Nacho Duato
Born in Valencia/Spain, Nacho Duato began his professional dance education at the age of 18 at the Rambert School in London. He continued his studies at the Mudra School of Maurice Béjart and eventually completed his education at the Ailey American Dance Center in New York.
In 1980, Nacho Duato signed his first contract at the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm. A year later, Jiří Kylián hired him for the Nederlands Dans Theter in Den Haag. For his achievements as a dancer, Nacho Duato was awarded the « VSCD Gouden Dansprijs » in 1987. His talent soon led Nacho Duato beyond being a dancer to devote himself to choreography, too. His first choreography for the Nederlands Dans Theater in 1983, « Jardí Tancat » featuring Spanish-Catalonian music by Maria del Mar Bonet became a highly praised success and earned him the 1st prize of the International Choreographic Competition in Cologne. In 1986, Nacho Duato was appointed house choreographer of the Nederlands Dans Theater together with Hans van Manen and Jiří Kylián. During his time at the Compañía Nacional de Danza, Nacho Duato also worked for other companies. In 1992, he created “Duende” for the Nederlands Dans Theater featuring music by Claude Debussy. At the American Ballet Theatre, he created “Remanso” featuring music by Enrique Granados in 1997 and “Without Words” (Franz Schubert) in 1998.
One year after his 20thanniversary at the Compañía Nacional de Danza, Duato left Spain and was appointed Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 1st2011. There, he staged two world premieres in 2011, „Nunc Dimittis“ and „Invisible“, and developed his own versions of „Sleeping Beauty”, „Romeo and Juliet” and „The Nutcracker”. His newest production „Depakine“ was created for the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2014. Starting with the 2014 / 2015 season, Nacho Duato has become Artistic Director of the Staatsballett Berlin. After staging his choreographies “Sleeping Beauty”, “Multiplicity”, “Forms of Silence and Emptiness”, “White Darkness”, “Herrumbre”, “Castrati” and a new piece called “Static Time”, he will present “The Nutcracker” and another new creation in the ongoing season.
Source: Staatsballett Berlin ‘s website
More information : staatsballett-berlin.de
