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 55 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.

After Swan Lake in 2020 and Deleuze / Hendrix in 2021, he will choreograph and direct Lully’s opera Atys forthe Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2022. At the same time, he created a short choreography for the Danse Europe! application, a participatory project open to all. For Dior, he created the choreography and the film Roman Night with the dancers of the Rome Opera Ballet. He also participated in the television series Irma Vep by Olivier Assayas, as an actor and choreographer. In July 2022, he created Mythologies with original music by ex-Daft Punk Thomas Bangalter at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. 

Portrait © Lucas Marquand-Perrier