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Bengt Häger   1916 - 2011

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Professor Bengt Häger

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Photo taken on 27 April 2011, in the Royal Swedish Opera's Gold Foyer (on the Carina Ari Day and Bengt Häger's 95th birthday)


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Bengt Häger - Doyen of the Foundations

The doyen and founder of the Carina Ari Foundations, Professor Bengt Häger, passed away on 2 November at the age of 95.


The great dance patron and educator in the art of dance, Professor Bengt Häger, has passed away.

Bengt Häger worked indefatigably to promote dance as an independent art form and field of research, with its own institutions in Sweden, such as Dansmuseet in Stockholm and the University College of Dance and Circus (formerly the Institute of Choreography), which he founded and led for many years.

Thanks to Bengt Häger's efforts, Swedish dance has been internationalised, with guest performances by world-leading dance companies and artists he brought to Sweden, and the international tours he organised for Swedish dancers, such as the Cullberg Ballet.

Bengt Häger was active to the very end in the three organisations, the Carina Ari Memorial Foundation, the Carina Ari Library and the Carina Ari Foundation.

Bengt Nils Richard Häger


Malmö, 27 April 1916 - Stockholm, 2 November 2011


Married: Pipaluk Freuchen and Lilavati Devi
Children: Navarana Freuchen-Rooke and Richard Häger

Studied at Stockholm University (paleography, literature, art history, theatre history and economics)
Dance training under A. Meurk, M. Fokin, Les Ballets Russes

1940-2011 Dance critic and writer, manager for several dance companies (Graham, Nikolais, Cunningham, Dunham, Ailey, Louis, Pilobolus, Imbal, Antonio, Piccolo Teatro de Milano, Marceau, Shankar, Gopal, Sarabhai, Metropolitan Ballet, the Peking Opera, Kun Chu Opera, Fodeba)

Collaborations with several dancers, including Kurt Jooss and Mary Wigman

1944-1964 Chairman of Dansfrämjandet (Swedish association for the promotion of dance)

1947-1950 Secretary-General of Les Archives de la Danse, Paris

1950-1989 Founder and director of Dansmuseet, Stockholm

1960-2011 Board member and chairman of the Carina Ari Foundation

1963-1971 Founder and principal of the Institute of Choreography, now the University College of Dance and Circus)

1967-1987 Manager for the Cullberg Ballet

1969-2011 Librarian and chairman of the Carina Ari Library

1977-1988 Founder and president of the UNESCO dance department - International Dance Council CID

1989-2011 Honorary president of the UNESCO dance department - International Dance Council CID

1963-2011 Master of ceremonies and permanent secretary of the Carina Ari Memorial Foundation

Member of the European Association of Dance Historians, EADH
Honorary member of Les Écrivains et Critiques de la Danse (since 1947)

Awarded a professorship in 1985

Awards
Commandeur Palmes Académiques (France)
Officier Arts et Lettres (France)
Picasso Medal (UNESCO)
Illis Quorum Meruere Labores (Sweden)
S:t Eriks Medalj (City of Stockholm)
Carina Ari Medal

Publications (selection)
Ballet classic and modern, 1945
The World of Dance, 1948
Alverdens Ballet. klassisk og fri, 1948
Rolf de Marés Svenska Balett, 1947
Sju Danskonstnärer, 1949
Modern Swedish Ballet, 1970
Ryska baletten i Paris, 1971
Dans som läkekonst, 1973
Isadora, 1973
Marie Taglioni, 1975
Les Ballets Suédois, 1998