Almost two years after the latest performance of the Ballet Preljocaj, the contemporary Albanian-French choreographer will stage in Tirana “La Stravaganza” and “Royaume Uni” ballet shows.
TIRANA, May 5 – Renowned French choreographer of Albanian origin Angelin Preljocaj is back to Albania this time with a collaboration with the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet troupe.
Almost two years after the latest performance of the Ballet Preljocaj, the contemporary dance choreographer will stage in Tirana this weekend “La Stravaganza” and “Royaume Uni” ballet shows. Preljocaj himself returns to Albania 20 years after his Noces show soon after he first visited Albania following the collapse of the country’s communist regime in the early 1990s.
La Stravaganza, a show created by Preljocaj in 1997 for the New York City Ballet, will be a recreation of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet featuring Albanian ballet dancers. Preljocaj has described the show as inspired by his personal and double Albanian-French background.
Meanwhile, Royaume Uni, a piece created in 2012 at the Suresnes Danse Festival Cite inspired by hip-hop dance, will be performed by four dancers of Ballet Preljocaj.
The new shows are part of a cooperation deal Albania and France signed earlier this year following a visit to France by Albanian Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro. They will premiere at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet on May 9, 10 and 11.
A multilayered work, the avant garde La Stravaganza juxtaposes 17th-century sensibility with modern culture while contrasting classical and electronic accompaniment.
Back in October 2012, the Preljocaj ballet staged in Tirana “What I call forgetfulness.” In a video conference held on the introduction of the premiere, Anglin Preljocaj who was unable to come to Albania said he was happy his troupe was performing in the land of his predecessors. “I remain deeply connected to Albania in every piece I stage,” said Preljocaj.
Since founding Ballet Preljocaj in 1985, Angelin Preljocaj has created 45 choreographic works, ranging from solos to larger formations. The company performs internationally and at home in France where it is recognized as one of the country’s leading dance companies.
Born in Paris just five days after his parents escaped from communist Albania, Preljocaj felt French while at school and Albanian when at home with his parents and their tight-knit community of Albanian friends,” The Guardian writes about him.
In 1992, Preljocaj, now an internationally famous representative of the Albanian diaspora, was invited back to the newly democratised country, and taken by presidential helicopter to his parents’ mountain village. His choreographic work is steeped in his writing of the history of classical ballet, but is resolutely contemporary. He is considered one of the most important choreographers of dance today. He joined the repertoire of the Ballet de l’Op곡 national de Paris in the early 1990s and has headed the company since 1985. In 1995, he received the Prix Benois de la Danse as choreographer. Preljocaj, subsequently renamed Ballet Preljocaj, has been in residence at the Black Hall of Aix-en-Provence since 1996.
