Ev­ge­ny
Ku­lagin

Ev­ge­ny Ku­lagin is a di­rec­tor, cho­re­og­rapher, and per­former wor­king in­terna­ti­onal­ly ac­ross the­at­re, ope­ra, and con­tempo­rary dan­ce per­forman­ce. He stu­di­ed at the Aca­demy of Arts and Cul­tu­re in Che­ly­abinsk (1998–2002) and be­gan his ar­tistic ca­re­er as an ac­tor and cho­re­og­rapher at the Kost­ro­ma Dra­ma The­at­re, whe­re he per­formed in mo­re than 50 sta­ge ro­les whi­le al­so wor­king in film. 

In 2002, he co-fo­un­ded the Di­alo­gue Dan­ce Scho­ol and Com­pa­ny to­get­her with Ivan Es­tegne­ev, la­ter es­tabli­shing the STANT­SIA art ve­nue in Kost­ro­ma. The com­pa­ny be­came a le­ading cent­re for con­tempo­rary dan­ce in Rus­sia, re­ce­iving three Gol­den Mask Na­ti­onal The­at­re Awards and to­uring in­terna­ti­onal­ly with over 30 pro­duc­ti­ons. Ev­ge­ny Ku­lagin and Ivan Es­tegne­ev are fo­un­ders and CEO of STANT­SIA in­de­pen­dent the­ater for per­forming arts. They cu­rated and or­ga­nized co-pro­duc­ti­ons and fes­ti­vals of dan­ce, the­ater, mu­sic and con­tempo­rary art in Rus­sia with ar­tists from all over the world. Inc­lu­ding  Di­ver­sia Fes­ti­val which was in exis­tence 2007-2022.

From 2013 to 2022, Ku­lagin was re­sident di­rec­tor and cho­re­og­rapher at the Go­gol Cen­ter in Mos­cow. As di­rec­tor he cre­ated the pro­duc­ti­ons Sha­kes­pe­are (2017), Two Ro­oms (2018), Ba­roc­co (2018). In 2014 he star­ted to ex­tensi­vely col­la­bora­te with Ki­rill Se­reb­renni­kov as cho­re­og­rapher and co-aut­hor and cont­ri­buted mo­re than 25 pro­duc­ti­ons in Rus­sia and Euro­pe. Du­ring this pe­ri­od, he al­so ta­ught sta­ge and ca­mera mo­vement at the Mos­cow Film Scho­ol and co-fo­un­ded the phy­sical the­at­re la­bora­tory Di­alog­Lab.

Sin­ce 2017, he has de­velo­ped an ex­tensi­ve in­terna­ti­onal ca­re­er in ope­ra, wor­king with le­ading ho­uses inc­lu­ding the Vi­en­na Sta­te Ope­ra, Ba­vari­an Sta­te Ope­ra, Ko­misc­he Oper Ber­lin, Pa­ris Ope­ra, Zu­rich Ope­ra, and Dutch Na­ti­onal Ope­ra. 

From 2022 to 2025, he was Cho­re­og­rapher in Re­siden­ce at Tha­lia The­ater Ham­burg, furt­her ex­panding his work in con­tempo­rary the­at­re. Ku­lagin’s prac­ti­ce is cha­rac­te­rised by a strong in­tegra­ti­on of cho­re­og­raphy, the­at­re, and ope­ra, de­velo­ped thro­ugh long-term col­la­bora­ti­ons with le­ading di­rec­tors and ins­ti­tuti­ons ac­ross Euro­pe. In 2024  Ev­ge­ny Ku­lagin cre­ated the per­forman­ce Apo­calyp­se To­mor­row pro­duced by Ki­rill & Fri­ends com­pa­ny and pre­mi­ered at Les­sing­ta­ge Fes­ti­val (Ham­burg). In 2025 in co­ope­rati­on with Ivan Es­tegne­ev Ev­ge­ny la­unc­hed Di­alog­Lab, a prog­ram of­fe­ring phy­sical the­at­re work­shops in Ber­lin and ac­ross Euro­pe.