Nacho Duato Explained

Nacho Duato
Birth Date:	8 January 1957
Birth Place:	Valencia, Spain
Field:	Choreographer
Relatives:	Ana Duato (cousin) Miguel Bernardeau (cousin)

Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, also known as Nacho Duato (born 8 January 1957) is a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer.^[1] Since 2014, Duato has been artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet.^[2] He is openly gay.^[3]

Career

Nacho Duato studied at the Rambert School of London,^[4] Maurice Béjart's Rudra School in Brussels and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City.

He started his dancing career in Stockholm's Cullberg Ballet^[5] and later joined Nederlands Dans Theater,^[6] under artistic director Jiří Kylián; he remained with the company for ten years. In 1983, he choreographed Jardí tancat (Catalan: 'Shut garden') to music composed by Maria del Mar Bonet. The company was awarded the first prize in the Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb, Köln. In 1988, Duato was appointed NDT resident choreographer together with Hans van Manen and Jiří Kylián.

From 1990 to 2011, Nacho Duato was the artistic director at Compania Nacional de Danza. Between 2011 and 2014, he led the ballet company of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in Russia.^[7] In 2014, Nacho Duato became general and artistic director at the Berlin State Ballet. In 2016, Michael Mueller, Mayor of Berlin, announced that the city would not extend Duato's contract with the company when it expired in 2019. Sasha Waltz and Johannes Ohman succeeded him as joint artistic directors of the Berlin State Ballet.^[8] Duato returned to his previous post in Saint Petersburg as artistic director of the Mikhailovsky ballet company.^[9]

Prizes and awards

• 1983: Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb, Köln, First prize for Jardí tancat.
• 1987: VSCD Gouden Dansprijs for his dancing skilfulness
• 1995: The grade of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres which is awarded annually by the French Embassy in Spain.
• 1998: Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts awarded by the Spanish Council.
• 2000: Prix Benois de la Danse awarded by 'the 'International Dance Association at the Stuttgart Opera, for his choreography Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness (Multiplicidad, formas de silencio y vacío).^[10]
• 2003: Spanish National Dance Award (Premio Nacional de Danza) for choreography^[11]

External links

• Página personal de Nacho Duato
• Archive film of Nacho Duato's Gnawa performed in 2010 at Jacob's Pillow
• Archive film of Nacho Duato's Arenal performed in 2004 at Jacob's Pillow
• Archive film of David Hallberg performing in Nacho Duato's Kaburias in 2012 at Jacob’s Pillow
• Nacho Duato's page at Staatsballett Berlin in German(archived version from 2014)

Notes and References

1. Book: Kumin, Laura. International Encyclopedia of Dance. 1998. Oxford University Press. 9780195173697. Cohen, Selma Jeanne. Duato, Nacho. registration.
2. Web site: Nacho Duato. staatsballett-berlin.de. 2016-08-05.
3. https://www.marca.com/tiramillas/actualidad/2020/10/28/5f9942a622601d4a478b4594.html Nacho Duato y la sorprendente pregunta de su madre al confesarle que era homosexual
4. Web site: Rada News . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061110000609/http://www.rada.org/news.html . 10 November 2006 .
5. http://www.cullbergbaletten.se/SE/Start Cullberg
6. Web site: Nederlands Dans Theater.
7. Web site: Nacho Duato – Mikhailovsky Theatre St Petersburg. mikhailovsky.ru. 2016-08-05.
8. News: 2 New Faces for Staatsballett Berlin, When Nacho Duato Leaves in 2019. Sulcas. Roslyn. 2016-09-09. The New York Times. 2017-07-25. en-US. 0362-4331.
9. Web site: Nacho Duato returns to Mikhailovsky Theatre. Московский комсомолец. ru. 2021-09-16.
10. Web site: Nacho Duato. Elenco . . 26 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060523232548/http://cndanza.mcu.es/esp/elenco/nacho_duato.htm . 23 May 2006.
11. News: Nacho Duato obtiene el Premio Nacional de Danza por su gran proyección internacional. . 17 January 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20041208194656/http://cndanza.mcu.es/cnd1/portada/premio.htm . 8 December 2004 . Madrid . Agence France-Presse . es . Compañia Nacional de Danza.