A long time ago, Duato discovered the touchstone of dance and his excellent choreographic creation blends music, dancers' movement in a unique language of his own that, always poised and elegantly precise, manages to embody the soul and provide an image to the deepest emotion. (…) The CND is no longer just a company, it is a style that triumphs and captivates; it is the seduction of beauty and its strength has a master’s name, that of Nacho Duato, whose work is the fruit of genius. Nadia Jiménez Castro – Canarias7 (23 January-06).

 

The show shared at the Teatro Real by the choreographers Mats Ek and Nacho Duato is definitive, powerful. They are both contemporary choreographies. Both works overflow with freedom, although from different angles. In any case, there is a first level of common liberty in the bodies, in the movement, in the artistic composition. Dance has attained autonomy, or development, if one prefers; of language that seems not to have a limit. This is one of the signs that, each one in its own way, shines in Alumino (Aluminium) and Herrumbre (Rust) (...). Dance in the 21st Century shows, through such spectacles as these, that it still has much to say.
Juan Ángel Vela del Campo – El País (28 January -05)

With Herrumbre (Rust), the harmonious and lyric choreographer has metamorphosed into the party accusing all totalitarian regimes. His seizure of terror for use against war and terrorism knocks us out. In sixty minutes, Nacho Duato parades a thousand severely harsh images before our eyes. The last image is not the least harsh. The artists placedozens of little red candles on the set of rusty iron, in a sublime homage to the victims at Atocha station. With Herrumbre, Nacho Duato, compellingly equals Goya’s “Second of May” and Picasso’s Guernica: his compatriots and brothers in the fight for peace. (...).
René Sirvin – Le Figaro (21 March -05)

The passion according to Nacho Duato.(...).
A fascinating beauty. A second programme that includes three pieces of a compelling beauty, in the invention and harmony of the choreographies, as well as the perfection of the performers and splendour of the music. The creations by Duato have a personal touch, with constant research into the purest aesthetics without the slightest affectation. They have a completely Spanish nobility, an invention unlimited by the duos and the genius of natural shackles. (...).
René Sirvin – Le Figaro (18 March-05).

Choreographic passages. Snow falls abundantly on the stage designed by Olga Cadaval. In that final scene of the piece Diecisiete (Seventeen) – the lovers, wrapped in the White Darkness blanket of snow – poetically brought an end to the presentation of the National Dance Company directed by Nacho Duato, becoming one of the strongest images of a programme marked by the musicality of the performers’ movements, by the rigour of the interpretation and the poetry. (...).
DT - Expresso (16 July -05)

The youthful public attending clamorously applauded each one of the parts of the show and was struck by the bewitching beauty of Diecisiete (Seventeen), a complex, disturbing, mysterious and subtle work, with a really seductive integration of music and scenery. (...).
Juan Ángel Vela del Campo – El País (28 January -05).

It will soon be fifteen years since Nacho Duato was appointed as director of the CND. The continuity of the choreography has allowed consolidation of a groupwith the highest standards that travels the world with an extremely modernised image of our country.
Luis G. Iberni – La Razón (1 February -05).

Multiplicity told us that music and dance were in fact like blood the body. Concrétense and emptiness together form life, and death. (...).
Ming Pao (11 mar-04).

Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness expressed the formal beauty of Bach´s music with raw and rouge ballet steps that were full of vitality, like Picasso´s paintings on on human bodies.
Tan Kung Pao (18 mar-04).

CND’s performance was so exhilarating!. Every second of Txalaparta was like a sculpture of perfection. My eyes were welled in tears and my soul entered an eternal palace-hell. Now I know the home of Happines is hell, but you won`t regret.
Wen Wei Po (20 mar-04).

Unending roars of “bravo” and “well done lads” smothered the performers of the National Dance Company in applause for another ten minutes. The audience, unmoving and ecstatic, would have seen the whole performance again, right from the beginning. The final ovation could have been confused with that from the most passionate fans at a stadium, something that is not frequent at all in the case of dance. (...).
La Republica (18 July -04).

Irresistible Duato. Bilbao has finally been able to see Multiplicidad, one of the best works by Duato. Based on the pure music of J.S. Bach, he creates a choreography that is, in turn, pure dance. The few more than twenty performers brought a ravishing performance to life on stage. (...).
Karmelo Errekatxo – El Correo (13 December -04).

Multiplicidad. Forms of Silence and Emptiness is a creation of notable strength and originality. The first part provides a deliriously imaginative illustration of three pieces of music. (...) One may consider Duato to be among the best choreographers who write for the major companies and his company is at the highest level in the beauty and homogeneity of its performers, its brilliant technique and discipline, which is particularly evident in the spectacular alignments of dancers. (…).
Le Figaro – René Sirvin (9 March -03).

It is not strange for Nacho Duato to have decided to put Tabulae back on. It is a shining gem in his repertory and one of his fruitful relations with the composer Alberto Iglesias, who created an emotive score that is not wasted on the stage. The fusion of movement and music is inseparable from the concept, a feature that, in turn, is a constant factor in Duato. (...).
El País – Omar Khan (17 October -03).

The other day when I watched Tabulae, the splendid ballet by Nacho Duato, I felt once more that art is the glue of everything we are. That such aerial calligraphy as is ballet, that immense effort by who knows how many people torturing and disciplining their bodies for a whole lifetime, that overflowing creativity of the choreographer, of the music, the dancers, that enormous accumulation of work that ends in tiny, fleeting moments of absolute beauty in the movement of the air and the bodies, in the invisible drops of sweat that fall on the stage, and all that, definitely so beautiful and fragile, represents the best of the human being. (...).
El País Semanal – Rosa Montero (9 November -03).

Duato in all the senses (...)
The success of Ofrenda de Sombras (Offering of Shades) lies in a spectacular stage set that surprises and blends into the dancers’ movement, becoming a fundamental part of the actual choreography.
(...) As to the music by Landowski, (in Sueños de Éter (Ether Dreams)) with the – then innovative – use of suggestive ‘martenot’ waves, rips out a space in which eight women, eight of them, float through the spectral impression of sleep, draped in gauze and sitting on barrack beds. Shades that run through the illuminated spaces and those that are not there, that are hidden and chased. An extraordinary piece in all senses. (...) The evening ended with the expected first night of Castratti. Another look into the baroque, one of Duato’s favourites, that enables him to match his intentions with sounds he perfectly understands.
Alerta – G. Moral Álvarez (7/4 /02).

(...) The artistic nature of (Sueños de Éter (Ether Dreams)) is wisely combined with the rigidity of some aesthetic poses, producing splendid moments: the moment of the sheet that covers the stage and the way in which it is used by the ballerinas, or the use of the beds. The lighting design by Brad Fields and wardrobe by Lourdes Frías round off a most complete work.
El Diario Montañés – MªL. Martín-Horga (7/4 /02).

Hasta pronto (See you soon)
Duato has dared to strip bare his feelings (in White Darkness) and with praiseworthy simplicity has profiled an intense, extremely beautiful poetic elegydedicated to his sister.To speak so clearly and eloquently, and to sublimate that terrible loss, the choreography is packed with striking, overwhelming images, while at the same time being wrapped in a halo of an unusual beauty.
El Mundo –Rosli Ayuso (22/2 /02). Palpitar (Heartbeat)

Emotive, sober, overwhelming performance and brilliant choreography are the adjectives one must apply to the performance by the Compañía Nacional de Danza on Tuesday afternoon at the Lyceum. A performance that returned the heartbeat to dance lovers.
El País – Carmen del Val (21/2 /02).

That touch of distinction
Over his fourteen years as a choreographer, Duato has known how to infuse all his creations with that indefinable touch of distinction. That makes him an absolute luxury, not only for Spanish dance. (…). Thus, we must not forget that, in addition to being an inspired creator, Duato has proven himself to be a stimulating director who knows how to choose and work with the appropriate dancers, who he turns into sublime performers.
La Vanguardia – MarjolijnVan Der Meer (21/2 /02).

(...) in Txalaparta (2001). and in White Darkness(2001). his mastery is absolute, emotive and recreates the aesthetic enjoyment of a balance only achieved by the great masters. These two choreographies have very different formats, inspirations and intentions: while in Txalaparta, the explosion of pure dance takes place with impressive flowingness, with perfectly blended movements, peppered with humour. In White Darkness, an oppressive, gloomy atmosphere envelops a discourse that does not seem to go beyond its tone at any moment. Both works are of striking musicality, with genial translation into movement.
ABC – Pablo Meléndez-Haddad (21/2 /02).

An agonising struggle with White Darkness
is the striking oxymoron of the eve; contrasting words that well describe the world of drugs. The theme is close, while hated by Duato himself, as this choreography refers to the agonising, tragic death of his sister. The theme is shocking and its artistic translation – drugs like snow falling from above to enliven and bury – is highly lyrical. The classical style is abundant in its purest, most expressive root, that gains strength with the music by Karl Jenkins, with baroque and minimalist touches. It is in line with other choreography by him of a more transcendental nature, full of poetry. (...) It is a great poem about the unknown of drugs that revitalise and destroy.
Reseña – José Ramón Díaz Sande (Feb-02).

Star time
(...) Nacho Duato is one of those privileged young choreographers among whom innovation and genius appear to be natural. (...) Like Kylián, Duato seems concerned not only with the essential in the art of dance, but also in never losing sight, with its triple element of the music, man and the musical music that oscillate and spin, between tension and spirituality.

(...) Those honoured to attend the score of images by Duato experienced star time: the fascinating capacity of the choreographer to visualise the music and achieve maximum expressiveness with minimum resources, leaving one intoxicated.(...) The performance by the Compañía Nacional de Danza will linger on unforgotten in Berne. Der Bund – (27/4 /02).

The dance of the superlatives
(...) Even the most sceptic to beauty cannot remain unaffected by the charm of this enthusiastic company, and regrets so often having used such expressions as “virtuoso” and “brilliant”. The fact is that, after this performance, we would like to express ourselves for the first time and one would really have to invent new superlatives.
Tages-Anzeiger – Agathe Blaser(27/4 /02).

Four choreographies, four, from the best contemporary fighting bull farms, were stepped before by the Duato lads, with such perfection and thrust that they overwhelmed the audience. I would say that even those who are not very close to dance, who answer the call of Nacho’s name, would recognise he has gone beyond the commercial lines with wisdom, in addition to his renowned personal charm. (...)
El Punto de las Artes – Víctor M. Burell (18-24 October-02).

The taste of the people of Madrid has been formed by the coherence and prolongation of the career forged by Nacho Duato at the National Company. The fact is that the creative line imposed by the choreographer from Valencia has not only been embodied by the company, but also in his dancers who are already masterful creators, the CND style is expanding and crystallising in the few young groups we have (...)
El Mundo– Julia Martín (5/10/02).

Seattle audiences can be assured that as in Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement this new ballet will contain not only fascinating movement set to beautiful music but also provocation to thought. Multiplicity Hill share the choreographer’s trademark quality, the abulity to surprise the eye and to use the human body in original and unexpected ways to express both strong emotions and complex ideas. (…)
The Seattle Times – Mary Murfin Bayley (17 nov-02).

The Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato and his National Dance Company brought the whole Wilfrid-Pelletier hall to its feet before the last note and last gesture of its show Multiplicidad. Indeed, it is not difficult to succumb to such an exuberant beauty and the rich multiple forms of this work consecrated to the composer Johann Sebastian Bach and his music.(...).
Le Devoir – Fédérique Doyon (3 December -02).

Nacho Duato is an admirable artist. The body, fluidity and impeccable technique of Duato is the image of the company: refinement and perfection, as well
La Presse – Aline Apostolska (1 December -02).

 

(...) Since Nacho Duato assumed command of Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza a tittle more than 10 years ago, he has made this Madrid trouppe into one of Europe’s most prestigious and most admired dance companies. Duato is regarded as one of world’s leading choreographers, and his works are in repertory everywhere, but, as we have seen before, his own troupe delivers them with a a special accent and authority.

(...) The choreography (Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness) is wildly and often witty. (...) Duato has also developed an extraordinary team of dancers – and a team really is the word for this ensemble. Spain ins not just the stomping ground of flamenco anymore.
New York Post – Clive Barnes (27/7/01).

Monastic Silence and Overflowing Happiness
Many choreographers have turned to Bach, but with this homage to Johann Sebastian Bach, the Spaniard Nacho Duato has managed to create something unique. Rarely has music been combined with dance as harmoniously as in this choreography. The Spanish choreographer is brimming with ideas and the National Dance Company has transformed them with such naturalness and sincerity that it is truly a pleasure to see the results.
While maintaining the utmost respect for the music, he does away with the leaden weightiness, replacing it with sensuality, humour and fantasy in a style all his own. An abundance of notes and the perfect visual representation. The ideas seem to come looking for this star choreographer who in recent years has managed to carve a path for himself to the top of his art.
Badisches Tagblatt - Sabine Rahner (21/4/01).

Spain Dances in the First Division
With this visit, the Company has kept the promise made by two of its members when they performed a fragment of this work at the Benois Gala in Stuttgart, making off with no fewer than three of the coveted awards. In addition, it confirmed that Nacho Duato is among the most sought-after European choreographers and that his company has become an object of prestige in Spain's foreign policy. The ovation they received from Baden-Baden was just as enthusiastic.
The respect for tradition combines with modern-day aesthetics to form an extremely fortunate symbiosis - with the music as a source of energy and the dance as an elemental space-conquering force.
The result is a theatrical event of moving vitality. Of course, this requires a groupof ballet dancers in excellent shape, technical virtuosity, a formidable appearance and a willingness to take risks and give your all. The National Dance Company seems to be bursting with juvenile enthusiasm and an excellent troupe of dancers. In the ten years since it was founded, the company has courageously won a place for itself among the leading European ballet companies.
Stuttgarter Zeitung - Horst Koegler (21/4/01).

Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness demonstrates the best thing one can aspire to today with a piece that fills an entire program. The wardrobe, the set design and the plot focus on the essential, i.e. the music and the movement. The respect for the music causes the dance to stop numerous times during the performance. Above all, Duato resolves the field of tension created by paralysis and movement, by contained force and the explosion of the individual dancers with the same stroke of genius as his admired Kylian.
Stuttgarter Nachrichten - Andrea Kachelriess (21/4/01).

From Madrid, a Fascinating Homage to Bach in Baden-Baden
With "Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness", Duato has created a ballet in a contemporary mood that strikes just the right balance with its classical references. Its aesthetic enchantment, the formal perfection and the masterly use of music captivates the public. They are combined to form a rich and profound evening of dance in which there are no surprises and in which Bach's music seems to have been composed purposely for every instant.
Neueste Nachrichten - Rolf Fath (22/4/01).

Display of talent and sensibility
Movements of impulse are enough in the piece Arcangelo in order to notice, almost with incredulity, that, on stage, a high level dance of exceptional boldness and superiority is taking place. The dancers of the Compañía Nacional de Danza showed, in the Theatre of Maestranza, to be artists of proved ambition and who have what is takes to carry on with more than one physical and aesthetic achievement. (…)
Nacho Duato has truly found an appropriate technique and a correct style in order to present these three pieces in a programme, where both the excess of talent and the artistic sensibility proliferate, for what is already the dance of the new millennium.
El Correo- Amalia Cabeza (21st February, 2001).

Nacho Duato: evidences of a choreographic evolution
The return of the Compañía Nacional de Danza to the Cantabrian stages, after a long bracket of three years, has coincided with the celebration of its tenth anniversary and with a programme that could well be a homage to its artistic director. (…)
The programme offered concluded with Lamento, a piece that Duato created, in 1990, for the Nederlands Dans Theater and involves a travel along the tormenting path of human pain and suffering. Lamento is a faultless choreographic work that plunges us into a grey and hurtful world and in which the alternation and the dialogue between the choral movement, in duets and individually, is produced with an exceptional coherence, musicality and rhythm. The variety in the layout of groups provides highly expressive moments, also backed by the contrast of mobility and immobility and by Walter Nobbe's stage design and Edward Effron's lightning.
The vocabulary of steps is rich in this piece which, having all the virtues of pieces that combine the freshness and naturalness of talent with thorough work, resists an analysis which goes beyond the mere emotional response.
El Diario Montañés- Mª L. Martín-Horga (11th February, 2001).

Movement of moment in a dazzling display
The Compañía Nacional de Danza takes your breath away. The quality of its opening program is dazzling for the way the dancers move, the material they work with -choreography by Spain's Nacho Duato, who is also artistic director- and the style of the production.
(...) A mix of classic and contemporary influences on Duato's creativity has resulted in a company with striking flexibility and attack. The dancers move every which way with no obvious signs of preparation in their light, speedy turns of phrase actions happens as though it springs from within
SMH - Jill Sykes (22/01/01).

 

Bach with love and reverence
It was a challenge to create a complete work on the music of Bach, without dwarfing the choreographer, but Nacho Duato has done it. With love and reverence he has exquisitely stitched a collage in which the Baroque genius is perfectly explained as a character, and where his music transcends with the sense of modernity and multiplicity that history has granted him.

If Duato is a master in the translation of the impulse of the notes into dance, here he has taken care with the depth, the transparency of ideas, and the dramatic ties. There is something for all tastes in the motivations of the dance: resonant vitality, rhythm, feeling, portrait. The members of the magnificent company burst from their seats to become instruments vibrating under Bach's baton.

(…) The first part of the show is vibrant, joyful, intimate, unrestrained, witty, and transcendental. Rich in ideas, gestures, and stage tones (…) The second part of Multiplicidad, Formas de Silencio y Vacío (Multiplicity, Forms of Silence and Emptiness) is denser, with loneliness and fog. Duets are repeated as memories of love, and there is death already accepted.
El Mundo - Julia Martin (9/6/00).

Fragments of Duato at his best
(…) Multiplicidad, the first part of this choreography, is without a doubt one of Nacho Duato's finest works (…) each fragment has its choreographic intention, and the end result is a performance filled with beautiful moments, into which the Valencian creator has poured himself.
ABC - Julio Bravo (8/6/00).

The artist contemplating art
Last night, one of the most eagerly awaited events of the spring took place at the Teatro Real: the new premieres by the Spain's most recognized and world-renowned choreographer. Duato did not disappoint. Once again he transported us to a world of suggestions, aimed at interesting and current themes with the beauty of shapes in space and time. With rich nuances from the prodigious hands of director Jordi Savall, the performances become exceptional works of art.
La Razón - Nieves Esteban (1/6/00).

With permission
(…) Nacho Duato is great again, both in the cultural foundation of his show and in his commendable choreographic work. The dancers of the Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND) masterfully interpret the privileged selection of beautiful compositions by Bach, but without a doubt, what is most appreciated is the great beauty that the dancers know how to offer, and which so often ultimately is not given to us to enjoy. The audience that filled the Liceu on the opening night of the show also recognized this with its long and warm applause.
La Vanguardia - Marjolijn Van Der Meer (20/1/00).

Bach lands onstage
If, as an admirer once said, "Bach is God", then with the help of Nacho Duato and his Compañía Nacional de Danza, the composer descended to earth and settled on the stage of the shining Liceu. Duato has paid an extremely personal tribute to the one known as "the fifth evangelist". He has found a devilishly close tone, which will probably set differences with everything that has been done in the area of choreography based on Bach upuntil now.
Duato knew three things clearly: that the music of Bach has an exceptional dramatic component; that it is not music that is beautiful, but rather music that requires the listener to live with it; and, also that it does not require visual support since it enters the soul of the listener directly. All of these factors have given him enormous freedom, with which he has played brilliantly, crossing the borders between music and movement with surprising ease.

(…) A great ballet, which, without a doubt had an unbeatable libretto: that of music in capital letters.
El Mundo - Rosli Ayuso (20/1/00).

Bach sublimates movement
To accept the challenge of the music of Bach is for the brave or the ignorant. Duato is one of the former, and now, with sufficient experience as a choreographer, has dared to use it. Conscious and trapped by a feeling of attraction towards the composer, Duato, respectful and daring, shows that he is well enough armed to emerge unscathed from this great dialogue in which Bach sublimates movement. Alone on the stage, austere and dressed in black, Duato cuts a powerful figure, which, as the dance progresses, reaches solemn dimensions. Absolute master of his still fine dance form, with this solo he is asking the genius to pardon him for his daring. Following these minutes of humility, emotion bursts forth in the form of musical notes and choreographed movement.

(…) and nothing would be the same without the dancers. It would be unfair to mention names because all shine in their personalities and back the solidity of the group.
El Periódico - Montse G. Otzet (23/1/00).

A happy birthday
(…) The Compañía, full of strength, was again an example for the world of dance, provoking enthusiasm in the public, with a full house.

(…) Although the elements could seem complex, as in the case of Mediterrania, the effect is sensitive and even sensualist, and the paraphernalia seems to be lost on creating a climate that music, light and dance provoke on the well rounded off, solid and, why not? spectacular ensemble.
El Punto de las Artes- Víctor M. Burell (27th Oct-2nd Nov, 2000).

Trip to hell
Victims and hangmen. Violence and torture. The spectator travels to the hell of a concentration camp while sitting in his/her seat at the Royal Opera House in Madrid. This is the proposal of the Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND) for the opening of the season 2000-2001 in Madrid's top theatre. Lamento, one of the most committed works of Duato, is a face to face with the Holocaust. However, perhaps it intends to go beyond that. It is a head-to-head with the intolerance that consumes us everyday; also here, in Spain. An up-to-date choreography, especially nowadays, so needed, as we are, of reflection; so used, as we are, to question the Nazis' barbarism, the death caravans, the persecution of the "different" and so many other miseries. Górecki's Third symphony embraces this piece, based on the death of a child, his parents' pain and the schizophrenia of a groupof convicts in an atmosphere full of desolation and miseries. There is a social commitment and this embellishes art. Lamento is a great ballet.

It is difficult to set out the drama on a stage from the balanced point of view. Without excesses. Without easy escapes. What can some dancers tell about the Holocaust? Difficult answer. To build a world of so primary feelings, and at the same time, so complex using the silent language of the body, is infinitely more difficult than to enchain a set of steps. However, this is the best move of the choreography: its emotional intensity. In this creation (first performed by the Nederlands Dans Theater II in 1990), Duato has set upa dramatic construction of overwhelming strength (…).
El País- Gregorio Rodríguez (14th September, 2000).

Reality portraits
Last night, in the season opening of the Royal Opera House in Madrid, the already valued legacy with which Duato is writing the future, has been further increased. He presented a difficult and risky programme, three short pieces on similar subjects: suffering, evil, and the power of some over others, those who suffer. He added, to the wealth of his perceptions over the crudest of realities, an equal and surprising ability in the aesthetic and formal conception, expressing, with plurality, the different ways of suffering, making totally different these three pieces.

(…) Duato is an artist, who shows that art, apart from being beauty and poetry, is also the maximum and deepest model of human reality, and reminds us that, in our reality, there is much that ought to be changed. We shall have to wait until May to admire again Duato's choreographic, aesthetic and philosophic genius.
La Razón- Nieves Esteban (14th September, 2000).

Inventive and Elegant
(…) Ofrenda de Sombras (Shadow Offering) reveals many surprises, dramatic or Baroque scenes, in an inventive and always elegant choreographic style.
(…) Arcángelo (Archangel), another harmonious creation, illustrates with a succession of different duets concerti grossi de Corelli (…) The choreographer also offers something that is very rare in our times: love duets that evoke sweetness and peace.
Le Figaro - René Sirvin (3/7/00).

When the protagonist is dance. Duato and the world of the past
(…) Por Vos Muero (I die for you) needs no introduction, simply because I consider this work, which premiered in 1996, to be the masterpiece of its creator still. The simplification of the elements evokes a sense of perfection that the music that is used possesses in its mixture of grace and populism, ingenuity, and analysis of the sentiments. But I do not want enthusiasm and emotion to subtract words from the two openings of this season: Arcángelo, with music by Corelli, and Ofrenda de Sombras, which also uses old music styles in a fascinating and superficial electronic collage created by Alberto Iglesias, lend continuity and also magnificence to a "duatan" line that has obtained, or that must obtain, universal recognition.
El Punto de las Artes - Víctor M. Burell (9-15/6/00).

 

Castles in Spain and beyond
Talent, beauty, and grace - either you have them or you don't - but, though no one knows how, sometimes they enchant everything in their way. Although he comes from Spain, where he directs the Compañía Nacional de Danza, Nacho Duato possesses universal talent, and in his choreography, develops a language that does not know time, fashion, borders, and the ideas received. Ballet is outdated? Before accepting this cliché, you must see Remansos, Self, and Por Vos Muero, three works that feed off of tradition and history, with the freshness of the present, performed with grace and virtuosity by the dancers of the Compañía Nacional de Danza. It is Art in capital letters - good, beautiful, and it leaves you wanting more. Before dance, there was music. And dance, before becoming art, with all that this involves, had a social function. The music of Remansos was composed at the beginning of the century; the music of Self is a new collaboration between Duato and the talented Alberto Iglesias; and in regards to the music of Por Vos Muero, it has its roots in the Spanish Golden Age at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century. A choreographed program created as a journey from music's origins upto the present day. Three works that are supported on the language of classical ballet, but without being tied to it, and which embody love, loneliness, playfulness, tenderness, sensuality, and madness. Three works whose formal beauty will surely seduce all audiences. Three shows performed by dancers without equals. And what can we say about the sets? They are signed by Nacho Duato, making us wonder whether the choreographer possesses, and this may be true, all talents. In summary, a show of such quality that it offers a well deserved rest to the modern spectator.
Le Devoir - Julie Bonchard (25/11/99).

Ovation for the Spanish guests
Wednesday night, the Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid, invited by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, presented three premieres in Montreal before a theater filled to overflowing. The audience did not hesitate to offer an ovation to the dancers and to the work of their choreographer and artistic director, Nacho Duato. In the program, with works with less Mediterranean flavor than those of Jardi Tancat or Cor Perdut, which form part of the repertoire of the GBC, but just as grand and magnificent, Remansos, Self, and Por Vos Muero, which, although each has a very different tone, present irrefutable proof of the inventiveness of Nacho Duato. Remansos is the happiness of living that leaves a smile on your lips. The movement is like lace: nervous and complex, but at the same time light and fluid. The dancers sculpt the space filled with the mischievous and playful piano music of Enrique Granados.

With Self, the key changes completely. Using the totally contemporary music of Alberto Iglesias, Nacho Duato explores the twists and turns of the subconscious in a surrealistic style. The work is fluid and difficult to frame. While the music is loaded one minute and minimalist the next, the movement is tortuous, cold, and sculptural. The culmination of the evening, Por Vos Muero, evokes all of the effervescence and lightness of the popular dances of long ago. Using the magnificent Spanish music from the 15th and 16th centuries, directed by Jordi Savall, the groups intermingle, with elegance and good humor, in a series of pictures, each more splendid than the last. A balm for the soul.

In each one of these works, the movement created by Nacho Duato and performed by the dancers with breathtaking virtuosity and precision, seems to vary infinitely. The choreographer enjoys himself by breaking down and varying the codes of classical dance, with just the right amount of impertinence to maintain the emotional charge and beauty. Prises, portécs, and appuis unite the dancers with originality and daring. The bodies interlace, and the lines, so perfect, break, or suddenly evaporate to allow all of the humanity of the beings to filter through.

But the creations of Nacho Duato really draw all of their beauty from the strength of the almost perfect fusion between the energy of the bodies and the music. Enhanced by a purified stage design, each choreographic phrase, every gesture accentuates the envoleés, the rondeurs, or the silences of the music, and multiplies its evocative power. Thanks to the alchemy of Nacho Duato, music becomes flesh. Another important discovery: the pieces by the Spanish choreographer leave ample space for duos, trios, and groupsections for men, a very nice practice that is still very infrequent in our times.
La Presse / Stéphanie Brody (25/11/99).

Dazzling control
The best impression that the Compañía Nacional de Danza leaves with us, within the programme offered at the Teatro Real of Madrid, is the extremely high level of the dancers, their artistic and technical dedication, their dazzling control of the complex, sophisticated, elaborate and almost impossible movements arranged in sequence by Duato. The latter has evolved from being one of the best and most interesting choreographers in the world to being a choreographer with an utmost personal style and a special hallmark. Among the choreographies exhibited by the director of the Compañía Nacional de Teatro, it is in Remansos -about Granados's dances and waltzes- that the beauty of the music and the beauty of the danced movement meet in unison like an exact and precise replica which is, at the same time, enriching.
La Razón - Nieves Esteban (7thNovember, 1999).

The sense of language
(...) We have had the opportunity to admire again his Remansos, a most beautiful piece, commissioned by the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, in 1997, and whose movement transmits the inner feeling and the poetic substance that emanate from Granados. Duato captures this poetic substance in each sequence, while he builds on each note a structure rich in figures and elated dynamic combinations. He already announced this change towards bigger, creative commitments when Self was first staged in 1997. Self is an open and abstract piece, linked to Iglesias's concrete and plain music, in which both creators digress, with a nervous coming and going, about the development and the changes of life and the longing to find the immutability of the beings. This piece, which was danced with excellent definition and risk-taking, left a feeling of mystery, very significant indeed.

(...) All the incomparable lessons of the master can be found in Sinfonía de los Salmos. It is a wonderful piece, model of so many copies as Kylian is of so many choreographers. Its structure is clear, with a complete order of shots which allows the emergence of a natural exaltation, individually or in couples, with an aerial effect and spiral trajectories. Finally, everybody walks slow and safe, victorious and mystically towards the back of the stage.
El Mundo- Julia Martín (6th November, 1999).

The fertile memory
Nacho Duato has not been afraid of facing upto his past and has contrasted, in the programme which was premiered yesterday in the Teatro Real of Madrid, two of his most recent choreographies with Kylian's historic Sinfonía de los Salmos. This spectacle fascinated him in the time and largely influenced his subsequent conception of dance. This fascination is understandable. The Sinfonía de los Salmos maintains an astonishing vitality, more than 20 years after being staged for the first time. In the movement, in the development, in the flexibility of the bodies, in the geometries, in a plain and suggestive scenography, with a board of carpets and two groups of four chairs each. The dancers show their technical agility and, especially, the assumption of some spiritual contents, thanks to the autonomy of the dance.

(...) From Remansos, with music of Granados, the variety of gesture and volume values, the dialogue with the material elements, the drawing of the space, the inner force of the movements and the poetry of integration of the different stimulus are kept. However, all these things reach a more subtle, complex and enriching dimension in relation to what was seen in the Teatro of Madrid more than a year ago, thanks to the superb lightning of Nicholas Fischtel and the live music of the magnificent pianist Albert Guinovart.

(...) In his new appearance in Madrid, Nacho Duato has presented a spectacle in which the global aspects are more important than the individual performances, although the latter are impeccable. He has favoured the work of the Company above all. Moreover, he has showed again his loyalties: to his maestro Kylian, to the compositor Alberto Iglesias, to the conductor Pedro Alcalde. The Valencian choreographer has tenacity, instinct and modesty.

(...) Nacho Duato's fertile memory, the cohabitation with his furious angels or his ghosts of the future and the acceptance of the current moment as a sign of maturity have made this magnificent spectacle presented at the Teatro Real possible.
El País Juan Ángel Vela del Campo (6th November, 1999).

Nacho Duato and the Teatro Real
(...) Remansos (...) Subtlety, fantasy and mystery are the three notes that define this work that has been magnificently undertaken. Along these lines, we find Self, a essential piece of abstraction that rises feelings of subjectivism and intimate confession, which are perfectly reflected by an impeccable Company.
El Punto de las Artes - Víctor M. Burell (12th to 18th November, 1999).

Nacho Duato at the Archivêché: An almost quasi apotheosic conclusion.
At its first show at the Archivêché, and thanks to its only foreign guest, the Danse à Aix Festival offers a wonderful choreographic evening. If one had to choose between the three ballets of Nacho Duato proposed by the Compañía Nacional de Danza, the task would be impossible. How could one choose one and discard the other? How could one say that the quasi-"ethnic" dance Gavines i Dragons is more interesting than the graphics of Remansos or than the historic reminiscences of Por vos muero? Quite impossible. I choose all three to combine them in the same feeling of joy, pleasure and enthusiasm. (...)

He always finds the right step, the sensitive chord or the intelligent opposition. Nacho Duato never goes too far and he never falls behind. He finds himself marvellously in the good moment, at the right pace, in the correct direction. And nowadays, his dance is undoubtedly the one with the most things to say to us all, because he can draw out from his origins, still very present, the universality of a piece of art.
La Provence - Michèle Taddei (6th August, 1999).

Nacho Duato: a graceful dancer.
Within the context of the Danse à Aix Festival, the Spanish choreographer has dived the audience of the Theatre of the Archivêché into his world.

Unanimous ovation.
There is something indescribable in Nacho Duato's dancing, something so deep that frights are only felt after the shock, once the emotion has vanished. The choreographic work brims with meticulousness, rigour and originality. The Spanish choreographer draws from the sources of the body the strength and the energy that allow him to dare (and achieve) to make movements out of the time and the space.

Some of them are beautiful, simply because it is difficult to imagine them otherwise. The curves of the bodies change from a line to a knot, from the tension to a spring in an insolently graceful and easy way. The movement of the hands hypnotises the eyes. Of course, we discern a classic strength used by the choreographer to do what he wants. But, could it be otherwise? How could one express María del Mar Bonet's music or Spanish medieval ballads but by respecting them the way they are? Classic works. Nacho Duato's talent also lies in the capacity of making the bodies say what the music says, letting them be carried (or flown away) by the music. Danse à Aix didn't make a mistake by inviting the Compañía Nacional de Danza and its choreographer. The Theatre of the Archivêché was stunned and the birthplace of renovated lyric art has undoubtedly found a new myth.
La Provence - R.L. (6th August, 1999).

In Perelada, Nacho Duato shows the blinding genius of his latest creations
(...) Duato's Without Words had its opening night in New York last year, and it may be considered one of the best pieces by the creator in recent times, which brings together the concept of "modern dance" with the purest neoclassical, although without points. The body language Duato has imposed on the dancers is always flowing and musical. Each scene is full of poetry, of tenderness, and is presented as a homage by a dancer to dance. The performers in the work proved themselves to be so immersed in the discourse that they moved the audience. In Without Words, Duato has taken an enormous step forward in the definition of his own style. The technical and expressive power of the Company was shown in Gavines i Dragons, a rereading of Arenal y Jardí Tancat, which gives rise to a grand format ballet full of vitality. The return of Duato has brought a fortunate reencounter, backed by a troupe with passion and technique, the basic elements to conquer any kind of audience.
ABC - Pablo Meléndez Haddad (24/7/99).

Nacho Duato seduces with a programme showing his choreographic evolution
Seduction and good dance were provided by the National Dance Company on its second visit to the Peralada Festival, following a four year absence.
(...) The members of the National Dance Company once more showed their great quality as performers and their seductive personality.
(...) Without Words was the best of the evening (...). It shows a choreographer in full creative maturity, evolving and faithful to himself.
The piece, of a cool beauty and rich in dancing terms, crystallises the line followed by the choreographer in his last works. His bid consists of stripping the movement of all superfluous elements and aims to be directed by a profound feeling that provokes an expressive gesture. Aesthetic abstraction, pure feeling.

The choreographic phrases are fertile in their combinations and elegantly executed. The maximum of the songs by Franz Schubert, along with the choreographic vocabulary, achieve an intense, dramatic portrayal of the solitude and desolation that inspires them. The groupscenes are vital and the pas de deux et trois sublime. The dancers wallow in a melancholic body to body dialogue. They stretch out the emotion by slowing down the movement.
El País - Carmen del Val (25/7/99).

Innsbruck, the stage for a marvellous adventure
(...) Gavines i Dragons, with music by María del Mar Bonet, Remansos, through the piano works of Enrique Granados, and Por Vos Muero, with a set of scores from our "Golden Age", are now three historical creations in the world of dance, which sweep through as many other masterful movements by the Valencian choreographer. There is spirit in the three, not just dancing for the sake of dancing, but rather three perfumes to express the depth of three quite different worlds (...).
Jordi Savall - Nacho Duato; National Company Hespèrion XX, Capella Reial; this was the communion that showed the geniality of the two powers by offering us a unique show, that should be seen all over the planet, so nobody may feel unfulfilled for not having seen it, as each dancer, each singer, each musician, are enviable exponents of their relevant arts.
El Punto de las Artes - Víctor Burell (6-31/7/99).

Bodily melody - incense
(...) The National Dance Company, Spain's flagship dance theatre, left its unmistakeable trace on the stage of the Tiroler Landestheater (...).
Gavines i Dragons reveals the peculiar characteristics of Duato: his calm virtuosity, his great musical affinity, the similarity of the masculine and feminine expression and an enormous tempo, that, however, is not expressed in sportingness, but rather in permanent mutation of the details.The agile dancers have absorbed that style of a particularly versatile flowingness of movements, and are full of grace and perfection. The foundations of classical ballet are not placed at doubt, which confers tension to any variation and even solves it with humour.
(...) In Remansos, to the ravishing piano music of Enrique Granados, there is the lyricism and humour of Duato. Duato finds fascinating positions here.
Tiroler Tageszeitung - U. Strohal (8/7/99).

Más allá del ser (Beyond being)
For some time Duato has walked among the chosen, those who spread the most divine in the human being, rising ... above being. In Without Words, melting into the melodic depth of the master of the lied, using movement with the same flexibility as water, barely dressing his dancers in flesh colour to add more purity, if possible, to a choreography where the soul is transported to the impalpable from the nostalgia of the ephemeral, the fleeting, the perishable (...), he shows us all the sensitivity, the delicacy and the lyric nature of the great poets of the movement.
La Razón - Nieves Esteban (20/6/99).

Beauty and feeling The National Dance Company offered Madrid a new evening of beauty and solvency. There are few in the world with such quality and uniformity (...). Nacho Duato has taken a good path on which he rests on emotive classical music, and lets loose his capacity to write about the notes and what they transmit (...). Enhanced by their bareness as in Without Words, which blooms in the language of adagio, rescuing the classical keys and applying a subtle meaning to each gesture, an atmosphere of tenderness and melancholy to each scene, of essential romanticism. The dynamic tension and physical nature of the language are far from serving the banality of times gone by, and the public lived and applauded it with great, profound admiration.
El Mundo - Julia Martín (20/6/99).

Maturity is only achieved in time
(...) Time is even more necessary for the best. Going upthe steps one by one provides, in addition to security, a panoramic view of such a restful surroundings as the slope the hill-side offers us. Nacho Duato is a good example of the aforementioned and his show by the National Dance Company a certificate of good practice, first due to letting two members of the groupthrough once more.
En los segundos ocultos by Nicole Fonte and Kelmady by Patrick de Bana greatly fulfilled the confidence of the young director and Without Words, with the most delicate of Schubert's chamber music, later showed that the apparent daring of the master was nothing other than maturity, the sufficient maturity to be able to approach the essence of the best romanticism so that, without losing the slightest spirit, he could turn it into absolute contemporariness, in which the similarity of the scores gave rise to the most subtle details. Elegance and strength, with these ingredients, a precious wardrobe and extraordinary illumination, the CND presented one of the most beautiful shows in recent seasons.
El Punto de las Artes - Víctor Burell (25 June - 8th July 99).

Bach's music elegantly visualised
Dance is the body, the body is dance. Bach's music is visualised in the startling choreography by Nacho Duato. (...) The National Dance Company was a reasonably unknown company when the dancer and choreographer Nacho Duato became its Director in 1990 (...) Now, 10 years and many ballets later, we find a choreographer who has set himself free and has developed a style and dance language of his own. It is he who sets the quality standard in the show for the eve by dancing the prologue and final fugue of Multiplicidad and he sets a very high standard.
He soon shows that the rest of the dancers in the company have no problems in complying with that standard, and due to that is easy to understand why the National Dance Company has worked under Duato's direction to become one of the best in Europe. The repertory of the Company is ample and includes works by the most well known living choreographers in the world. (...) Multiplicidad is a choreographic reflection on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and is a long aesthetic excursion through solos, duos, trios and great orchestral compositions. (...).
The first part is active and an affirmation of life. A marvellous part is the prelude in which the choreographer lets Bach, who is so present on stage, be dragged into his own music, and his own interpretation turns the cello into a living body. In the second part, where the shadow of death enters, Duato shows a great fantasy and tension in his work. He fully masters the swift, intricate combinations of steps and, in movements of joint complex dances, one feels surprised and considerers how it is possible to make the bodies interact together. (...) The dancers fully show that a high technical standard leaves the dancer free to concentrate on what is really in the scene, the content of the movements, the expression and communication through the music. An elegant encounter and a beautiful excursion.
Frederick Rütter

Dancers' homage to Bach
It was an event full of force and grace, between the music of the Baroque and the expression of the dance of our time performed by the National Dance Company (CND) in the Grieghall. The performance was a brilliant inauguration of the 47th Festival of Bergen.
(...) The Spanish ballet troupe from Madrid takes us on a trip through the musical world, where the past and future are to be found and universes of different sounds are broadcast. The dancers formally allow "themselves to be played", as if the bow on the violin were to caress the legs of the ballerina. The first part of the journey transmits - as the title states - a multiplicity of richness of colours, movement and music. It transports us spontaneously and statically from one ballet duet to another. (...).
We allow ourselves to be fascinated by the dancing orchestra, which is like seeing the instruments come to life as if they were in a fairy tale. After a moving, feverish hour before the interval, the dancers go onto the second part, Formas de Silencio (Forms of Silence) and Vacio (Vacuum), indeed a more tranquil, sombre performance. Here, we enter deeper into the actual life of Bach, and it all becomes more spiritual and intimate (...). Bach died, but his music lives on. And as shown in this performance, his music may be used in settings other than concert halls. It is a pity that the last show was yesterday, because surely many others would have wished to witness the Spanish ballet in the great hall at Bergen (...).
It is a lifelong memory.
Dagen - Hilde Kleppesto Robertsen (21/5/99).

The crystal cubicle awaits the Soul
(...) Duato creates his choreographies in unit form,and his conceptions are often rounded out by the design of the sets and costume. His content rich work began in Frankfurt with Self, to music by Alberto Iglesias, a very expressive work that portrays Mankind in the hustle-bustle of our time in search of himself. Above, quite high up, immobile in a far cubicle of a pale blue tone, awaits the true Ego, that from which Mankind draws its vital force, if it may be perceived, while below there is the swarming struggle for existence. The movement takes place in changing light, floating, cut off and, sometimes, almost magical sequences. The feelings become movement, with bizarre elements and in waves, in expressive pas de deux with launching elements placed precisely.
Remansos playfully transports the spectator to the Calm Isles. To scores by Enrique Granados, most poetic choreographies arise around a rose placed on the empty stage: in harmony and with such light lifting as feathers they interpret the dance to the rhythm of the waltz, without sending the audience to sleep with pompousness. Fondness and vehemence, clear lines and playful elements are brought together in the most beautiful way.

Por Vos Muero, inspired by Spanish dance and the 15th and 16th Centuries, supported by poems by De la Vega, joins tradition and modernism and provides a strong memory of the courtly dances of the Renaissance. In the steps formed, first fiery and then sober, although also with softly marked pas de deux, Duato proves the richness of his fantasy. The precise play of the hands makes surprising profiles of movement arise. The public was ravished.
Frankfurter Neue Press - Almuth Murawski (10/5/99).

Geometry and warmth
A real apotheosis. Nacho Duato has completed, after his marvellous Romeo & Juliet, his most complex and difficult choreography most successfully. The show is most beautiful, from the austerity required of the very music by Bach, to the geometric choreography, that is also expressive and differentiated in both parts of the show, to the tones of light, that are very detailed, although fleeing all external splendour and brightness. Duato has chosen a series of musical fragments from different works with instrumentalisations that are equally so, and has composed a full accolade of abstract ballet in the style of Balanchine, which becomes, above all in the second part, surprising in human warmth. Geometry may also be emotive.
(...) What is surprising about the show is the multiplicity of choreographic signs, a most rich code of combinations, and the treatment of the dancers in their solos and integration in the ensembles. The technical capacity of each and every one of the performers is amazing. All of them are absolutely dedicated and form a whole that opens upa splendid future for the Compañía Nacional de Danza.
El Norte de Castilla - Fernando Herrero (10/4/99).

Stroll through Bach's music & mind
A sublime beginning: Duato crumpling himself uplike a sponge, with nervous gestures, stretching his body in a desperate attempt to absorb the music and understand Bach's most hidden thoughts, which are omnipresent throughout the whole show (...).
Marvellous dancers, all in search of curved- line perfection. And Bach is present to use those bodies as musical instruments to try to extract the most extremely perfect note, which provides duos that are portentously artistic (...).
In this marvellous musical collage (...) there is strength and warmth in all the dancers' movements, and great imagination is shown by Duato by equipping each of the 13 phrases of multiplicity in a rich wardrobe that enhances each one of the sets, as in a scene from fencing, or the surprising duo of dancing bees. The lighting work is intelligent, as are the bare stage sets by Chalabi (...). Duato brings the spectator nearer to the thought of Bach, his doubts, his reflections, the insistent play on death, his idea of male and female (...).
El Mundo - Carlos Toquero (11/4/99).

A great show
The performances all the members of the Compañía Nacional de Danza were of the most refined perfection: neither a doubt nor a vacillation and not even the smallest slip-upaffected the beauty of the ballets offered to Saragossa's public. The audience applauded them fervently and at length. They really deserved it. In short, the evening was a huge success for the Compañía Nacional de Danza and its choreographers and dancers who offered at the Teatro Principal a great show in terms of its austere forms and essential beauty.
Heraldo de Aragón - Joaquín Arancia (18/2/99).

Full creative maturity
Although it seems incredible, the thing is that, after so many years of success, Duato still surprises us with his new creations and with his dancers' ever- increasing level of interpretation. (...) Without Words (...) recalls that emotive atmosphere, impregnated with a melancholic obsession for love and death, so representative of the composer's period. Duato describes it to us with a contemporary touch, via his language that seems more and more consolidated between musicality and tension. It is like an intriguing exercise, which always keeps alive the spectator's attention. All in all, a very special evening thanks to a company, which delivers all of its performing talent, and thanks to Duato who is in full creative maturity.
La Vanguardia - Marjolijn van der Meer (9/2/99).

 

Many shows in one
(...) The Compañía Nacional is a magnificent formation in a great moment. It combines a great technique with a dazzling dramatisation.
(...) Remanso is poetry, playful elasticity, amazing because of its vitality and lightness.
El Mundo - Pedro Barea (12/12/98).

True love
Romeo and Juliet, which has lead to the "House Full" sign to be posted at the Maestranza Theatre is one of Duato's best works (...) dancers with an impeccable technique also fill each moment of the show with interpretation. (...) Duato has been able to "tell" a story with the romanticism and sweetness of Juliet's fifteen years and with the greatness and imagination of a mediaeval court: arms, swordsmen, merchants, parties... (...) Nacho Duato's choreography is brilliant and, at the same time, full of sobriety. (...) Duato reassures himself of a place in the choreographic universe, entering the difficult constellation of the ballets with a plot.
Diario de Andalucía - Marta Carrasco (15th November, 98).

Telling without words
The public of the Maestranza Theatre received with a sold out, as always, the Compañía Nacional de Danza directed by Nacho Duato. (...) In Romeo and Juliet, the choreographer fills the stage with turns, movements that sometimes are long and fluid and others are short and broken, but always filled with vitality and dynamism, in the groupscenes as well as in the duets and in the solos. (...) All the dancers, handsome and believable, who are involved in the story show the rigour and the highest technical level that Duato has always sought in the work of the Compañía Nacional de Danza.
El Correo de Andalucía - Rosalía Gómez (15th November, 1998).

What emotion is worth
The Romeo and Juliet version that Nacho Duato has created for the Compañia Nacional de Danza, which opened last Friday night in Seville, is touching, human, and, above all, filled with emotion. House full, the tickets having been sold out weeks ago. (...) The result: huge applause. (...) The groupscenes are perfectly defended and Duato does not spare any means so that each and every dancer can show his skills to the greatest possible degree. This Company has achieved a technical and artistic level that can be equated to the world's best ballet companies. (...) All the compositions where the ballet groups appear show clean lines, have a homogenous style and ,above all, are justified in the whole context of the work. (...) The tragedy can be felt from the very beginning and reaches its ultimate expression in the final scene of Juliet's death, which is deeply moving.
ABC- África Calvo (15th November, 1998).

Ardour
It's been a long time since on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Theatre, one of the most beautiful national stages of the Parisian region, hangs the sign "House Full" for the four performances of Nacho Duato's Romeo and Juliet. (...) Nacho Duato faithfully follows the Prokofiev's music score and the choreography adjusts to the smallest details, which results in both a very classical and in a very personal version. (...) The choreographer revives the story of the Lovers of Verona with great emotion. The scene of the reencounter between Juliet and Romeo is of a breathtaking poetry.
(...) Nacho Duato shows a great tenderness in the love scenes, to which Mar Baudesson, Juliet, and Kim McCarthy, Romeo, contribute a moving sensibility, while the duels and combats are of a spectacular violence. These scenes are carried out in a brilliant fashion by a ballet group, endowed such energy that it wins the admiration of the audience. Patrick de Bana's Tibalto is exceptional. Luis Martín Oya's Mercutio and Thomas Klein's Capuleto are extraordinary. Nacho Duato has been able to create characters that are human and close to the audience. The whole first act reflects an enthusiastic and optimistic youth, while the second act plunges into drama. (...) Nacho Duato's ballet is a long dance movement full of ardour and passion. Which is to say, that Nacho Duato and his Romeo and Juliet stand at a very high level and he shares the top position with the best contemporary choreographers.
Le Figaro - René Sirvin (3rd October, 1998).

Simplicity and elegance
(...) Nacho Duato is obsessed about telling the story of this two young lovers in a clear way through movement. He tells the story with sobriety, describing the different situations with a simple elegance, moving the groups in relation to the creation of environments, giving a boost to the elements of language, especially with the main couple. (...) I was talking about singing and what sang were the bodies of the dancers, the main couple, Juliet's mother, such elegance; the Capuleti and Monteschi ballet groups. (...) Above all, one can appreciate the solidity of a team work.
El País - Juan Ángel Vela del Campo (14th Sept. 99). Nacho Duato, guided by Prokofiev
The Teatro Real opened its second season with the Compañía Naccional de Danza's version of Romeo and Juliet. (...) With this Romeo and Juliet the Director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza shows himself to be a proves himself a creator, in his full maturity and with his talent in full effervescence. (...) Based on an impeccable musicality (a quality that the Valentian choreographer has always shown) and a simplicity that sometimes touches the abstract, this Romeo and Juliet has a freshness, a simplicity and a purity that make of it exemplary. Duato knows how to adapt to the music in order to contrast the different scenes, with a magnificent use of canon and focus. He avoids dispersion and knows how to fully reach the essence.
ABC - Julio Bravo (14th September 98).

Agile, mature and emotional
(...) The highlights of this work of maturity are the musicality and the dynamic strength that marked the young Duato of the 80's. Nacho Duato has adjusted to Prokofiev's impressive score; a challenge from which he comes out gaining a lot and where he has achieved a clear concise and agile way of telling the story, in which and above all shines the whole Company, which is absolutely magnificent. (...) Duato's writing always appears beautiful, while his creativity and expressive content stand out in the basic solos and duets. The work reaches an impressive second act, precisely when the music becomes an unstoppable volcano and most choreographers lose the battle in representing the tragic content of the work.
El Mundo - Julia Martín (15th September 98).

Secure value
There are no secrets. Its success lies in the quality of the company dancers and the style of its choreographies, that please the present day public. Its aesthetic is modern, while including a scenographic distinction and attractive wardrobe. Modernity and distinction are entwined to provide a novel, elegant show.
El País - Carmen del Val (25/7/98).

The maturity of Duato
(...) The choreography by Duato staged by the Compañía Nacional de Danza at the marvellous Vaguada Coliseum is a work of art, within an (extraordinarily well danced) programme, which grew in importance as the four works presented progressed. Fugitive Pieces began the afternoon by proving the quality of the Company which has a personal form, that its Director has impressed on it and made impeccable. (...) The temperature reached maximum in Remansos. Duato confirmed himself as a creator for history. (...) This is a homage to Lorca that it will be difficult to surpass, that deals with the world of the poet from Granada in a subtle way, to the extent of making it understandable to anyone due to the dose of destructive beauty of the sense of the criticism.
El Punto de las Artes - Víctor M. Burell (19/6/98).

Nacho Duato ingeniously shows his love of Dance
(...) The Compañía Nacional de Danza is a groupof excellent dancers with a lot of character. (...) Por Vos Muero (...) shows Duato as a stylist with good taste and mastery of elegance. To wish and die, seduce and die, dance and die, are the themes of this masterly choreography.
Floris Blester (18/2/98).

A Spanish trilogy with captivating contrasts
The Danstheater was completely full yesterday for two reasons; firstly because Nacho Duato became famous as a dancer and choreographer in our country, at the Nederland Dans Theater from 1981 to 1990, and secondly because his participation in the Holland Dance Festival with his own company brought hope beforehand.This was all indeed right. The fact is that he has formed a firm Company in Madrid, based on the model provided by the Nederlands Dans Theater, while in turn it has an identity that is so much its own that it cannot be a copy. One may consider its Spanish nature as an essential characteristic of the tripartite programme (...). Based on the old dance of the court, although styled in the movement language of nowadays, Por Vos Muero forms a fascinating suite.
Nico S. de Wal (18/2/98).

Romeo and Juliet (...) However, no contemporary version has been important until Duato's one. (...) Duato continues the tradition, although renewing it. Far from clipping its wings, the fact, by following a music full of fixed contents and an absolutely famous plot, which he does not diverge in the slightest way, he has extended the choreographer's creative horizons. (...) He discovers the important, the duo and the solo and transforms the emotion of Shakespeare's words into the action of dance. (...) Mar Baudesson brings emotion to her transformation in an adolescent who discovers and lunges into love, before swooning over a dagger. Kim McCarthy is a fully- fledged Romeo, although more serene, as is fitting. His dance, right from the offset, is full of new ideas and most beautiful expressions of form that, there is sometimes not enough time to enjoy, traced among the intense, continuous Duatian duel.
El Mundo - Julia Martín (10/1/98).

Double toast
Duato has produced a brilliant, emotional version of the story of the lovers of Verona, drawing modern man nearer through a rich contemporary gesture, the opening night being precisely on his 41st birthday. (...) Nacho Duato has created a fascinating piece with two absolute protagonists, the purity and beauty of gestural language and the 30 marvellous dancers forming the Compañía Nacional de Danza; their solid technical preparation and strong stage personality allows them to address the difficulties of the choreographic structure and the dense emotion arising from the work without problems. They are arrogant and beautiful when embodying nobility, and joyful and daring when embodying the people. Duato's Romeo and Juliet is agile, passionate and human.
(...) In this first full- length ballet, the author uses a fertile choreographic vocabulary, lacking superficiality and driven by a deep feeling that provides an expressive gesture, is energetic in groupscenes and sublime in the pas de deux, which establish an intense body to body dialogue.
El País - Carmen del Val (10/1/98).

"Romeo and Juliet" come back to life in a sensitive, sober version by Nacho Duato
First of all, one must mention the great success of the opening night of Romeo and Juliet, at which the frequently cold public of Santander most warmly and enthusiastically applauded the dancers, choreographers and musicians. Nacho Duato is comfortable with the story and music of Romeo and Juliet. (...) Duato has dived into the score, has drunk in its melodies; and he knows how to find the appropriate accents for each moment, how to stitch his choreography to the notes he finds.
ABC - Julio Bravo (9/1/98).

Nacho Duato's "Romeo and Juliet" triumphs in Santander
After the ballet's opening night, the choreographer and dancers of the Compañía Nacional de Danza received one of the greatest acclamations ever remembered at the Festival Hall of Cantabria. Last Thursday, the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Nacho Duato unconditionally conquered the public of Santander on its opening night, providing a vibrant show, full of emotion and carefully portrayed down to the smallest detail. The dancers from the Compañía Nacional de Danza, led by the masterful Mar Baudesson in the role of Juliet, received the greatest applause ever remembered in the Argenta del Palacio Festival Hall, which was absolutely full (...). The enthusiastic choral scenes, full of movement and spicy touches, blended with other more intimate, tender ones, such as those between Romeo and Juliet and between her and her nurse. (...) The work by the dancers is emphasised by the sober, elegant costumes.
La Vanguardia - Ana Gámez (10/1/98).

 

Ten out of Ten
This is the sixth year running that the Compañía Nacional de Danza -directed by Nacho Duato since 1990- faithfully appears at its rendez-vous with the Grec. On esch occasion, the public of Barcelona has unconditionally surrendered before its magnificent interpreters. (...) a brilliant and precise performance by the dancers. They are technically agile and precise and possess a strong stage personality. Their director has given them a unified style which strengthens the groupas a unit.
El País - Carmen del Val (3/7/97).

Before and after
(...) The truth is that, behind a dancer`s niece mask, he hides a director's tenacity and, above all, a creator's sensibility. Both these aspects are essential in order for the CND to continue rising to its consecration as one of the world`s best dance companies. One again, we were able to verify it at the Grec. The CND is a unit where talent, motivation and communication skills abound.
La Vanguardia - Marjolijn Van Der Meer (3/7/97).

Setting the standard high, very high
One year more, the Compañía Nacional de Danza takes part in the Grec and opens the dance programme setting a very high standard for other companies in the programme. Tabulae (...) A rich display of stage movements and evolutions build upthe work`s mystic and ethnic atmosphere. Solemnity and simplicity combine to address a cry to the afterlife.
El Periódico - Montse G. Otzet (2/7/97).

A completely gravity free dance dream
One who believed in the existence of limits in the human body`s capacity for expression has been converted by the Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid. Limits only existed to the number of Nacho Duato`s choreographies which were represented in the first invitation evening of this year`s. Weimar Art Festival. All the remaining aspects of this type of danced theatre merged into the perfect harmony of an exceptional artistic experience (...). The scenes inspired by the sea and light and the rhythmic beating of drums, the dancers moving without their bodies being subject to gravity thorough the spaces of the South, flapping their wings like black birds and lifting with them the enthusiastic spectators. The limits of the theatre were dispelled and rainbow-coloured dreams followed their course.
TA - Ursula Mielke (14/6/97).

Night parties
The groupis exceptional. The technique and inexhaustible energy of the dancers of the Compañía Nacional de Danza caused the public`s admiration, just like the Kylián Groupor Forsythe. Nacho Duato belongs to the same family of creators who always require their dancers to surpass the limit of the possible. In this respect, Self, the last creation of the Spanish choreographer, proves the total mastery of a groupwhich possesses a rare courage (...) Self reveals a Nacho Duato who is more audacious than ever before. A muscular and mad dancing, nervous and fast, that seems to come out of all the senses, always controlled.
Le Figaro - René Sirvin (31/5/97).

Some steps in Spain...
(...) This new programme of three ballets, corresponding to three universes, is performed with a disconcerting virtuosismo. This group`s enormous and youthful spirit is in reply to something. Por Vos Muero transforms dance into a passionate tornado. Self is a more tormented creation. Finally, Mediterrania is a symphony in six parts, a homage to the sea that bathes his homeland. Magnificent.
Le Parisien - Agès Dalbard (1/6/97).

Passion rarely rests At the Staatsoper, the Spanish National Ballet was acclaimed
It has been a long time since one has heard so many people and so much clapping at the Staatsoper (...). We have before ourselves puer dance, breath -taking, above all in those parts that leaves one without breath, when the stage appears to be exploding. Hamburg Abendblatt - M.F. (15/5/97) Acclamations for Duato's Compañía Nacional de Danza Hamburg's ballet lovers have saluted and acclaimed with enthusiasm the performance of the Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Staatsoper (...) In the impulse of the extremely repid follow-ups of bodies of Cautiva, Duato and his dancers passionately affirm their will to complete security the established rules of dance at the courtesan pace by means of a modern vocabulary of gestures and launchings that relates to ties with the land and love for the jumps of popular dances (...). In Mediterrania, Duato speaks to us about multicultural influences and mystically convokes the lost links between Man and Nature.
Hamburg & Kultur - Klaus Witzelung (15/5/97).

Masked Ball of monks and clowns
Enthusiastic acclamation of the Compañía Nacional de Danza
The Compañía Nacional de Danza of Madrid celebrated dance and was acclaimed for this reason with esthusiasm by the Staatsoper's public (...) By inviting this Company, John Neumaier has given the Days of Ballet a special shine, at least as for as dance is concerned. The former dancer and choreographer of the Nederlands Dans Theater has created with his thirty dancers, both male and female, an excellent Modern Dance group, developing them as sublime interpreters with a fluid and vigorous style, possessing a breath- taking liveliness and speed. One appreciates the full, ample gesture which encompasses the space and creates in spirals, turns and elevations a dance which appears to move on its own accord in an endless wave.
Die Welt - Irmela Kästner (15/5/97).

Myths with lifted songs
The Spanish National Ballet groupinstilled enthusiasm into Hamburg's Days of Ballet.
Only dance and one aimed directly at one's heart is what Madrid's Compañía Nacional de Danza showed. Hamburg's public showed its gratefulness with prolonged applause (...) The excellent groupconverted the evening into an impressive dance experience.
TAZ Hamburg - Marga Wolf (15/5/97).

Captivating and fascinating The Compañía Nacional de Danza and Nacho Duato receive ovations at Friedrichshafen
Südkurier - Alexandra Karabelas (12/5/97).

Passionate turns
The two days of performances of the invited Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Graf-Zeppelin-Haus were a specially brilliant point in the Festival
Schwäbische Zeitung - Winfred Wild (15/5/97).

Art in movement (...) Once again, the Compañía Nacional de Danza showed its talent and professionalism with a repertoire of dancers that possesses an excellent synchronisation and sense of movement. (...) The members of the Compañía Nacional de Danza showed their great flexibility and ease on the stage with their dance; a form of contemporary expression by means of wich Duato communicates Art.
Alerta - Elena Umbria (19/4/97).

(...) Twenty one dynamic dancers, eager for movement, who with Duato`s Mediterrania (92), Cautiva (93) and Por Vos Muero (96), literally lifted from their seats the members of the public present at Münich`s Ballet Week. (...) This Company`s profile is the likely fruit of the work (and also character) that Duato has endowed the Company with. All of them dance to Duato`s quality, filing the stage with adoration towards him, a compact bodily mass, but also very flexible and powerful that advances as an inexhaustible current. With voluptuous impatience and eagerness and with a breath taking homogeneity. And then one can abandon oneself as if on soft bed of feathers.
Müncher Merkur - Malve Grudinger (19/3/97).

 

Another success
In Por Vos Muero (...) Duato shows the richness and contemporary nature of his gesture. With a firm brush stroke he takes the spectator into 15th and 16th Century palace splendour and the dances taken from popular culture. (...) Spanish renaissance music helps him to create this beautiful work steeped with mysticism, love and death. In Herman Schmerman, the solid classical foundations of the dancers and their weighty personality on stage allows them to approach the diabolic choreographical structure.
El País. Carmen del Val (25/12/96).

An elegant choreography Por Vos Muero (...) a lively and elegant choreography: a language that firmly but delicately traces an amalgam of the dances of the past and present day movement.
El Periódico. Montse G. Otzet (24/12/96).