Birgit Ragnhild Cullberg (3 August 1908 – 8 September 1999) was a Swedish

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. Her father Carl Cullberg was a bank director and her mother was Elna Westerström. Cullberg was born in

Nyköping Nyköping () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County. Including Arnö, the locality on the ...

and was married from 1942 to 1949 to actor

Anders Ek Anders Ek (7 April 1916 – 17 November 1979) was a Swedish film actor. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and died in Stockholm. He was married to Birgit Cullberg and is the father of dancer Niklas Ek (born 1943), dancer Mats Ek and actress M ...

. She was the mother of Niklas Ek in 1943, and twins

Mats Ek Mats Ek (born 18 April 1945) is a Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He was the manager of the Cullberg Ballet from 1985 to 1993. Life and career Ek was born in Malmö in 1945, the son of the Royal Dramatic Theatre ...

, and

Malin Ek Malin Ek (born 18 April 1945) is a Swedish stage and film actress. She won the Eugene O'Neill Award in 2010. She is the daughter of actor Anders Ek (the 1971 O'Neill Award laureate) and choreographer Birgit Cullberg. She won the award for Best ...

in 1945. Cullberg studied ballet under Kurt Jooss-Leeder and Lilian Karina and at

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, London (1952–1957). In 1960, Cullberg was appointed director and choreographer at the Stockholm City Theatre. Some of her choreographies were premiered at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Cullberg gained international recognition by founding the

Cullberg Ballet Cullberg Ballet ( sv, Cullbergbaletten) is a Swedish contemporary dance company. It was founded by the modern dancer and pioneer choreographer Birgit Cullberg in 1967, who brought it to fame. After Cullberg's retirement in 1985 the company was un ...

in the 1960s. On her retirement in 1985, her son

took over the ballet company. The Swedish Arts Grants Committee instituted the Cullberg scholarship in her honour, and she was awarded an honorary professorship at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

, where she had studied when she was young. In 1977 she was awarded the

Litteris et Artibus Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature. The ob ...

and in 1983 the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gust ...

. She also received the French honour ''

Commandeur des Arts et Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

'' and the Italian honour ''

Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

''.

Selected choreography

* ''Vägen till Klockrike'' * ''Miss Julie'' * ''The Moon Reindeer'' * ''The Lady from the Sea''

References

External links

NY Times
obituary by

Anna Kisselgoff Anna Kisselgoff (born 12 January 1938) is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for ''The New York Times''. She began at the ''Times'' as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she h ...

, 13 September 1999
The Independent
obituary by Nadine Meisner, 27 September 1999 * * Cullberg Ballet ''history'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullberg, Birgit 1908 births 1999 deaths Ballet choreographers Swedish choreographers Swedish expatriates in Iran Litteris et Artibus recipients People from Nyköping Municipality Ek family Recipients of the Illis quorum

Selected choreography

References

Further reading

External links