During his 13 years at the GHT, Pelleg was the theatre's chief choreographer. In connection with his choreographic duties, he also regularly led the training of the dance company as head training master. In addition, he was responsible for creating the soundtracks for all of his and Mr. Weigert's dance creations, with the exception of the collaborations with the Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie, where compositions by Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Luciano Berio and Leonard Bernstein constituted the musical component. Over the years, Pelleg's musical activities also included the arrangement and composition of several short pieces of music for the stage.
Weigert and Pelleg jointly brought 17 full-length dance premieres they had created and three revivals of their own Berlin premieres to the stages of the GHT. They also presented several pieces by guest choreographers there and were responsible for the choreography of 39 premieres of musical theatre and drama on these stages. In addition, Pelleg was jointly responsible with Mr. Weigert for the artistic profile of the company and all related tasks.
Dan Pelleg's professional career began at the age of 16 in an interdisciplinary manner with training in classical and modern stage dance as well as classical singing. After graduating from high school in Israel with physics and mathematics as his major subjects, he was drafted into military service. At the age of 21, he received a full scholarship for the ‘Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students’ at Tel Aviv University (under the direction of Prof. Yehuda Elkana) for a course of study focusing on musicology and linguistics. He also received a special scholarship from the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation for the combination of dancer/singer. At the age of 24, he was engaged by the Batsheva Ensemble, where he danced for two years under the direction of Ohad Naharin and Naomi Perlov. He then moved to Germany, where he still lives today.
The choreographic creations of Marko E. Weigert and Dan Pelleg have been performed in over 30 cities throughout Germany and, with the support of various Goethe Institutes and German consulates, in 16 countries abroad, and have been celebrated by the press and audiences alike. After twelve years as directors of the independent Berlin-based wee dance company, Weigert and Pelleg were appointed directors of the dance department at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau in 2011. The company was an integral part of the theatre until August 2024.
In addition to the audience award at the ‘20th International Choreography Competition’ at the Hanover Opera House in 2006, Pelleg & Weigert received repeated final nominations, for example for the ‘Kurt Joos Förderpreis’ in Essen (2007) and the ‘Ursula Cain Prize’ (2017 and 2019). They were also finalists in the ‘No Ballet’ dance competition in Ludwigshafen (2006 and 2007) and were nominated as ‘Best Company 2007’ by ‘Dance for You’ magazine.
In addition to his work with the wee dance company, Dan Pelleg has choreographed for opera soloists and choir at the Kiel Opera House, for the Vorpommern Ballet, together with Marko E. Weigert for the Görlitz Dance Theatre and for the ballet of the Saarland State Theatre in Saarbrücken.
As a performer, he gained a wide range of acting and singing experience through engagements at the Freilichtspiele Schwäbisch Hall and through collaborations with Sommer Ulrickson and other directors. He recently appeared on stage with Ulrickson and renowned artists Alban Gerhardt (cello) and Gergana Gergova (concertmaster of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra) at the 92Y in New York City.
Listen to Dan's short musical compositions for theatre:
