Dance Madrid: Nacho Duato’s Compania Nacional de Danza

This renowned contemporary dance company, based in Madrid, has been lead by Nacho Duato for the past 18 years. With a rich repertory of lush and languid choreography and precise technique, the company is a treasure not only of Spain, but also of the dance world.

Nacho Duato once said in an interview that the focus of his work is “the body expressing the emotion of the music; my dances are inspired by human relationships of everyday life.” In another interview Duato, artistic director of Compañía Nacional de Danza, said, “when people come to see us at the theater, they should see themselves reflected on the stage.”

Duato’s company, the Compañía Nacional de Danza is recognized as one of Europe’s finest contemporary ballet companies. Founded in 1979 by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the then Ballet Nacional de Espana Clasico built its company from a wide range of dancers with a variety of training and style specialties. The artistic directors that came before Duato laid a foundation of Spanish and classical work: Victor Ullate, a Spanish dancer who also performed with Bejart’s Ballet of the Twentieth Century; Maria de Avila, who brought to the company classical work from George Balanchine and Antony Tudor; and the great Russian prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, who brought works from her classical Russian roots.