Cullberg, Birgit (b. 1908)

Swedish dancer, choreographer, and director. Born in Nyköping, Sweden, in 1908; studied at Stockholm University; attended the Jooss-Leeder School at Dartington Hall, England (1935–39).

Following her studies in choreography with Kurt Jooss at the Jooss-Leeder School at Dartington Hall in England, Birgit Cullberg returned to Sweden in 1939 to learn ballet techniques and form her own dance group for commercial revues. Her initial ballets, especially Propaganda and Offensive, were known for their humor, satire, and behavioral studies. With Ivo Cramér, she directed the Swedish Dance Theatre from 1946 to 1947. Cullberg was a resident choreographer of the Royal Swedish Ballet from 1952 to 1959 and then served as director and choreographer of Stockholm City Theatre. She was awarded the Swedish King's fellowship in 1958 and the Order of Vasa in 1961.

Her choreographic works include Miss Julie (1950), Medea (1951), Romeo and Juliet (1955), Moon Reindeer (1957), Odysseus (1959), The Lady from the Sea (1960), Eden (a pas de deux, 1961) and the television ballet "The Evil Queen" (1961), which won the Prix d'Italia.

Cullberg's dances were a frequent staple of Scandinavian companies as well as of the American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, and the Chilean National Ballet, among others. She is the author of The Ballet and We, The Ballet School, and many articles on dance (all in Swedish). In June 1963, she was appointed a member of the artistic council to the Royal Swedish Ballet, where she staged her Seven Deadly Sins.

Cullberg would choreograph approximately one page of music a day, writes Agnes de Mille , "sometimes only one movement a day, writing in Swedish and French classical terminology and drawing in colored crayon every position, step, and transition beside each bar. This is the most complete preparation on record and so graphic (she studied painting) that a stranger could read back the figure designs." Cullberg estimated that it took 400 hours to prepare a 40-minute work.

sources:

de Mille, Agnes. The Book of the Dance. NY: Golden Press, 1963.