Iztok Kovač

The choreographer, teacher and dancer Iztok Kovač in 1990s virtually out  of nothing established the notion of the Slovene contemporary dance in  the cultural space of Europe and beyond. In 1993 he established the  international dance company En-Knap in Leuven, Belgium, under the wings  of Klapstuk Festival; a year later the group moved its headquarters to  Ljubljana, where he established EN-KNAP Productions. After 14 years of  project-based work, in 2007 Kovač founded the international dance  company EnKnapGroup, the first permanent ensemble for contemporary dance  in Slovenia, thus beginning working on a repertory basis. Two years  later EN-KNAP Productions was entrusted the management of the Španski  Borci Cultural Centre in Ljubljana, where Iztok Kovač is the artistic  director, and programmer of the domestic and international programme. In  addition to 34 own projects, artistic direction and pedagogical work,  his opus includes also six dance films. In 25 years, his EN-KNAP has  introduced and established its own esthetics inside the European space  and formed its trademark, into which many acclaimed coproducers have  invested from the outset. For his work, Iztok Kovač has received  prominent domestic and international awards.