Choreographer and artistic director of the Ballet Preljocaj - National Choreographic Centre, Angelin Preljocaj has been living and working in Aix-en-Provence since 1996.

Born in 1957 of Albanian parents who had immigrated to Paris, he began his career by studying classical dance before turning to contemporary dance with Karin Waehner at the Schola Cantorum.  After studying with Merce Cunningham in New York (1980), he joined the Quentin Rouiller Company in Caen and then worked at the National Contemporary Dance Center of Angers, at that time directed by Viola Farber.

In 1982, he was hired by Dominique Bagouet as a dancer for his company in Montpellier. Angelin Preljocaj made his debut as a choreographer by creating Aventures Coloniales  with Michel Kélémenis, a successful duet presented at the Montpellier Festival in July, 1984, and restaged in September of the same year for the inauguration of the Théâtre Contemporain de la Danse. In December 1984, Angelin Preljocaj decided to venture out on his own and presented Marché Noir at the Concours de Bagnolet, obtaining the Ministry of Culture award. He then founded his own company  in Champigny-sur-Marne and created Larmes Blanches in 1985, A Nos Héros in 1986 and Le Petit Napperon Bouge in 1987

.This same year, Angelin Preljocaj obtained the  Villa Medicis hors les Murs  award and left for Japan to study Noh. Upon returning he created Hallali Romée for the Festival d’Avignon, the Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, followed by Liqueurs de Chair while in residency at the CNDC (National Choreographic Dance Center) in Angers, a piece co-produced by the Théâtre de la Ville (1988).

For the Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne, he presented his vision of Stravinski’s Noces and the duet Un Trait d’Union (1989). In 1990, he created Amer America for the Biennale de la Dance in Lyon , and then a futuristic comic book version of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, with the participation of Enki Bilal, for the Lyon Opera Ballet (1990). His residency at the Théâtre National de la Danse et de l’Image (TNDI) in Châteauvallon  led to the creation, in 1992, of La Peau du Monde. This same year, he received the Grand Prix National de la Danse from  the Ministry of Culture. He was invited with his company to the Palais Garnier to present a tribute to the Ballets Russes (1993), composed of reinterpretations of Parade, Le Spectre de la Rose and Noces.

The following year, Brigitte Lefèvre invited him to create Le Parc for the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, with selections chosen from Mozart. In 1995, he created Petit Essai sur le Temps qui Passe, followed by L’Anoure (based on the original libretto by Pascal Quignard) and Firebird for the Munich Ballet. He received the “Benoit de la Danse” award for Le Parc at the Bolshoï in Moscow.In 1996, his company settled in Aix-en-Provence where he restaged Romeo and Juliet. This same year, several ballets staged a number of his pieces in their repertoires: The Monte-Carlo Ballets  (Le Spectre de la rose), the Tuscany Ballet in Italy (Liqueurs de Chair) and The Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris (Annuciation).

1997 was a double hit in New York: the company presented Annunciation, Le Spectre de la Rose and Noces at the Joyce Theatre and Angelin Preljocaj was invited by Peter Martins, director of the New York City Ballet, to create a ballet for his dancers for the  Diamond Project: La Stravaganza.  He received the  Bessie Award for Annunciation and the  Victoires de la Musique award for Romeo and Juliet. That same year, while creating Paysage Après la Bataille for his own company at the Festival d’Avignon, the Ballet of Nancy restaged Larmes Blanches and the Helsinki Ballet Le Spectre de la rose

.In 1998, already Officier des Arts et des Lettres  Angelin was named  Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.  This same year, he restaged Le Parc for the Berlin Deutscher Opera and created Casanova for the Opéra National de Paris. He presented Centaures, adaptation of a duo from La Peau du monde, at the Maison des Arts de Créteil for the Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val-de-Marne. Le Spectre de la Rose was restaged by the Municipal Ballet of Rio de Janeiro

.In 1999, he created Personne N’épouse les Méduses at the Festival d’Avignon and received the  Grand prix International de Vidéodanse  for Le Parc. The Ballet Gulbenkian of Lisbon and the Finnish National Ballet restaged Noces.

In 2000, during the reign of  virtual and synthesed imagery and the implosion of dance, he created Portraits in Corpore, a choreographic installation which establishes a dialogue between the bodies of the dancers and their image. He pursued this approach in 2001 with his  creations MC/22 (This is my body) and Helikopter.

In May 2001 he created The Rite of Spring, a Franco-German co-production joining the dancers of the Ballet Preljocaj with those of the Berlin Staatsoper, with Daniel Barenboïm directing Igor Stravinsky’s famous score.

In 2002, Annunciation was restaged by La Scala in Milan and Noces by the ABC Dance Company of St Pölten in Austria

.In 2003, he directed the film  Annunciation, inspired by the piece created in 1995, and created Near life Experience with the music of the French electronic band Air.

In 2004, he created Empty Moves (Part I) for the Biennale Nationale de Danse du Val de Marne and, the same year, “N” , in collaboration with Kurt Hentschläger and Ulf Langheinrich of the group Granular Synthesis, presented at the Festival Perspectives of Saarebrücken, at the Theatre de l’Olivier in Istres and at the Festival Montpellierdanse.This same year, the Ballet of Lorraine performed La Stravaganza, the Nederlands Dans Theater Noces, the Sao Paulo Balé de Cidade Liqueurs de Chair and the Ballet d’Ankara Le Spectre de la Rose.

In November 2004, he restaged MC 14/22 and created Le Songe de Médée for the Opera de Paris National Ballet.

In 2005, he created The 4 seasons…, in collaboration with Fabrice Hyber.

The Ballet of La  Scala in Milan restaged La Stravaganza.

In 2006 Noces, a major work from his repertoire and created in 1989 was restaged, and presented as the second part of a programme alongside Empty moves (part I), a quartet performed to a sound creation by John Cage. This same year he also created the choreography for the opera Grendel by Elliot Goldenthal, staged by Julie Taymor, for the Los Angeles Opera. In May 2006 he was named Officier dans l’ordre du Mérite.

In 2007, he took up an invitation from Karlheinz Stockhausen, and created Eldorado (Sonntags Abschied), set to a new partition by the composer. At the same time, he continued his work on John Cage’s sound creation and created Empty moves (parts I&II) for the Montpellier Danse festival.

The Scala de Milan restaged Le Parc, the Ballet of the Opéra National de Paris restaged Le Songe de Médée. Le Sacre du printemps was added to the repertoire of the Ballet de Malmö, La Stravaganza was added to the Ballet of Basel's repertoire and Annonciation to the repertoire of Cedar Lake - New-York.

Angelin Preljocaj is currently working on his new creation, Snow White, a great romantic contemporary ballet on the scores of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, which brings together the 26 dancers of the company. The costumes will be designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the set by Thierry Leproust. The piece will be created in September 2008 at the Biennale de la danse de Lyon in France.