Igor Kirov was born in Štip, North Macedonia, on February 21, 1976.
He began his ballet education at the State Music and Ballet Education Centre “Ilija Nikolovski – Luj” in Skopje, and later continued his studies at the prestigious Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. He completed his Master’s degree at the Institute for Artistic Dance in Belgrade, Serbia.
As a dancer, he performed with numerous European dance companies, collaborating with renowned choreographers such as Itzik Galili, Ton Simons, Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Jacopo Godani, Ed Wubbe, Carlos Matos, Mei Hong Lin, and others.
Kirov began developing his choreographic work while still performing as a dancer in various dance companies. Since then, he has worked as a choreographer for many national ballet companies and theatres worldwide, including the Macedonian Opera and Ballet, the Croatian National Theatre in Split and Rijeka, national theatres in Germany (Oldenburg, Mainz, Darmstadt, Dresden and Stuttgart), the Graz Opera and the State Theatre in Klagenfurt (Austria), the City Theatre of St. Gallen (Switzerland), the Bordeaux Opera (France), Orlando Ballet in Orlando (USA), Masdanza in the Canary Islands, Equilibrio Dinamico in Bari (Italy), Müpa Theatre in Budapest (Hungary), as well as the SIDance Festival in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2007, he founded his own dance company, The Kirov Dance Company, with which he has received numerous awards and recognitions.
Together with Mojca Majcen, he co-founded the Balkan Dance Project, an initiative aimed at connecting and supporting young and talented dancers and choreographers from the Balkan region.
As a visiting professor, he has taught at academies in Munich, Skopje, Belgrade, and Tokyo.
From 2015 to 2020, Igor Kirov served as the Artistic Director of the Ballet at the Croatian National Theatre in Split.
