Krzysztof Pastor
Biography
Choreographer, director of the Polish National Ballet and from 2011-2020 an artistic director of the Lithuanian National Ballet. He was born in Gdańsk, where he also began his dancing training. He was a soloist with Conrad Drzewiecki’s Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań, Teatr Wielki in Łódź and Le Ballet de l'Opéra of Lyon. In 1985, he joined the Dutch National Ballet (Het Nationale Ballet), where he soon began his choreographic work. Retiring from his stage career from 1997–1999, he was a choreographer with Washington Ballet. Then he continued his choreographic carrier in Amsterdam, where he took the position of the resident choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet in 2003–2017, where he created most of his original ballets. Krzysztof Pastor created nearly 70 various choreographies also with companies in Australia (The Australian Ballet, West Australian Ballet), Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain (Scottish Ballet), Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden (Royal Swedish Ballet), Turkey and United States (Washington Ballet and Joffrey Ballet).
In 2009 Pastor accepted Waldemar Dąbrowski’s invitation to take the position of the director of ballet at Warsaw Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, which soon gained artistic autonomy and became elevated to the status of Polish National Ballet. Under his directorship, the company began the new period of dynamic development by reinforcing its artistic asset and enriching its repertoire with the world finest ballet masterpieces and new works by Polish choreographers. In Warsaw, he staged a few of his earlier productions: Tristan, Kurt Weill, In Light and Shadow, Moving Rooms, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Bolero and Do Not Go Gentle..., but also new choreographies: And the Rain Will Pass…, Adagio & Scherzo, Casanova in Warsaw, his version of Swan Lake and Chopin’s Concerto in F minor.
Pastor received choreographic awards at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition and from Dutch Foundation Dansersfonds’79, but also received special prizes from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Polish Theatre Artists Union and Polish Society of Authors and Composers and was awarded “Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis” Gold Medal (2011), the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2015) and Honorary Golden Star from Lithuanian Ministry of Culture (2016) and Order for Merits to Lithuania (2021). In 2017, he was awarded the title of an “Outstanding Pole” from Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation “Teraz Polska”. In 2019 his Dracula, created for West Australian Ballet won the Performing Arts WA Dance Award for Best New Work.