Birgit Cullberg

{{Short description|Swedish ballet choreographer (1908–1999)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

File:Birgit-cullberg-gullers.jpg

File:Willy Gordon Birgit Cullberg.JPG, outside the Theatre in Nyköping, Sweden]]

Birgit Ragnhild Cullberg (3 August 1908 – 8 September 1999) was a Swedish choreographer.{{Citation |last=Arent |first=Hans-Christian |title=Birgit Ragnhild Cullberg |date=8 September 2021 |url=http://snl.no/Birgit_Ragnhild_Cullberg |work=Store norske leksikon |language=nb |access-date=19 May 2022}} Her father Carl Cullberg was a bank director and her mother was Elna Westerström.{{cite web | last=Cullberg | first=Birgit | title=Birgit Ragnhild Cullberg | website=Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon | date=3 August 1908 | url=https://skbl.se/en/article/BirgitCullberg | access-date=27 February 2024}} Cullberg was born in Nyköping{{cite web | title=Birgit Cullberg | website=The Guardian | date=22 September 1999 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/sep/22/guardianobituaries | access-date=27 February 2024}} and was married from 1942 to 1949 to actor Anders Ek. She was the mother of Niklas Ek in 1943,{{cite web |last=Gruhl |first=Boris | title=Choreograf Mats Ek beweist seinen subtilen Humor | website=Deutschlandfunk Kultur | date=6 January 2016 | url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/buehnenabschied-in-paris-choreograf-mats-ek-beweist-seinen-100.html | language=de | access-date=27 February 2024}} and twins Mats Ek, and Malin Ek in 1945.{{Cite web |last=Malmström Olsson |first=Cecilia |others=Translated by Alexia Grosjean |title=Birgit Ragnhild Cullberg |url=http://skbl.se/en/article/BirgitCullberg |access-date=19 May 2022 |website=Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon}}

Cullberg studied ballet under Kurt Jooss-Leeder and Lilian Karina and at The Royal Ballet, London (1952–1957). In 1960, Cullberg was appointed director and choreographer at the Stockholm City Theatre. Some of her choreographies were premiered at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.

Cullberg gained international recognition by founding the Cullberg Ballet in the 1960s. On her retirement in 1985, her son Mats Ek took over the ballet company.{{cite web | title=Mats Ek | website=Staatstheater Nürnberg | url=https://www.staatstheater-nuernberg.de/kuenstler/mats-ek | language=de | access-date=27 February 2024}} The Swedish Arts Grants Committee instituted the Cullberg scholarship in her honour, and she was awarded an honorary professorship at Stockholm University, where she had studied when she was young. In 1977 she was awarded the Litteris et Artibus and in 1983 the Illis quorum.{{Cite web |title=Birgit Cullberg |url=https://www.kungahuset.se/sveriges-monarki/ordnar-och-medaljer/sok-ordens--och-medaljforlaningar/1977/2021-07-09-birgit-cullberg |access-date=19 May 2022 |website=www.kungahuset.se |language=sv}}{{Cite web |date=January 2006 |title=Regeringens belöningsmedaljer och regeringens utmärkelse: Professors namn |url=https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/61bab671f59a46af81cb11ee99e0d0eb/regeringens-beloningsmedaljer-och-regeringens-utmarkelse-professors-namn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102152834/https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/61bab671f59a46af81cb11ee99e0d0eb/regeringens-beloningsmedaljer-och-regeringens-utmarkelse-professors-namn |archive-date=2 November 2021 |access-date=18 May 2022 |website=Regeringskansliet |language=sv}} She also received the French honour Commandeur des Arts et Lettres and the Italian honour Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.{{cn|date=February 2024}}