Jiří Kylián started his dance career at the age of nine at the School of the National Ballet in Prague. After studying at the Royal Ballet School in London with scholarships, he joined the Stuttgart Ballett led by John Cranko. In 1975, Kylián became Artistic Director of the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague. In 1978, he put NDT on the international map with Sinfonietta. That same year, he founded NDT 2, which was meant to function as a breeding ground for young talent. He also initiated NDT 3 in 1991, the company for older dancers from forty till “death”. This three dimensional structure was unique in the world of dance. After an extraordinary record of service, with an oeuvre of almost 100 ballets, Kylián handed over the artistic leadership in 1999 and remained associated to the company as house choreographer until December 2009. He directed four dance films Car-Men (2006), Between Entrance & Exit (2013), Schwarzfahrer (2014) and Scalamare (2017).
Kylián received many international awards including: Officer of the Orange Order (Netherlands), Honorary Doctorate from The Juilliard School, three Nijinsky Awards (best choreographer, company and work), Benoit de la Dance (Moscow), Honorary Medal of the President of the Czech Republic and Commander of the Legion d’honneur (France). In 2008, he received the distinguished Medal of the Order of the House of Orange from Her Majesty the Queen Beatrix from the Netherlands. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award (Dance & Theatre) by the Czech Ministry of Culture.