Efva Lilja is an artist working globally with choreography as dance, visual arts, and text in works that take us through various layers of consciousness, erotic episodes, contemplative stillness, or playful moments with a political edge. She is an unconventional artist who offers images and words to be used in the reconsideration of everyday events and actions. She creates works that are often described as very beautiful, poetic, controversial, and pioneering within the field of choreography.

Her works have been performed in around forty countries: in major theaters, intimate venues, on TV, in film, schools, art forums, workplaces, and in public spaces. In 1994, she received a commission for a work, "Entre Nos Espaces" for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, in 1998 "Mareld" for Stockholm, the European Capital of Culture, and as the first Scandinavian artist, she was invited in 2001 to create a work, "The Illuminated Dream Aflame" for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 2001, she staged Akers International with her work "Madness in the Everyday Idyll," and she has created two works, "A Gentle Cut" 2000 and "ELDSTAD" 2003 for the Moderna Museum in Stockholm, to name a few of her major works. Efva Lilja's visual art has been presented in ten solo exhibitions, seven group exhibitions, and in museums in several countries. She lectures and writes articles and books published nationally and internationally.

After several years as a dancer, she made her debut as a choreographer in 1982, and in 1985 her company E.L.D was established as a forum for new choreographic arts, where she worked as a choreographer and artistic director until 2005. In 2006, the organization was handed over to choreographer Anna Koch and restructured into Weld. From 2003 to 2006, Efva Lilja was appointed professor in choreography, and from 2006 to 2013, she served as the rector at DOCH, the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm. From 2014 to January 2015, she worked as an expert in artistic research at the Ministry of Education, and from October 2015 to April 2019, she was the director and artistic director at Dansehallerne in Copenhagen. In parallel with these roles, she continued to work as an artist. Since May 2019, she has been working solely as a freelance artist.

Efva Lilja has a strong engagement for the development of the arts and has held numerous positions of trust. For example, in 2012, she was invited to participate in Team Culture 2012 (EU) and was invited by the then-president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to participate in the project "A New Narrative for Europe" in 2013-2014, as well as in the network related to strategic issues in Forum D'Avignon-Ruhr. In 2016, she was appointed a member of the ECP, the European Cultural Parliament, and invited by the Pope for the Jubileé. In 2019, she became a member of "Disorderly Woman," a network for female leaders in the arts. For the many she is also known as a forerunner of artistic research.

Efva Lilja has received numerous awards, including the Gannevik Grant, the Stockholm City Honorary Award, and being named a cultural awardee by the Swedish Association of Cultural Directors. She has also received the Prix D'Assitej, the Danish State Art Fund's Award Committee Premiering in 2018, the St. Erik Medal, and His Majesty the King's Medal Litteris et Artibus. In competition with 130 films from around the world, her film "Homeward Bound" was awarded first prize at the Il Coreografo Elettronico XIV Festival Internazionale di Videodanza in Naples, Italy, in 2006. Since 1999, she has been an Honorary member of the International Centre for Cultural Relations in Mumbai, India.

The Royal Library's archives preserve all documentation of Efva Lilja's artistic work. For more information, visit Archive.