Jiří Kylián
Biography
Born in Prague (1947), Jiří Kylián graduated from the Prague Dance Conservatory in 1967. After completing his studies at the Royal Ballet School in London, he was engaged at John Cranko’s Stuttgarter Ballett from 1969 to 1975. Subsequently, he joined the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague, where between 1975 and 1977 he served as co-director and choreographer, from 1978 to 1999 as artistic director, and from 1999 as a choreographer. Besides working with the NDT, he also established NDT 2, for junior dancers between 17 and 22 (1978), and NDT 3, for dancers aged 40 and over (1991). In The Hague Kylián has spent most of his creative career. As the head of the NDT, he has built up one of the world’s best dance companies, thus having left an indelible footprint of his extraordinary talent and artistry. At the present time, he focuses on his own, particularly visual, projects, and manages the Kylián Foundation NL, including his own Kylián Productions BV.
Jiří Kylián has conceived 100 choreographies, 75 of them for the NDT and the rest for the Stuttgarter Ballett, Paris Opéra, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Tokyo Ballet and others. His works have been cornerstones of the repertoire of all renowned dance companies worldwide.
Jiří Kylián created his most recent choreography, Remember me, for the dancer Sabine Kupferberg, his Muse, in 2019 on the occasion of his inauguration in Paris as a member of the Académie des beaux-arts, which is the highest honour in arts. Previously, the prestigious institution had granted membership in seven disciplines. Upon Kylián’s naming, on 25 April 2019, choreography (and dance) became a new category.
He has received numerous honours and awards, including Commander of the Legion of Honour (France), the Golden Lion (Venice), Officer of the Orange Order (the Netherlands), Honorary Doctorates from the Juilliard School in New York and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, three Vaslav Nijinsky Awards (Monte Carlo; the best choreography, the best company and the best work – One of a Kind), two Prix de Benois de la Danse (Moscow and Berlin), Honorary Medal from Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, and Medal of Honour for Arts and Science from Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. In 2011, Kylián received the Lifetime Achievement Award in dance and theatre from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Television Award for the documentary Forgotten Memories. In 2017, he was named an Honorary Citizen of The Hague and also received the Positano Premia la Danza Léonide Massine, the world’s oldest dance award, for lifetime achievement. In 2024, the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel awarded Jiří Kylián with the highest state award, the Order of the White Lion.