Alexander Ekman, choreographer
Alexander Ekman (Stockholm, 1984), studied at the Royal Swedish Ballet, where he entered at 16 years old. He has danced at the Junior Nederlands Dans Theater and at the Cullberg Ballet. The choreographic call came early, at the age of 21. In 2010 he created Cacti, a piece that also entered the repertoire at the Balletto dell’Opera di Roma.
The works for which Alexander Ekman is best known as choreographer are a Swan Lake which was immersed in 5000 liters of water, and Play for the Opéra de Paris ballet company.
His creations have been welcomed at Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Semperoper Dresden (A Midnight’s Summer Dream), Norwegian National Ballet (Swan Lake), Nederlands Dans Theater, Boston Ballet, Wiener Staatsballett, Sydney Dance Company, and at São Paulo City Ballet.
Cacti (that Eleonora Abbagnato wanted to import to Rome), with 16 dancers hoisted on white platforms, is a cultured and witty piece. Ekman said it is “a parody of the clichés of modern dance and of the critics’ gaze on dance itself, what they think viewers should see or not”. He played with words and bodies between falls, clashes, escapes, in the middle of a small prickly cactus forest, keeping the public’s attention alert, always with bated breath, like dancers.
Swan Lake by Alexander Ekman
Play by Alexander Ekman
Cow by Alexander Ekman
