoke and then I will quit again.
He also smokes. Almost all dancers smoke while they have to manage breathing when dancing, but as I say, a man always finds a way to cope with everything. Incidentally my dad, too, who danced up to the age of fifty and he stopped smoking just at fifty, too. My Mummy smokes still.
That I still learn to paint nails. I do manicures. Now I am learning a technique called babyboomer. It is a light paint, combining more varnishes, the nail must be completely clean and it goes from less milky tones to more milky ones. It is nice, but so far I'm not doing very well. I can do a manicure perfectly, but now I am improving in those techniques. I have fun with it. As regards caring for myself, I told myself that I should go to a beauty parlour more often. I also put on some masks. And to a hairdresser I go with enthusiasm, because my hair is done by my best friend. So it is always a chat and relaxation. I am trying to take care of myself, but I would like to do more exercises or to dance, so we will see what will come out of it.
That is something, isn´t it? Well, it is so. Jasmine asked me the other day how do I feel when I am so old, so I said that I felt good, that I still feel young, and she replied whether when she is older she will still feel like a five-year old. She is extremely funny.
I have recently met director Láďa Vobrátílek, who directed the programme Bailando - I am Dancing For You (that was the first time in my life I presented a programme and it was a three-hour live broadcast at that, fortunately with Dalibor Gondík, who was a great mate) and he confirmed that that was 12 years ago. I did not want to believe it. This would mean that I have been in Nova for 10 years and 9 years doing the news. It is fine, I extremely enjoy my work and I am still moving forward. Strangely enough, I still keep learning something new and it is also interesting that although I hate adrenaline, which I sometimes get a lot at work, I would not change it for anything. In addition, I have been extremely lucky that whatever I´ve been doing in my life, whether I was dancing, acting, doing choreography, I have always enjoyed my work. My work is my hobby. And that´s the way I have it even today.