Biography
Born in 1957 in Paris region, he began his career by studying classical dance before turning to contemporary dance with Karin Waehner at the Schola Cantorum. After studying with Merce Cunningham in New York (1980), he joined the Quentin Rouiller Company in Caen and then worked at the national contemporary dance Center of Angers, at that time directed by Viola Farber.
In 1982, he was hired by Dominique Bagouet as a dancer for his company in Montpellier. Angelin Preljocaj made his debut as a choreographer by creating Aventures Coloniales with Michel Kelemenis, a successful duet presented at the Montpellier Festival in July, 1984, and restaged in September of the same year for the inauguration of the Theatre Contemporain de la Danse. In December 1984, Angelin Preljocaj decided to venture out on his own and presented Marche Noir at the Concours de Bagnolet, obtaining the Ministry of Culture award. He then founded his own company in Champigny-sur-Marne and created Larmes Blanches in 1985, A Nos Heros in 1986 and Le Petit Napperon Bouge in 1987.
This same year, Angelin Preljocaj obtained the Villa Medicis hors les Murs award and left for Japan to study Noh. Upon returning he created Hallali Romee for the Festival d’Avignon, the Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne and the Theatre de la Ville in Paris, followed by Liqueurs de Chair while in residency at the CNDC (National Choreographic Dance Center) in Angers, a piece co-produced by the Theatre de la Ville (1988).
For the Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne, he presented his vision of Stravinski’s Noces and the duet Un Trait d’Union (1989). In 1990, he created Amer America for the Biennale de la danse in Lyon , and then a futuristic comic book version of Prokofiev’s Romeo et Juliette, with the participation of Enki Bilal, for the Lyon Opera Ballet (1990). His residency at the Theatre National de la Danse et de l’Image (TNDI) in Chateauvallon led to the creation, in 1992, of La Peau du Monde. This same year, he received the Grand Prix National de la Danse from the Ministry of Culture. He was invited with his company to the Palais Garnier to present a tribute to the Ballets Russes (1993), composed of reinterpretations of Parade, Le Spectre de la Rose and Noces.
The following year, Brigitte Lefevre invited him to create Le Parc for the Paris Opera Ballet, with selections chosen from Mozart. In 1995, he created Petit Essai sur le Temps qui Passe, followed by L’Anoure (based on the original libretto by Pascal Quignard) and Firebird for the Munich Ballet. He received the “Benoit de la Danse” award for Le Parc at the Bolshoi in Moscow. In 1996, his company settled in Aix-en-Provence where he restaged Romeo et Juliette. This same year, several ballets staged a number of his pieces in their repertoires: The Monte-Carlo Ballet (Le Spectre de la rose), the Tuscany Ballet in Italy (Liqueurs de Chair) and The Paris Opera Ballet (Annonciation).
1997 was a double hit in New York : the company presented Annonciation, Le Spectre de la Rose and Noces at the Joyce Theatre and Angelin Preljocaj was invited by Peter Martins, director of the New York City Ballet, to create a ballet for his dancers for the Diamond Project : La Stravaganza. He received the Bessie Award for Annonciation and the Victoires de la Musique award for Romeo et Juliette. That same year, while creating Paysage Apres la Bataille for his own company at the Festival d’Avignon, the Ballet of Nancy restaged Larmes Blanches and the Helsinki Ballet Le Spectre de la rose.
In 1998, already Officier des Arts et des Lettres Angelin was named Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. This same year, he restaged Le Parc for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and created Casanova for the Paris Opera. He presented Centaures, adaptation of a duo from La Peau du monde, at the Maison des Arts de Creteil for the Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne. Le Spectre de la Rose was restaged by the Municipal Ballet of Rio de Janeiro.
In 1999, he created Personne n’epouse les Meduses at the Festival d’Avignon and received the Grand prix International de Videodanse for Le Parc. The Ballet Gulbenkian of Lisbon and the Finnish National Ballet restaged Noces.
In 2000, during the reign of virtual and synthesed imagery and the implosion of dance, he created Portraits in corpore, a choreographic installation which establishes a dialogue between the bodies of the dancers and their image. He pursued this approach in 2001 with his creations MC/22 (Ceci est mon corps) and Helikopter.
In May 2001 he created The Rite of Spring, a Franco-German co-production joining the dancers of the Ballet Preljocaj with those of the Berlin Staatsoper, with Daniel Barenboim directing Igor Stravinsky’s famous score.
In 2002, Annonciation was restaged by La Scala in Milan and Noces by the ABC Dance Company of St Polten in Austria.
In 2003, he directed the film Annonciation, inspired by the piece created in 1995, and created Near life Experience with the music of the French electronic band Air.
In 2004, he created Empty Moves (part I) for the Biennale nationale de danse du Val de Marne and, the same year, “N” , in collaboration with Kurt Hentschlager and Ulf Langheinrich of the group Granular Synthesis, presented at the Festival Perspectives of Saarebrucken, at the Theatre de l’Olivier in Istres and at the Festival Montpellier Danse. This same year, the Ballet of Lorraine performed La Stravaganza, the Nederlands Dans Theater Noces, the Sao Paulo Bale de Cidade Liqueurs de Chair and the Ballet d’Ankara Le Spectre de la Rose. In November 2004, he restaged MC 14/22 and created Le Songe de Medee for the Paris Opera Ballet.
In 2005, he created The 4 seasons…, in collaboration with Fabrice Hyber. The Ballet of La Scala in Milan restaged La Stravaganza.
In 2006, Noces, a major work from his repertoire and created in 1989 was restaged, and presented as the second part of a programme alongside Empty moves (part I), a quartet performed to a sound creation by John Cage. This same year he also created the choreography for the opera Grendel by Elliot Goldenthal, staged by Julie Taymor, for the Los Angeles Opera. In May 2006 he was named Officier dans l’ordre du Merite.
In 2007, he created Eldorado (Sonntags Abschied) set up to a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen. He pursues at the same time his work on the composition by John Cage and created Empty moves (parts I & II) for the Festival Montpellier Danse. This same year, the Ballet of La Scala in Milan restaged Le Parc, the Paris Opera Ballet performed Le Songe de Medee. Le Sacre du printemps is performed by the Ballet of Malmo.
In 2008, Angelin Preljocaj created Snow White, a contemporary and romantic ballet for 26 dancers, and set up to a symphony by Gustav Malher. Jean Paul Gaultier maked the costumes and Thierry Leproust the set design. Snow White was premiered in September 2008 at the Biennale de la danse of Lyon.
At the same time, Angelin Preljocaj took part in the project of the artist David Michalek, Slow Dancing. La Stravaganza is performed by the Ballet of Basel and Annonciation by the Cedar Lake - New-York.
In 2009, he creates Le funambule around the text of Jean Genet. He receives also the Globe de Cristal for Snow White. The Paris Opera Ballet restages Le Parc and MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps), the New York City Ballet, La Stravaganza, and finally the Staatsballet of Berlin, Snow White.
In 2010, Brigitte Lefevre invited him to create Siddharta with the Paris Opera Ballet.
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