Swedish dancer Johan Inger (Stockholm, 1967) completed his dance training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the National Ballet School in Canada. From 1985 to 1990 he danced with the Swedish Royal Ballet in Stockholm, the last year performing as a soloist. Fascinated by the works of Kylián, Mr. Inger was convinced that the next step in his dance career should take him to Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1990 he joined Nederlands Dans Theater I and was a high-profile dancer in this company until 2002. When Inger tried his hand at Nederlands Dans Theater’s annual Choreography Workshops (called Switch), Jiří Kylián noticed his talent for choreography. After four workshop pieces, in 1995 Mr. Inger was invited to do his first choreography for Nederlands Dans Theater II. The resulting Mellantid marked his official debut as a choreographer. It was part of the Holland Dance Festival and was immediately a resounding success. It brought him the Philip Morris Finest Selection Award 1996 in the Contemporary Dance category. In 2001 Mellantid was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award. Since his debut, Mr. Inger has made various works for Nederlands Dans Theater (including Sammanfall, Couple of Moments, Round Corners, Out of Breath). For his ballets Dream Play and Walking Mad he received the Lucas Hoving Production Award in October 2001. Walking Mad — as it was later performed by Cullberg Ballet — was awarded the Danza & Danza’s Award 2005. Mr. Inger was nominated for Dutch prizes such as the Golden Theatre Dance Prize 2000 by the VSCD Dance Panel and the Merit Award 2002 from the Stichting Dansersfonds ’79. In 2013, he received the prestigious Carina Ari Award in Stockholm for his worldwide promotion of Swedish art and dance. In 2003 Mr. Inger left Nederlands Dans Theater to take on the artistic leadership of Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm. Over the past years he has choreographed several works for this company, including: Home and Home, Phases, In Two, Within Now, As if, Negro con Flores and Blanco. And to celebrate Cullberg Ballet’s 40th anniversary, he created the work Point of Eclipse (2007). In the summer of 2008 Mr. Inger ended his artistic directorship so as to devote himself entirely to choreography. In February 2009 he produced a new work for Cullberg Ballet entitled, Position of Elsewhere. In October 2009, he created Dissolve in This for Nederlands Dans Theater I & II to celebrate the 50th jubilee season of the company. Since 2009, Mr. Inger has held the position of Associate Choreographer with Nederlands Dans Theater, regularly creating new works for the companies. In May 2010, the Göteborg Ballet in Sweden premièred his new work Falter, and in September 2010, Nederlands Dans Theater I premièred Tone Bone Kone. In 2011, Mr. Inger created the successful Rain Dogs, based on music by Tom Waits, for the Basel Ballet in Switzerland. In 2012, Mr. Inger made I Knew What Comes Next for Nederlands Dans Theater II and in 2013, Sunset Logic, for Nederlands Dans Theater I. In September 2013 he created Tempus Fugit for Basel Ballet in Switzerland. His latest creation, B. R. I. S. A. , was choreographed in 2014 for Nederlands Dans Theater II. In 2015, Mr. Inger presented his Carmen with the Compaňia Nacional de Danza in Madrid and another full-evening program based on the Sacre du Printemps with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. His latest work, One on One, was presented by Nederlands Dans Theater II in the fall of 2015.
