Edward
Clug

Benois de la Danse nominee


In 1983 at the age of ten, Edward Clug entered the National Ballet School in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In 1991 he finished his studies and got his first engagement in Maribor, Slovenia. Here he met the famous Slovene theater director TomažPandur and danced in his avant-garde productions. Pandur went on to ask him to create the choreography for the performance Babylon (1996).

Clug created his first independent project Tango together with costume designer Leo Kulaš and set designer Marko Japelj. In 2008 composer Milko Lazar joined to this creative team.

In 2003Clug was appointed Artistic Director of the Ballet of the Slovene National Theater of Opera and Balletin Maribor. In 2005 he created the unique Radio & Juliet with music by Radiohead, which brought international acclaim, and continued his career collaborating with other ballet companies around the world. The Ballet of the Slovene National Theater in Maribor has participated in the largest theater festivals throughout the world: Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (USA); Stars of the White Nights(St.Petersburg);Festival of Firsts (Pittsburgh);Arts Festival (Singapore);Biarritz Festival (France);O Boticario di danza (Brazil);Dance Festival(Tel Aviv);Sintra Festival (Portugal);Festival Des Arts de Saint-Sauveur(Canada);and International Dance Festival (Seoul, Korea). He has also performed at the Milan Teatro Piccoloand toured the Netherlands, Italy, and the countries of former Yugoslavia.

Over the years,Clug has developed strong relationships with the Stuttgart Ballet and Zurich Ballet where he has created several works. In recent years he also started a successful collaboration with the Netherlands Dance Theater – NDT 2 and NDT 1. He was also invited to create new works for the Royal Ballet of Flanders;the National Ballet in Lisbon; Station Zuid Company; the Croatian National Ballet (in Zagreb and in Rijeka);the National Ballet in Bucharest; Aalto Ballett Essen; Bitef Dance Company Belgrade; Graz Tanz; the Ukrainian National Ballet; Staats Ballett am Gartner Platz Munich; Augsburg Ballet; Hessisches Staats Ballett Wiesbaden; the West Australian Ballet in Perth; Novosibirsk State Ballet; and Dortmund Ballet.

Clughas been honored with many national and international awards. He was nominated for the Golden Mask (2010) for the project Quattro. He was awarded the highest Slovene prizes in culture: the Award of the Prešern Foundation (2005) and the Glazer Charter(2008).