Lia Cirio and Paulo Arrais in Jorma Elo s Bach Cello Suites. (Courtesy Rosalie O Connor/Boston Ballet)
Despite now having choreographed more than 80 international ballets, Jorma Elo never expected to become a choreographer. He spent decades as a dancer in Europe with companies like Netherlands Dans Theater before stepping off stage to create masterpieces of movement, first testing the waters with smaller works.
“It was very late in my dance career that I realized I loved this so much,” says Elo, now Boston Ballet’s resident choreographer since 2005. “I thought that this was a way I could relate to people after my dance career and combine the things that I have learned and experienced and make art of it.”