Choreographer Krisztina de Châtel passed away

The Dutch-Hungarian choreographer Krisztina de Châtel has passed away on Tuesday, 3 June. She was 81 years old. Her work, which combined dance, music and visual art, was internationally acclaimed. She created more than 70 choreographies and three dance films, including one choreography for Dutch National Ballet. In 2002, she created the work Slag for the company.

De Châtel was born in Budapest to a Dutch mother and a Hungarian father. In the late 1960s, she moved to Amsterdam to study. 
In 1976, the choreographer founded her own company; Dansgroep Krisztina de Châtel, which she directed for over 30 years. Later, she was artistic director of Dansgroep Amsterdam, the city company for modern dance, for almost 15 years. She also founded the Imperium Foundation, through which she supported young and idiosyncratic dance artists. 

De Châtel was awarded several times. She was awarded with the Golden Swan, the Amsterdam Prize, the Frans Banninck Cocq medal and the Critics' Prize of the Circle of Dutch Theatre Critics. In 2001, she was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion. In 2010, the Golden Swan jury stated that De Châtel ‘has enriched the Dutch dance landscape on many fronts and her contribution is invaluable to the development of modern dance’. In 2021, she received the Prize of Merit from the Dancers' Fund '79 for her work. This fund also judged that, with her work, De Châtel has enriched the Dutch dance landscape "with idiosyncratic, daring, always brilliant and intriguing choreographies".