Edward Clug
Choreographer
In 2015, Edward Clug created his first work for Nederlands Dans Theater. Mutual comfort received widespread critical acclaim and marked his breakthrough in the Netherlands.
Edward Clug (Beiuș, 1973) decided to enrol in dance academy to escape Ceaușescu’s repressive communist regime. In 1991, he graduated from the National Ballet School in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. That same year, he joined the Slovene National Theatre (SNG) in Maribor as a soloist, where he created his first choreography.
In 2003, Clug became Artistic Director of the ballet company, leading it in a distinctive new artistic direction.
As a choreographer, Clug gained international acclaim with Radio & Juliet (2005). Under his artistic leadership, Maribor Ballet established an international reputation through appearances at major festivals, including Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (USA), the Stars of the White Nights Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Singapore Arts Festival and the Seoul International Dance Festival in South Korea.
In 2016, a second work for NDT 2 followed: Handman (2016). In the 2017–2018 season, Clug created a new work, Proof, for the NDT 1 programme Side A: Split into One, which premiered on 22 September 2017. Mutual comfort was also performed again as part of the programme Sum Thoughts. On 29 November 2019, his work APERTURE premiered during the NDT 1 programme Soir Historique.
In addition to his work for Maribor Ballet, Clug has created works for companies including Stuttgart Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Royal Ballet of Flanders and many others around the world. He has received numerous awards, including the Special Award for Best Choreography for Roses for Anne Teresa / Football Stories at the International Theatre Festival MESS in Sarajevo (2011).
His choreographies have also received international awards at dance competitions and festivals in Moscow, Belgrade and Sarajevo, and in 2010 he was nominated for the Golden Mask Award in Moscow. In Slovenia, he received the Prešeren Foundation Award (2005) and the Glazer Charter (2008), two of the country's highest cultural honours. In 2014, Tanz magazine recognised him as one of choreography’s most promising talents.
