Mats Ek is one of the most influential choreographers on the modern dance scene today and is noted for the range and diversity of his repertoire. His highly individual vocabulary of movement is immediately recognisable. Prestigious international companies, both classical and modern, commission and perform his work and its theatricality and immediacy have won new audiences for dance, as well as inspiring an up-and-coming generation of choreographers. He has created more than thirty choreographic works, including several ballets specially for television, among them his acclaimed reworkings of  Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Giselle.

Having studied both theatre and dance, Ek turned first to the stage. He was twenty-seven when he decided to become a dancer and joined the Cullberg Ballet, the company founded by his mother, Birgit, in the 1960s. Three years later he created his first work. He focused increasingly on choreography and his major breakthrough came in 1982 with Giselle, the first of his revelatory reinterpretations of classical ballets. From 1985 to 1993 he was artistic director of the Cullberg Ballet and, since then, he has continued to collaborate with the company as a guest choreographer.

In this documentary Ek talks about his varied career, his approach to choreography and his ideas about the expressive power of movement. There are substantial extracts from his ballets including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Carmen, Giselle and The House of Bernarda Alba, and Ek is seen rehearsing his dance theatre piece Dans med Nästan.

Among the contributors are dancers Sylvie Guillem, Ivan Auzely, Niklas Ek - his brother - and his wife, Ana Laguna, who has played a key role in his creative development.

Directed by Regina Heidecke and Reiner Moritz