Premiere Compañía Nacional de Danza at Teatro Real, Madrid (Spain), October 3, 2022.
Sol León (Córdoba, Spain), joined NDT2 in 1987 after graduating from the National Ballet Academy of Madrid. Two years later she moved into NDT1 where she danced in masterpieces of Jirí Kylian, Hans Van Manen, Mats Ek and Ohad Naharin. León continued to dance up until 2003, when she decided to fully devote herself to being the house choreographer of NDT together with Paul Lightfoot. From 2012 until 2020. León was also the artistic advisor for the company. León and Lightfoot have been a choreographic duo since 1989 and together they have created more than 60 world premieres for the NDT, which they have received many prestigious awards for. In 2002 León and Lightfoot were appointed House Choreographers of NDT, the position they remained in until 2020.
SOL LEÓN
Paul Lightfoot (Cheshire, England) graduated from the Royal Ballet School in London before joining Netherlands Dans Theater in 1985. Lightfoot began as a dancer with NDT2. Two years later he moved into NDT1, where he danced until 2008. Early in his career Lightfoot began choreographing together with Sol León. From September 2011 until August 2020 Lightfoot was the artistic director of NDT.
PAUL LIGHTFOOT
Karl Jenkins,
Karl Jenkins, born in 1944, of a Welsh mother and Swedish father. At the age of six he started his piano studies encouraged by his father, a chorus director and organist. Later, at the age of eleven, he started to play the oboe and to work at the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He also studied composition at University of Wales at Cardiff, finishing his training in the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he specialized in playing the saxophone. He received awards for his oboe interpretations for jazz and as a multi-instrumentalist. Jenkins worked, amongst others, with Ronnie Scott and created Nucleus, winning the first prize of Montreal Jazz Festival, in 1972. Later, he joined Soft Machine. This group of the seventies’ played a wide range of styles (jazz, classic, rock and even minimalism). In April 1995, Jenkins published Adiemus – Songs of Sanctuary, an extensive work composed for voice, percussion and string, which was an unprecedented success in Europe and Japan.
Nacho Duato was trained at the Rambert School of London, the Maurice Béjart’s Mudra of Bruselas and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre of New York. At the age of 21, Nacho Duato signed his first contract at the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm and a year later, Jiří Kylián hired him for the Nederlands Dans Theter in Den Haag. The ten years period he spent in the dutch company marked Duato’s artistic career. There he signed his first choreography, Jardí Tancat (1983), became the official choreographer along with Hans Van Manen in 1988 and he imbibed the Kylián artistic legacy.He became the artistic director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza at the age of 32, for a period of 20 years (1990-2010). During these years with the Compañía he created more than 30 choreographies: Mediterránia (1992), Por vos muero (1996), Romeo y Julieta (1998), Multiplicidad. Formas de silencio y vacío (2000), Herrumbre (2004), Alas (2006), among many others. The most prestigious companies worldwide are currently dancing his choreographies. His ballets form part of the most important world ballet companies’ repertoire: the American Ballet Theater, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Australian Ballet and the Cullberg Ballet, among many others. His work and dedication as the director of the Compañía Nacional included the formation of the Compañía Nacional de Danza 2, which he directed alongside Tony Fabre, as a school for young dancers.Nacho Duato received multiple awards as a choreographer: the first prize in the International Choreographic Contest of Köln for his work Jardí Tancat, the gold medal for Fine Arts from the Spanish government in 1998, the Benois de la danse award in 2000, the National Dance Award in 2003 and the City of Alcalá for Arts and Literature Award in 2015. Furthermore, the Spanish Foundation SGAE awarded him the Max de Honor award in 2020.Duato was appointed Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, Nacho Duato became Artistic Director of the Staatsballett Berlin, until 2018. At present, he remains artistically related to to the Mikhailovsky Theater Ballet in Saint Petersburg. His last world premiere for Compañía Nacional de Danza, Morgen; was staged last February 2022, at Palacio de Festivales, in Santander (Spain).
NACHO DUATO
WHITE DARKNESS
SOIT :
SOIT :
Choreography:
Nacho Duato
Music
Karl Jenkins
(Adiemus Variations
–Adiemus-Songs of Sanctuary-
,String Quartet nº 2,Passacaglia)
Original Editor :
Boosey and Hawkes Music
Publishing, London
Costume Design:
Lourdes Frías
Set Design:
Jaffar Chalabi
Lighting Design:
Joop Caboort
Duration: > 24' 50''
A Tribute to Maestro Rodrigo
His music is his life and his life is his music, with an aroma and flavour that fertilizes and grows with roots from Spain. In his notes, you can hear all the nuances and colours that have created the joys and sorrows of the chronicle of his existence. His eyes were his music and thus he saw and created a wonderful world. The tribute to Joaquín Rodrigo is dance with his rhythm and melody in all its splendour.
Choreography:
Joaquín De Luz and Ricardo Cue
Music:
Maestro Joaquín Rodrigo
Costume Design:
Tania Bakunova
en création
PWorld premiere by the National Dance Company, at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid (Spain), on December 7, 2023.
World premiere by the Royal Danish Ballet, at the Royal Danish Theater,
Copenhagen (Denmark), on November 28, 1836.
Premiere by the National Dance Company, at Teatro de la Zarzuela,
Madrid (Spain), on December 7, 2023
Crédit photos :© Alba Muriel
3 choreographies
Since 2019, the famous Spanish company has been directed by Joaquín De Luz, Principal dancer of New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater. It was Nacho Duato who, for 20 years, brought the company to the forefront of the international scene with his creations. Then José Carlos Martínez stayed the course, taking other paths with the use of pointe and opening up the repertoire to new horizons. It's a way of reconnecting with the past of the CND and its first directors, such as Víctor Ullate, Maïa Plissetskaïa, Ray Barra and María de Ávila. CND dancers draw on tradition to look to the future, and also dare to create avant-garde and contemporary pieces that combine dance, new technologies, fashion and poetry on stage. CND has become a company for the 21st century, tackling classical titles without neglecting the great choreographers of the last century, and inviting renowned Spanish and foreign contemporary choreographers to enrich its repertoire.
Choreography:
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
Music:
Perez Prado, Alberto Dominguez,
Ernesto Lecuona,Ray Barretto, Trío Los Panchos
Choreography Assistant:
Menghan Lou
Coreography Assistant:
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
Lighting Design:
Tom Bevoort
Piece for 5 dancers > Duration: 22min
Choreography:
Joaquín De Luz
Music:
Mishima, by Philip Glass Etude.
. 2, by Philip Glass © 1984,
1992 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc
Costume design:
Anthony Pina
Lighting design:
Nicolás Fischtel (A.A.I.)
Piece for the whole company > Duration : 22min
Worldwide premiere by Compañía Nacional de Danza at Teatros del Canal, Madrid (Spain), December 1 st 2022.
Choreography:
Nacho Duato
Original music:
Pedro Alcalde
Sets and Costumes Design:
Nacho Duato
Lights Design:
Nicolás Fischtel (A.A.I.)
Projections:
Victor Tomé (Sonicine)
Assitants to the Choreographer:
Yoko Taira, Daan Vervoort
Piece for 13 dancers > Duration: 35min
MORGEN;
Absolute premiere: Compañía Nacional de Danza at Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria, Santander (Spain),
February, 25th 2022.
or:
The Sylphide, a ballet in two acts, was originally created with choreography by Filippo Taglioni and premiered in 1832 at the Paris Opera. The music is by Herman Lovenskjold and the story by Adolphe Nourrit. This work achieves the idealization of romantic ballet through the ethereal Sylphide, a symbol of unattainable love. In 1836, August Bournonville created a new choreography for the Royal Theater of Copenhagen, which is the one found in the repertoire of the world's best companies.
Choreography:
August Bournonville
Music:
Herman Severin Lovenskjold
Libretto:
Adolphe Nourrit
Costume Design:
Tania Bakunova
Synopsis:
The Sylphide tells the story of a young Scotsman, James, who is loved by a sylph that only he can see. An eternal love begins. But James is engaged to be married, and on his wedding day the sylph seizes the wedding ring intended for her and flees into the woods. James chases after her and forgets his fiancée in the forest. James then meets the old witch Madge, whom he had once chased away and who is determined to take revenge. She gives him a veil that should enable him to capture the Sylphide, but the veil is poisoned and causes the Sylphide to lose her wings and her life. James, overcome with grief, sees his former fiancée getting married to his rival and the Sylphide's funeral procession in the distance. He dies: evil has triumphed.
Joaquín De Luz (Madrid, 1976) trained at Víctor Ullate's school and joined his company in 1992, where he remained for three years. In 1995, he joined the Ballet Mediterráneo at the request of Fernando Bujones.In September 1996, Pennsylvania Ballet invited him to join the company as soloist.In December 1997, he joined the corps de ballet at New York’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT) becoming soloist a year later. In 2003, he jumped aboard New York City Ballet as soloist to become principal dancer two years later, in 2005. With NYC Ballet he interpreted some of dance history’s most important parts and roles. Some of the roles created for him include: Slice to Sharp, by Jorma Elo; Bal de Couture and Romeo & Juliet, by Peter Martins; Outlier, by Wayne McGregor; Year of the Rabbit, by Justin Peck; Concerto DSCH and Odessa, by Alexei Ratmansky and DGV—Danse à Grande Vitesse and Shambards, by C. Wheeldon. He represented Spain in the Lisbon Expo of 1998 and formed part of the tour Kings of Dance 2007-2011, touring across Russia and USA, to great critical acclaim. Indeed, his career has received widespread acclaim and recognition, including prizes such as: the Gold Medal in Nureyev international contest in Budapest, 2006; the best male dancer prize in the Benois de la Danse in Moscow, 2009; the Madrid Region Culture Prize, 2010, and the Premio Nacional de Danza (Spain) for interpretation, 2016.Since 2018, he has combined his roles as choreographer and artistic director with that of teacher in the School of American Ballet in New York, at both the ABT’s JKO school and its Studio Company, at the Marat Daukayev School of Ballet in Los Angeles and at Philadelphia’s Rock School, and is under high demand to give courses and master classes at a wide range of institutions internationally.On 28 March 2019, Spain’s INAEM, Ministry of Culture and central government jointly announced his appointment, as of September 2019, as director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND), succeeding José Carlos Martínez.For the CND he has choreographed Arriaga (with Aguiló and Alosa) (2020) and Giselle premiered in December of the same year at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, under the Artistic Direction and with Choreography by Joaquín De Luz himself. In November 2022, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) presented the Josefina Méndez International Honorary Dance Award to Joaquín De Luz in Havana.
Joaquín De Luz
2. SOMBRAS Y LUZ
(Shadows and Light)
Spain
ARTISTIc
DIRECTor:
Joaquin de Luz
ARTISTIc
DIRECTor:
Joaquin de Luz
1
1
sad case>SOL LEÓN &
PAUL LIGHTFOOT
Sad Case was originally created for NDT 1in 1998when Sol León was seven months pregnant with their daughter, and acts as one of the main pillarsof León & Lightfoot’s oeuvre. Surprising and earthly movements on Mexican mambo music show a continual search for the tension between satirical and classic moments.
2
sad case>
SOL LEÓN & PAUL LIGHTFOOT
The idea of Passengers Within is inspired bytoday's society. We have become slaves to the system and paradigm we live in.
Technology, the media, consumerism keep the population sleepwalking and we wander like zombies to the incessant beat they set for us.From the moment you get up you are bombarded, with no respite, by incessant waves of information like the music of Philip Glass.We are subjugated and judged by society’s expectations of us. Stereotypes and morals obligate us to follow a script that is too generic for us to be individuals. The principal couple represent people who are awakening; who are questioning things.They do not want to be passengers but,rather, to rule their own lives based ontheir essence and their presence.
3
3
MORGEN >NACHO DUATO
Nacho Duato composed the one-actballet, White Darkness,as a requiem for the untimely loss of a sister. The result is a master piece which, according to critics, has “reached impossible heights”in the landscape of modern art.The ballet’s heroine, having lost faith in love, seeks oblivion; but the path she has chosen bringsher not joy but feverish agitation, followed by disappointment,alienation and self-imposed isolation.
3
MORGEN >NACHO DUATO
SEMICOLON
People who get a semicolon tattoo want to register their own fight against suicide and their victory over it. It is a sign of hope that claims that life can go on and encouragesto move forward.
1. THE SYLPHIDE
program b
3. WHITE DARKNESS / MORGEN;
2 . PASSENGERS WITHIN
1. SAD CASE
program a
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represents the Compañía Nacional de Danza, in France, Asia and Oceania.
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