Mats Ek

Born in Malmö (Sweden) in 1945 and raised in a family of artists, Mats Ek first studied theatre, became an actor, trained in dance and then danced in his mother Birgit Cullberg's company, the Cullberg Ballet, whose artistic director he later temporarily took over. In 1976 he began choreographing, creating contemporary critical pieces such as "Sowetoʺ, a wealth of shorter works, adapting literary material such as "Bernarda Alba's Houseʺ and reinterpreting the cornerstones of the ballet repertoire in his dynamic, expressive language of movement: "Giselleʺ (1982), "Le Sacre du printemps" (1984), "Swan Lakeʺ (1987), "Carmenʺ (1992) or "Sleeping Beautyʺ (1996). He is also a guest choreographer for the world's leading companies, working with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Norwegian Opera Ballet, the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Paris Opera Ballet, among others. In 2008 he created "Place", a pas de deux for Ana Laguna and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has also produced two video films with star ballerina Silvie Guillem and his best-known works have been adapted for TV. He also writes, acts and directs at many different theatres. At Nuremberg Ballet he staged the work "A sort of ..." in the 2011/12 season.

Photo © Morgan Nordman