Nacho Duato that he staged at the Mikhailovsky Theater. Ballet

There are people whose work you want to watch continuously. They give themselves completely to her. However, not everything is so smooth in their life. Many of them often fall, rise and again strive to conquer the peaks. They have a lot of fortitude and dedication. This is exactly what the wonderful choreographer, dancer and famous theater artist Nacho Duato is like.

Young Juan's childhood and education

Little Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia was born into a large family in early January 1957 in Valencia. Since childhood, he adored music and could dance tirelessly to his favorite tunes. However, his parents, to put it mildly, did not approve of little Duato’s desire for ballet art, since both were conservatives.

In addition, the boy’s father at that time held one of the important government posts and therefore saw his son’s future as a doctor, politician or lawyer, but not as a dancer. Ignoring the opinion of his parents, young Juan went to study at a famous London school. It was there that the young and successful Nacho began to study ballet.

A little later, Nacho Duato went to Brussels, where he continued to hone his skills with the direct participation of one of the most famous French choreographers, Maurice Bejart. Even later, he left for America, where he practiced at the Alvin Ailey Ballet Dance Theater in New York.

Spotlights and the beginning of a dancer's career

After graduating from specialized ballet schools and completing an internship, the future choreographer and dancer chose to continue his collaboration with the Swedish ballet company. Its artistic director at that time was the fragile and graceful Birgit Kullberg. It was in this group that Nacho first began performing on the big stage and took his basic steps towards a dizzying dance career.

A year later, representatives of the Kullberg Ballet drew attention to the talented Nacho Duato. As a result, at the beginning of 1980, he was made an offer, which became his first professional contract.

Stockholm, new contract and change of role

And then Stockholm and participation in the ballet troupe awaited him. True, the ambitious and full of ideas dancer worked there for no more than a year. It’s all because of the new offer that was made to him. It was he who invited Nacho to the Dutch Dance Theater and offered to try himself as a choreographer. Duato agreed, although he was somewhat wary of the new opportunities that had so unexpectedly opened up.

However, after some time, his labors will be crowned with success, and he will release his first production. This was the ballet “The Walled Garden” (Jardí Tancat). To the surprise of the master himself, this modest debut became a grandiose triumph.

From now on, Nacho Duato is a choreographer, walking hand in hand with his teachers and mentors: Hans Van Manenn and Jiri Kylian. Later, the maestro’s work began to bear fruit. They started talking about him as a new rising star of Italian choreography, and the skill of his production and ability to competently select dancers and music brought him worldwide fame.

Prospects for working as a choreographer

Feeling a surge of strength and a kind of creative upsurge, the Italian choreographer decided to stay and work at the Dutch Dance Theater. In this truly “ballet cradle” he continued to hone his skills. At the same time, he not only improved the art of staging, but also did not forget about professional choreography. So, during the next rehearsal, he could easily demonstrate the steps required for the performance.

Continuing to work for the benefit of the Netherlands Dance Theater, Nacho Duato's ballet often went on tour. In addition, the master himself was often invited to work on the road to train various groups. During such unique foreign tours, Duato organized and was directly involved in staging performances on various topics. His creations could be seen at the American Ballet Theatre, London's Royal Opera House, Milan's La Scala Opera House and others.

Somewhat later, Nacho led the dance group of the Italian National Ballet. However, he received a tempting offer from Russia, because of which he was forced to terminate his contract. This time, fate brought him to the place where we will tell you about the activities of the choreographer within the walls of this cult premises a little later.

Awards, prizes and titles

During his dizzying career, Nacho Duato has repeatedly won various awards. He was awarded, rewarded and congratulated, glorifying his talent, strength and outstanding organizational skills. One of the very first awards, called the Golden Dance Prize, was presented to him in early 1987 at the Amsterdam City Theater in Schauburg.

At the end of 1987, Nacho took part in the International Choreographic Workshops competition, which took place in Cologne. There he managed to take an honorable first place. And exactly 8 years later, Duato was awarded the title of Chevalier of the French Order of Literature and Arts. Three years later, for his services to the development of Russian ballet art, Nacho received a personal medal from representatives of the Italian government.

At the beginning of 2000, Nacho Duato (the biography of this wonderful choreographer is in our article) was awarded the international ballet prize Benois de la Danse and awarded the title “best choreographer of the year” for his excellent production of the play “Multifaceted. Forms of silence and emptiness."

In mid-2003, the maestro was nominated for a national dance award in Spain. And just seven years later he was awarded the Golden Mask award from the Union of Art Critics of Chile for his spectacular production of the ballet Na Floresta.

Nacho Duato: Mikhailovsky Theater

At the peak of his ballet career, Nacho moves to St. Petersburg. Moreover, the famous choreographer’s acquaintance with this region, far from his native Spain, began during his performance at the Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater, where a year and a half before the events in St. Petersburg he came with the production of Na Floresta. Later he was invited to the position of artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where he hurried to come with joy.

In January 2011, Duato began to perform his duties and became one of the first “legionnaires” who were lucky enough to lead the Russian ballet group. Without wasting a minute, the choreographer began to master the peculiarities of the region. Thanks to his innate communicative qualities, Nacho Duato at Mikhailovsky quickly found a common language with the group members and very soon staged the first series of one-act plays. It included the ballet Without Words, which has already become a classic of the genre, on which the master worked since 1998 during his stay at the American Ballet Theater, as well as two premieres of domestic production.

What successes did Duato achieve at the Mikhailovsky Theater?

During all three years of his stay at the Mikhailovsky Theater, the choreographer achieved certain successes in the creative development of the team. He also supplemented the original composition of the troupe with new valuable personnel. Thus, he managed to lure a famous prima ballerina and also a popular dancer from the Bolshoi Theater. It was for them that the choreographer staged special scenes from the classic play “Romeo and Juliet.”

In addition, it was at the Mikhailovsky Theater that the master himself discovered himself as a director of the classical ballet genre. With his direct participation, such famous performances as “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty” and others were staged. In order to appreciate the master’s work, you need to visit Nacho Duato’s ballets at least once. Reviews of his productions can be found below.

What do people say about the choreographer’s work?

Nacho Duato's work is capable of evoking a variety of emotions. For example, for some viewers it is an unprecedented delight, while others, on the contrary, are capable of sad memories. However, both of them note a non-standard approach to famous classical works, which the choreographer plays out using certain techniques.

There are no boundaries for art, and no one is surprised that the name of the Frenchman Marius Petipa is inextricably linked with Russian ballet. The second foreign choreographer after him to come to Russia to work on a permanent basis was the Spaniard Nacho Duato.

Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, now known as Nacho Duato, was born in Valencia, where his father was governor. Since childhood, he felt a craving for music and dancing - the boy liked to dance to his favorite tunes. The art of dancing was appreciated in the family, but only to a certain extent: out of eight children, seven were engaged in it, but the question of choosing a profession as a dancer was not even raised by any of them. The father wanted his son to choose a more prestigious and profitable occupation - law or medicine; finally, he could become a government official and make a political career, but Nacho was not inclined to listen to his father. From the age of sixteen, living separately from his parents, he demonstrates his talent as a dancer in various shows and musicals. But the young man understood that if he wanted to reach heights, he needed to seriously study classical and modern dance, and in Spain at that time this was impossible, and at the age of eighteen he went to London, where he studied at the Marie Rambert School.

Life in the English capital was not easy: in his free time, Nacho earned his livelihood by working part-time in a fast food restaurant, and spent his nights in poorhouses for the poor - there was not enough money for more comfortable housing, but the desire to achieve his goal helped him to endure all the hardships. He studied at the Marie Rambert School for two years, the next step was to study at the Mudra School in Brussels, founded by Maurice Béjart, and later he studied in the United States at a school at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. The lack of a resident card prevented the dancer from working in America, and he returned to Europe, where in 1980 he became a member of the Stockholm troupe Kullberg Ballet. After a year, the talented dancer drew attention, and Duato was invited to the Netherlands Dance Theater, which he headed. Kilian staged “The Story of a Soldier” especially for him, but he saw perfectly well that in front of him was not just a gifted dancer, but a person with the potential of a choreographer, and Kilian helped Duato realize this.

And in 1983, Nacho Duato created his first production, “The Fenced Garden,” using compositions by the then popular singer Maria del Mar Bonet with poems by poets from Catalonia as the musical basis of the song. At first glance, the choreography was not particularly original - the choreographer followed traditions and, however, he managed to organically combine these elements with Spanish flavor. The “melody” of dance movements, the ideal emotional harmony of music, words and dance - these features, which have become characteristic features of Nacho Duato’s style, appeared already in his first work. “The Walled Garden” was presented in Cologne at the International Choreographic Competition, where it won first prize.

The choreographer created twelve ballets for the Netherlands Dance Theater, and in 1990 Duato returned to his homeland, receiving an invitation to head the National Dance Theater, and his first step in this post was to abandon the classical repertoire. This decision caused a wave of criticism, but Nacho Duato was convinced that it was necessary to create his own direction - modern and of a national nature. On the stage of the National Theater he stages performances that he has created before, creates new ones, attracts collaboration, etc.

At the same time, Duato collaborates with other troupes - for example, in 1998 he created the play “Without Words” with music for the American Ballet Theater. This is not the only creation of Duato to the music of the great composer of the past - for the anniversary, he staged a ballet in Weimar based on his music “Multifacetedness. Forms of silence and emptiness”, and in 2000 he created the ballet “Arcangelo” to the music of Corelli. But modernity with its acute problems interests the choreographer no less than history - this is evidenced by the ballet “White Darkness”, the creation of which was prompted by the death of his sister from a drug overdose.

A new stage in Nacho Duato’s creative activity is associated with the Mikhailovsky Theater, where he headed the ballet troupe in 2011-2014. The theater's repertoire at this time was replenished with ballets it had created earlier, but new productions also appeared. At the Mikhailovsky Theater, Duato for the first time in his practice turned to the classical repertoire, but gave a new sound to The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet.

In 2015, Nacho Duato headed the Berlin Ballet, but contacts with the Mikhailovsky Theater were not interrupted - the choreographer continues to collaborate with him as a permanent guest choreographer.

What goals have you set for the troupe? What will it be like in three years or five years?

There is no need to set or formulate specific goals, you need to be able to listen to the troupe, understand what its inner mood is, and move slowly and gradually. We do a lot of work every day, we give it our all - all of us. I am not a commander who goes ahead, telling where others should go. I don’t drag the troupe along with me, but slowly push it from behind, directing its movement. The point is not at all what I would like - I have to feel what the troupe, the audience wants, what St. Petersburg wants. Changes may seem very gradual, but in five or six years, when we look back at the path we have traveled, we will be convinced that everything has changed.

Are you primarily an artist or the head of a ballet company who is responsible for its reputation?

At heart I am first and foremost a dancer, then a choreographer, then a director. But in life it turns out the other way around: first of all, I am a director, then a choreographer, then a dancer. For twenty years I was the director of a ballet company in Spain, here it is even more difficult: the troupe is larger, and it must combine classical and modern dance in its repertoire. It's not easy being a choreographer and director. Fortunately, we are all united by the love of art, even those who do not go on stage. Administration, production staff or costume designers - we are all devoted to ballet.

“The changes may seem very gradual, but in five or six years everything will change in the troupe.”

Does the troupe look like a large family or an efficient production facility?

Theater workers often say to themselves: “We are one family,” and this is not far from the truth. In business corporations, employees may never see the director or see him only once a year, but we are very close to the dancers, spending much more time together than the employees of any factory. I actually belong to the troupe.

The St. Petersburg ballet public is considered to be overly refined and cold. What do you think of her?

The audience here doesn't seem that difficult to me. Ballet is loved in St. Petersburg, and all my works have been received very well, starting with Nunc Dimittis, Without Words, Duende and Prelude, continuing with Sleeping Beauty and the most recent production of Versatility to the music of Bach. Those who are committed only to traditional classics, it seems to me, make up a very small part of the ballet audience. I do not exclude that there will be changes in the classical baggage of the Mikhailovsky Theater, but they should be made carefully and delicately.

Where can we meet you in St. Petersburg besides the theater?

I only have one free day a week, and I came here not for private life, but to work. I take walks, sometimes pop into cafes, and like to buy something for the house. What I value most in life is the opportunity to see, feel and try new things. And St. Petersburg gives me such an opportunity.

Nacho Duato, presumably, showed the penultimate premiere in St. Petersburg. In the autumn there will be "The Nutcracker", and the last window to Europe - along with the last breath of fresh air in the St. Petersburg ballet - will close. The program of three ballets makes a surprisingly fresh impression - against the backdrop of that “coffin with music” that we see at other ballet performances.
The first to be shown was the ballet “In the Forest” (Na floresta) - a brilliant ballet and a little familiar to St. Petersburg: it was performed on the Mikhailovsky stage by the troupe of the Moscow Stanislavsky Theater shortly before Duato was appointed chief choreographer. The second viewing left an even stronger impression. Either the artists danced better, or I looked more closely. Relaxation and simplicity of movements create an amazing feeling of inner freedom. The weaving of vines from the bodies of the artists and the light Fauvistic coloring that begins with the scenery and continues in Villa-Lobos’s music seem to immerse the viewer in the jungle and dissolve in it - and we can truly experience Tolstoy’s ecological dissolution in nature. To this we must add Duato’s traditional adherence to music, the superimposition of movement on a musical pattern, thanks to which his ballets receive an internal volume and musicality of gesture.
In the second part there was “Prelude” - a ballet specially staged for the Mikhailovsky Theater two years ago. I have already written about it (), but I will say it again: a superbly stylized and musically arranged classical dance acquires in it the poetics of hints and very Russian in spirit indications into the infinite. Unfortunately, "Prelude" remains a prelude. The Spanish choreographer will probably not create the big Russian ballet that we have been waiting for in St. Petersburg. I do not rule out that “Prelude” will remain Duato’s best ballet of the St. Petersburg period.
The third ballet - Invisible (Invisible) to the music of Andrzej Panufnik - the third Russian ballet of Duato, the main event of the evening - again surprised the audience: we have never seen such a Duato. One can assume that this is a reaction to the centenary of the “Rite of Spring” and at the same time - an immersion into the complex soul of compatriots Dostoevsky and Lenin (however, Duato himself spoke about something completely different). The main character of the ballet, so to speak, is rewarded with absolutely monstrous choreography: in some places she is a huge woodlice (in a suit of the same color), in other places in the Russian tradition this is how Dashing One-Eyed, witches and kikimor are depicted. Next to the heroine are six dancing couples who do not notice her, but on whom she has a strange influence. Duato probably didn’t read Dostoevsky much, but he felt something - the phenomenon of duality, for example, or the Svidrigailov-Stavrogin ghosts - while living in Russia and St. Petersburg. This makes us happy: it means that the dark water of the St. Petersburg Leta-Neva lives in our veins, but we have long stopped noticing it. The ending of the ballet seemed drawn out, but this is a characteristic of Duato’s choreography: while following the music, he is not always ready to cut the music to the quick.
Of the performers, it should be noted Sabina Yapparova both in “In the Forest” and in “Prelude”, Leonid Sarafanov, very different in “Prelude” and in “Invisible”, and Irina Perren, who performed the main role in “Invisible” so monstrously that she seemed like Ekaterina Borchenko .
A nostalgic flavor characterized this entire spring premiere. With the ballet “The Invisible,” we may have buried the short-lived ballet of the Mikhailovsky Theater: without the famous choreographer, without Osipova-Vasiliev, the St. Petersburg season will turn into something faded and invisible. Still, it’s a pity that in Russia everything depends on the money bag. As soon as he loses weight, all the best immediately flows into the resulting hole - and nothing can be done.

From January 1, 2011, one of the leading choreographers of our time, Nacho Duato, will head the ballet troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater - Duato himself and Mikhailovsky General Director Vladimir Kekhman announced this at a press conference held a few hours ago in Moscow.

The rumors that have plagued the ballet community for the past few months have turned out to be true. With the appearance of Duato, the Mikhailovsky Theater automatically enters the major ballet league, and Vladimir Kekhman literally creates a cultural revolution in Russia.

In order to understand the scale and significance of what happened, let's look at the facts. 53-year-old Nacho Duato, a student of Maurice Bejart and one of the main choreographers of our time, occupies a place in the pantheon of titans next to Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and Mats Ek. His performances are performed in the repertoire of key companies in the world - the Netherlands Ballet Theater (NDT), the Paris Opera Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. Until recently, the very possibility of getting “something from Duato” into the repertoire of domestic theaters seemed like a pipe dream. Duato's miniature "Na Floresta", which was added to the playbill of the capital's Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater a year ago, became the highlight of the Moscow ballet season and brought the company enriched by it to ballet headliners. And now that same Duato becomes the artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

Let us remind you that this post has remained vacant since the fall of last year, when Farukh Ruzimatov left it, currently de jure continuing cooperation with the theater as an adviser to the general director. In fact, the leadership of the troupe since October 2009 has been carried out by the chief choreographer of the theater, Mikhail Messerer (as Vladimir Kekhman emphasized, he will continue to retain the second most important post in the hierarchy of the Mikhailovsky Ballet) - an excellent teacher and a keen connoisseur of ballet rarities, but, alas, not a charismatic leader , capable of igniting the troupe with creative fire. The hypothetical list of candidates for the post of artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet included both John Neumeier and Yuri Grigorovich - it is difficult to understand which of them was really “in sight” of Vladimir Kekhman, and whose names were generated by the collective unconscious around the ballet. Among others, the most fantastic options appeared: from the current artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet Yuri Burlaki allegedly leaving Moscow to the ex-head of the Mariinsky troupe and current artistic director of the Milan Alla Scala ballet Mahar Vaziev allegedly returning to St. Petersburg. But Kekhman made a decision that no one expected.

Although, upon closer examination, the appearance of Duato in Mikhailovsky does not look so incredible. On the contrary: this step seems natural and almost ideal. It is no secret that domestic choreography has been in a deep crisis in recent decades - today there is simply no artist in the country who could lead the capital's groups. It is no coincidence that the ballet troupes of the country's two main theaters - the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky - eke out an orphan existence: the Mariinsky - after the departure of the team of Mahar Vaziev and Pavel Gershenzon, the Bolshoi - after the flight of Alexei Ratmansky (having worked for several years in Moscow, he chose not to solve the administrative problems of the Bolshoi, but to engage in free creativity in the U.S. Willy-nilly, Vladimir Kekhman had to look for an artistic director of the ballet outside of Russia.

But even in the world of truly outstanding choreographers, one or two have been missed. And those that exist are often unable to create within the structure of a repertory theater - most of the grandees of modern ballet prefer to work with their own groups rather than be responsible for the artistic policy of the entire theater. Nacho Duato has a lot of experience in this field: in 1990, already a star on the world stage, having worked with all the leading companies in the world and holding the post of choreographer of the cult Kilian NDT (the main European ballet outpost), he headed the Spanish National Dance Theater. And in a few years he managed to turn this provincial troupe into one of the most sought-after and highly paid ballet troupes in the world. Vladimir Kekhman, having shown an instinct for the art market, undoubtedly took this experience of Duato into account when deciding to collaborate with him - not only a visionary genius, but also a brilliant teacher and organizer.

A reasonable question is - what prompted one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world to head an ambitious, but still fairly little known theater company in the world? The most predictable answer suggests itself - Kekhman offered Duato an exorbitant fee. Which in itself is quite probable. But at the same time, the Mikhailovsky Theater was helped by the specific circumstances of Duato’s career. This year he is leaving the National Theater of Spain - the resignation, as the choreographer himself hints, is caused by disagreements on both creative and financial issues with the Spanish Ministry of Culture. At the Mikhailovsky Theater, Duato will have absolute carte blanche, which would be quite difficult to provide in famous Western theaters with an artistic program developed decades in advance. It’s one thing to integrate into an already existing structure, but quite another to create it from scratch and tailor it to suit yourself.

Scene from the play "Multifacetedness. Forms of Silence and Emptiness" by Nacho Duato, National Dance Theater (Madrid, Spain)

Duato is quite capable of this task. But there are also enough problems. The main one is the state of the ballet troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater, which is far from the ideals of professionalism. St. Petersburg dancers in absentia seem to be weakly effective in solving the tasks that Duato’s most difficult choreographic texts present to them. Another problem is that Mikhailovsky's management has no intention of abandoning its classical repertoire. And how Duato’s radical choreography and “Swan Lake” will coexist is a big question. One thing is obvious: Vladimir Kekhman made the most precise personnel move, leading the Mikhailovsky troupe along the path of reformatting from classical to non-classical. It is clear that in the territory of the classics it is difficult for Mikhailovsky to compete with both the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi. But in the field of modern choreography, it will be much easier to compete with your closest colleagues. In addition, competition may arise not with the Mariinsky Theater, judging by the posters of recent years, which has finally made a choice in favor of reviving the old repertoire, but with the rapidly updating Bolshoi Theater, which has announced premieres of Preljocaj, Forsythe, McGregor and Kilian for the coming years.

Duato has time - the contract with Mikhailovsky was concluded for five years with the right to further extension. Duato has a personnel resource - as was announced at the press conference, in addition to the choreographer himself, a whole staff of his tutors and foreign soloists will move to St. Petersburg, who will join Mikhailovsky’s troupe. Duato's arrival in St. Petersburg promises to lead to a radical improvement in the citywide ballet climate. Thus, it is planned to add a modern ballet course to the curriculum of the Vaganova Academy, which will be taught by Duato’s assistants. In parallel, injections of serious doses of modern choreography will be carried out - Sergey Danilyan, the official agent of Nacho Duato and one of Vladimir Kekhman’s regular partners, will organize the annual large-scale festival of modern choreography on the stage of the Mikhailovsky. Thus, work on the Europeanization of St. Petersburg ballet will be carried out by the Mikhailovsky Theater on all fronts.

Vladimir Kekhman has long said that in his activities he is guided primarily by the experience of the Imperial Theaters. That is, for the golden age of Russian ballet. The last time a foreign choreographer headed a Russian troupe was just over a hundred years ago - this Varangian was Marius Petipa. Nacho Duato can be considered his direct heir. Time will tell how Duato’s work at Mikhailovsky will turn out. But Vladimir Kekhman has already brought his name into the history of Russian theater today.

Sofya Dymova,
"Fontanka.ru"