Alexander Ekman

Biography

An international choreographer, Alexander Ekman has created pieces for theatres, operas and museums. He also directs films and creates live performances all over the world.

Known for his sense of rhythm and his offbeat humour, he has collaborated with more than forty-five companies worldwide. Among others, the Cullberg Ballet, the Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, the Goteborg Ballet, the Iceland Dance Company, the Bern Ballet, the Cedar Lake Contemporary Dance, the Ballet de l'Opéra du Rhin, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Vienna State Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet. He has also collaborated with the Europa Danse festival and the Athens International Dance Festival.
In 2005, Alexander Ekman was awarded First Prize at the Hanover International Choreographic Competition, then Second Prize for his ballet Swingle Sisters. In 2011, Alexander Ekman worked as a teacher and choreographer for the Juilliard School in New York.

His piece Cacti, created in 2010, became a worldwide success and was danced by fifteen companies, including the Sydney Dance Company. The ballet was nominated for the Dutch Dance Festival Dance Prize in 2010, the National Dance Award in 2012, and finally the prestigious British Oliver Award. In 2009, Alexander Ekman made the film 40 Meters Under, for and with the Cullberg Ballet, which was broadcast on Swedish national television. In the same year, he collaborated with the choreographer Mats Ek on video projections for his piece HållPlats. Alexander Ekman also made an installation for the Modern Museum in Stockholm with the dancers of the Cullberg Ballet.
In 2012, he collaborated with the singer Alicia Keys and invited her to his piece Tuplet. In 2014, his version of Swan Lake, A Swan Lake, was a huge success around the world and was performed at the Oslo Opera in 2016. In this ballet, Alexander Ekman managed to fill the stage with 6,000 liters of water to recreate a real lake. The documentary Rare Birds by TM Rives recounts the process of this innovative creation.

In 2015, Alexander Ekman created his version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Swedish Ballet. That same year, he received the Swedish Medea Award for "invention and innovation" and, in 2016, the German "Der Faust" prize for his ballet COW for the Semperoper Ballet in Dresden.

Source: operadeparis.fr