Angelin Preljocaj and contemporary dance
Information
On the occasion of the performance of Near Life Experience at the Théâtre de la Ville, Angelin Preljocaj describes her way of working. The band Air explains in which spirit they put Prejlocaj's choreography to music.
Context
Angelin Preljocaj, French dancer and choreographer of Albanian origin, born in 1957, is the artistic director of the Preljocaj Ballet - National Choreographic Centre in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region and has been living in Aix-en-Provence since 1996. First trained in classic dance, he followed a contemporary education at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, then in New York with Merce Cunningham. Back in France he became an performer, notably with Dominique Bagouet.
In 1984, he performed his first choreography in collaboration with Michel Kelemenis,Aventures coloniales, and created his own company the same year. The following year he received a prize at the Bagnolet competition withMarché noir. His brilliant career had begun. From 1986 his company set up in Campigny-sur-Marne and received a National Choreographic Centre status in 1989. A nos héros(1986) andLiqueurs de chairs(1988) confirmed his reputation. He was solicited for choreographies at the Ballet of the Lyon Opera, at the Palais Granier and the National Paris Opera Ballet. He received a Bessie Award in New York in 1997.
His dancing, expressed over the music of Stravinsky, Vivaldi, or even John Cage and Stockausen (who offered him a part in the brand newEldoradoin 2007), intelligently allying contemporary creation with classic revivalism. Preljocaj's pieces are shown all over the world.