Jorma Elo

Resident Choreographer

Jorma Elo is one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world. Finnish-born Elo, the Resident Choreographer of Boston Ballet, was singled out as a “talent to follow” by Anna Kisselgoff in The NewYork Times. He has created works around the world for companies that include American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Boston Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Basel Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet, among others. 

Elo was appointed resident choreographer of Boston Ballet in 2005, where he has created many world premieres: Sharp Side of Dark (2002), Plan to B (2004), Carmen/Carmen Illusions (2006 & 2009), Brake the Eyes (2007) In on Blue  (2008), Sacre du Printemps (2009), and Sharper Side of Dark (2012). Boston Ballet premiered a full length performance titled Elo Experience, in 2011. Elo’s From All Sides debuted in 2007 for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, to a commissioned score from Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in- Residence, Mark Anthony Turnage, conducted by Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen.  Vienna State Opera Ballet premiered his full length A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2010.

Elo trained with the Finnish National Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad. He danced with Finnish National Ballet and Cullberg Ballet until joining Netherlands Dance Theater in 1990, where he enjoyed a 15 year career.

Elo choreographed and performed in the Finnish television film Nijinsky Invisible Power in 2007. He is also a skilled designer of costumes, lighting and video effects for his ballets. 

Elo was awarded the prestigious Benois de la Danse prize for best choreography in 2010, for his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, commissioned by Vienna State Opera Ballet and Slice to Sharp, a new version of the ballet created for the Stanislavsky Music Theatre. The Finnish Government awarded Elo with the 2012 Dance Artist Prize. The 2005 Helsinki International Ballet Competition awarded Elo their Choreographic Prize and he was the recipient of the Prince Charitable Trust Prize and the Choo-San Goh Choreographic Award in 2006. One/end/one, created for Houston Ballet in 2011, was supported by the first-ever Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance. He was nominated for a 2008 Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Elo has been featured in Esquire, Dance and Pointe Magazines.