Angelin Preljocaj

The current director of the Centre chorégraphique national d'Aix-en-Provence, Angelin Preljocaj is a central figure in French dance. After training with Karin Waehner, herself a pupil of German legend Mary Wigman, he went to New York to work with Merce Cunningham, another giant of the discipline. Back in France, he moved to Montpellier to dance for Dominique Bagouet, the great French reformist, and created his first play, Black Market, which was then followed by forty-eight works at the crossroads between contemporary music, visual arts, and literature. The man who once said “I will never be done questioning the body, movement, and human passions,” has created a body of work at once sensual and abstract, always in touch with the world, which is now part of the repertoire of many a prestigious institution (La Scala in Milan, the New York City Ballet, or the Ballet de l'Opéra national in Paris...). In 2012, he calls to mind social violence and the body as a victim with Laurent Mauvignier's What I Call Oblivion, with whom he is again collaborating for this creation in the Cour d'honneur. 

Portrait of Angelin Preljocaj © Adel Abdessemed, Paris ADAGP, La danse du soldat - Photo : Marc Domage - portrait photo Joerg Letz