RADU POKLITARU (1972) is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning choreographer-director, working in Ukraine and globally. He is the Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine (2017) and the receiver of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (2016). In 2017, he was awarded the XXII National Prize: Personality of the Year in the nomination Art Figure of the Year. In 2016, he was also named the People's Artist of Moldova.
Born in Kishinev, Moldova, Poklitaru graduated from the Perm State Choreographic College in 1991, followed by the Belarusian State Academy of Music where he specialised as a choreographer (ballet master).
From 1991 to 2001, Poklitaru was a ballet dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. From 2001 to 2002, he was the Chief Ballet Master at the Maria Bieșu National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Moldova. In 2006, under the initiative and financial support of the Ukrainian philanthropist Volodymyr Filippov, Poklitaru created his own author's theatre – the Academic Theatre Kyiv Modern-Ballet. From 2012 to 2013, Poklitaru was the creative director at the Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre for Children and Youth. In 2014, he was invited to choreograph the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Sochi. For the opening ceremony, he produced a mini-ballet Natasha Rostova's First Ball, accompanied by the music of several composers, featuring both past and present stars of the Bolshoi Theatre. In 2018, he became the Principal Ballet Master at the Academic Theatre, The Kyiv Modern-Ballet.
As of today, Poklitaru has authored more than 50 one-act and full-length productions and theatrical scenes for operas and theatres, including the National Theatres of Moldova, Latvia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Russian Chamber Ballet Moskva and The Moscow State Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre. Poklitaru's ballet productions have been featured at international musical festivals and presented on tours across Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Estonia, the United States, Japan, China and Thailand, among other countries.
Poklitaru is the Professor of the Department of Modern Choreography at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. He has appeared on TV, both as a guest and a participant of various dance programmes. He has also created choreographies for film. Every one of Poklitaru's projects is a challenging experiment. It’s a daring quest that unveils the complex world of human personality, highly compelling in its unconventional interpretation of familiar theatrical plots, renewing and enriching the form and vocabulary of modern dance.