Introducing Juan Ignacio Duato Bárcia, otherwise known, in the dance world, as Nacho Duato. Duato was born in Valencia, Spain on January 8th, 1957. At the age of 18, he started training professionally in ballet at the Rambert School (London, England), as well as trained at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School (Brussels, Belgium) and finally at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York.
At the age of 23, Nacho signed his first professional contract with the Cullberg Ballet (Stockholm, Sweden) and just a year later was asked to join the Netherlands Dans Theater by Jirí Kylián himself. Eight choreographically-productive years later, Nacho was made Resident Choreographer for Netherlands Dans Theater and was in high demand by other well-known companies to set his repertoire of choreography on their dancers.
Several prestigious choreographic awards later, Nacho joined the Spanish National Ballet as artistic director in 1990 where he remained until just recently. In July 2010, Duato was appointed artistic director of the ballet at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming one of the first foreigners to lead a Russian ballet company for more than a century (the last being Marius Petipa).
"Voice of Dance" Review of the Compañía Nacional de Danza's Performance featuring three of Duato's pieces: Gilded Goldbergs, Gnawa, Por Vos Muero
"Voice of Dance" Review
"Voice of Dance" Review
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| Compania Nacional de Danza performing Gnawa |
Nacho Duato sounds like a very talented man. I didn't know anything about him until I read your blog. I find it interesting that he was one of the first foreigners to lead the Russian Ballet in over a century. I also find it interesting that he has been all over the world dancing including England, Belgium, and the USA.
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