Krzysztof Pastor

Director of the Polish National Ballet and artistic director of ballet at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. 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 stage career, from 1997 to 1999 he was choreographer with Washington Ballet. Then he continued his choreographic carrier in Amsterdam, where he took the position of resident choreographer with 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 (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’s Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, which soon gained artistic autonomy and was elevated to the status of Polish National Ballet. Under his directorship the company began the new period of dynamic development, with reinforcing its artistic asset and enriching its repertoire with world’s 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 and Bolero, but also new choreographies: And the Rain Will Pass…, Adagio & Scherzo, Casanova in Warsaw and original version of Swan Lake.