CND 2
For Immediate Release: March 30, 2008
Contact: Chad Greenwood, 503-245-1600 ext. 205
WHITE BIRD CONCLUDES SEASON WITH NACHO DUATO’S THRILLING COMPANY FROM MADRID, COMPAÑIA NACIONAL DE DANZA 2
CND 2’S COMPANY OF YOUNGER DANCERS, ACCLAIMED FOR THEIR MATURITY AND PASSION, WILL PERFORM THREE MASTERWORKS BY DUATO, SET TO DEBUSSY, SCHUBERT AND MOROCCAN MUSIC.
Who: Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Artistic Director Nacho Duato
Presented by: White Bird
When: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7:30 pm
Where: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Sponsors: West Coast Bank, The Oregonian A&E
Tickets: $20-$50 plus service fee. 20% discounts for students/seniors. 503.790.2787, all Ticketmaster outlets including PCPA Box Office. Online at www.ticketmaster.com. Group Discounts/Info: 503.245.1600 ext. 201.
White Bird will conclude its 11th season with the Portland debut of Spain’s celebrated Compañia Nacional de Danza 2 (CND2), Nacho Duato’s 16-member company of younger dancers, internationally celebrated for their unusual maturity and passion. In 2002, White Bird premiered Duato’s main company Compañia Nacional de Danza, which audience members still recall with great excitement. When CND2 opened the Jacob’s Pillow Festival season in 2006, it drew standing ovations from the packed audiences and ecstatic reviews from dance critics. The Berkshire Eagle stated that the “17- to 21-year old dancers pitch into every nuance like their hearts are on fire… their technique, speed and passion come across as incandescent.”
CND2 will perform three works by Nacho Duato, demonstrating his heightened musicality, sensuality and emotional depth. “Duende” (1991), set to Claude Debussy’s “Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp” for twelve dancers, shows how Duato crafts his dances as sculptural works; he visualizes shapes, not people, relationships or events. He plays with the concept of “duende”—literally meaning elves and fairies, as well as a rascal or naughty child. “Duende” also refers to someone radiating energy and great charm. In the program’s second work “Without Words” (1998) for eight dancers, set to Franz Schubert, Duato strips the dancing of any evident romantic atmosphere. The subjects of love and death appear, derived from Schubert’s score, but revealed through Duato’s contemporary frame of mind rather than through Schubert’s 19th century sensibility. Originally set on American Ballet Theatre, “Without Words” was called by Ballet-Dance Magazine “the real epiphany” of the evening when ABT performed it in 2005.
CND2’s program will conclude with Duato’s mesmerizing “Gnawa,” performed by the entire 16-member company. “Gnawa” conjures up the sensuality and spirituality of the Moroccan landscape and people through Duato’s compelling movement and suggestive musical score replete with Spanish and North African sounds. According to The Dance Insider, “Gnawa” is one of the most well-crafted, musically sensitive, and emotionally satisfying” of all of Duato’s dances.
Born in Valencia, Spain, Nacho Duato began his professional ballet training at 18 at the Rambert School in London, furthered his dance studies at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels, and completed his dance education at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City. In 1981 he joined Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland, where he became one of its most acclaimed dancers. He soon began exploring choreography, and his first attempt in 1983 turned into a major success—“Jardí Tancat” that won him the first prize at the International Choreographic Workshop in Cologne. In 1988 Nacho Duato was named Resident Choreographer for Nederlands Dans Theater alongside Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián. In June 1990 he was appointed Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza. His ballets are included in the repertories of Cullberg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Lyon Opera Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, among many others.
Compañía Nacional de Danza 2 was created by Artistic Director Nacho Duato in October 1999 with the aim of preparing young dancers for a professional dance career. It intends to be a link between conservatories, ballet schools and professional companies such as Compañía Nacional de Danza. Since its creation, Tony Fabre, former dancer with the Compañía Nacional de Danza and Assistant Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza 2, has provided the Company with a repertory comprised predominantly of Nacho Duato's works, and into that he has incorporated works of young and promising choreographers. This gives young dancers the opportunity to follow closely new technique and to include some of these elements into future works that they perform.
Compañia Nacional de Danza 2 is supported by Goberna de España /Ministerio de Cultura and the U.S. Tour is supported in part by The Embassy of Spain in Washington.
White Bird’s 11th season (2008-09) is supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and Work for Art, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, The Collins Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, The Kinsman Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Cultural Trust, The Jaffe Foundation, Autzen Foundation, Schnitzer CARE Foundation and WESTAF.
