Nacho Duato

Choreographer

Nacho Duato, born in Valencia, Spain, began his professional ballet training at the age of 18 at the Rambert School in London. He continued at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels and completed his studies at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. Nacho Duato signed his first engagement with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm in 1980, and a year later Jiří Kylián brought him to the Nederlands Dans Theater. In recognition of his achievements as a dancer, Nacho Duato received the Golden Dance Award in Schouwburgen in the Netherlands in 1987. He became interested in choreography very early and his very first creation in 1983 was a great success: Jardí Tancat to Catalan music by Maria del Mar Bonet was awarded first prize at the International Choreography Workshop in Cologne. In 1988 Nacho Duato was appointed permanent choreographer at the Nederlands Dans Theater (choreographer in residence) together with Hans van Manen and Jiří Kylián. Appointed by the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas y de la Música of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Nacho Duato was artistic director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza from June 1990. In 1995, Nacho Duato received the title "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", which is awarded annually by the French Embassy in Spain. In 1998, the Spanish government awarded him the Gold Medal for his services to the fine arts. In April 2000 he won the Prix Benois de la Danse for Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness, a ballet that was also shown in Munich in December 2009. In 2003, Nacho Duato was the winner of the Spanish Dance Prize in the category "Creativity". After 20 years as artistic director of the Comapnia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Nacho Duato took over the direction of the ballet of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 2011. From the 2014/15 season, he became artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet for four years. Since 2018 he is the Artistic Director of the Mijailowsky Ballet (Saint Petersburg. Russia).

(Information as of 2023)