Angelin Preljocaj was born in the region of Paris, in France, and began studying classical ballet before turning to contemporary dance, which he studied with Karin Waehner, Zena Rommett, Merce Cunningham, and later Viola Farber and Quentin Rouillier. He then joined Dominique Bagouet before founding his own company in December 1984. Angelin Preljocaj has created 61 choreographic works, ranging from solo to larger formations.

He collaborates regularly with other artists in various fields such as music (Goran Vejvoda, Air, Laurent Garnier, Granular Synthesis, Karlheinz Stockhausen), visual arts (Claude Lévêque, Subodh Gupta, Adel Abdessemed), design (Constance Guisset), fashion (Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaïa), drawing (Enki Bilal) and literature (Pascal Quignard, Laurent Mauvignier), and animation movies (Boris Labbé) …

His productions are now part of the repertoire of many companies, many of which also commission original production from him (New York City Ballet, Staatsoper Berlin, Paris National Opera Ballet…). He has also directed and collaborated on several films of his own choreographic work. Angelin Preljocaj has received numerous awards, including the “Benois de la danse” in 1995, the “Bessie Award” in 1997, “Les Victoires de la musique” in 1997, the “Globe de Cristal” for Snow White in 2009 and the “Samuel H. Scripps Price” in 2014.

In April 2019 he was appointed to the Academy of Fine Arts in the new « choreography » section.

Portrait © Didier Philispart

In order to go out and meet all kinds of audiences, Ballet Preljocaj takes dancers to unusual places. Generally consisting of six dancers, G.U.I.D. (Urban Group of Danced Intervention) criss-crosses the region, going to unusual places to perform excerpts from many of Angelin Preljocaj’s choreographies. Dancers move about the urban setting without any stage devices, adapting to the given environment.