FOUR BY DUATO: GNAWA / LIBERTÉ / DUENDE / CANTUS

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In GNAWA, Nacho Duato explores his roots, those of his ancestors and his deep attachment to the Mediterranean world. It’s a piece in which he seeks to convey, through movement, the sensuality of the landscape and the sensibility of the inhabitants... Danced to evocative music full of Spanish and North African sounds, GNAWA is a fascinating work of vibrant power and sensual elegance which combines the spirituality and the organic rhythms of the Mediterranean.

In LIBERTÉ, Duato draws inspiration from songs that composer and singer Toto Bissainthe created for her native country, Haiti. They are songs by slaves who are drawn to the Voodoo cult. Through the liberalising power of the music and dance, the choreography gradually reveals itself to be an impressive and stirring appeal to the audience’s sense of human rights.

For a long time, Duato has been in love with the music of Claude Debussy, particularly with the way the composer transforms the sounds of nature into music. When Duato hears his music, he visualises shapes and forms, not people, relationships or events. For this reason he regards DUENDE as an almost sculptural work – a body, a movement, in harmony with the melody. In a playful way the ballet also examines the possibilities of expressing the various meanings of the word which gives the work its title: having duende could mean possessing personal charm, or magic in the art of flamenco; while duendes have an altogether different character depending on whether they figure in children’s stories or the imagination of superstitious people.

CANTUS tells of the horrors of war from the perspective of young people who are caught up in it, and meditates on how violence and destruction affect their lives. The piece is accompanied by the moving music of Karl Jenkins, which lends further depth and emotional intensity to the tale.

The Spanish choreographer and dancer Nacho Duato began his professional career as a dancer at the Nederlands Danse Theater and Cullberg Ballet. He worked with Maurice Béjart, Alvin Ailey and Jiri Kylian, and then started out on his own journey as a choreographer. In 1990, after several successful years and numerous international awards, Nacho Duato became the artistic director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, where he cemented his international reputation as a choreographer. Amond the awards he has won are the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts and the National Dance Award (Spain), the title Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Prix Benois de la Danse (France).

In 2011, Nacho Duato started bringing his art to Berlin and became director of the Berlin Staatsballett. After his time in Berlin he returned to his engagement at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. Since 2023 he has been fully committed to his young dance company in Madrid, where he is continuing his life’s work and nurturing new talent.

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