At 16 years old and with no formal training, Nacho Duato dove headfirst into the world of ballet. He went on to work for Jiří Kylián at the Nederlands Dans Theatre and is currently the Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza. Duato’s repertoire mines historically rich themes while echoing the style of Kylián’s dynamic and lyrical movement.
Nacho Duato’s Por vos muero acts as a time capsule, embodying 15th and 16th century Spain through fluid contemporary ballet. Dance was a fundamental part of all rituals in 16th century Spain. It was performed by men and women of the courts; at weddings, funerals and religious events; for peasants and for royalty. Renaissance dance was often a series of slow, poised movement where one foot always remained in contact with the ground, so that any average person could follow the steps.
In Por vos muero, Duato uses the ghostly poetry of Garcilaso de la Vega and Old Spanish guitar to capture the essence of Spain’s artistic revival. Garcilaso de la Vega was Spain’s foremost poet in bringing poetry of the Italian Renaissance to Spain, and is an early example of the much-lauded ‘Renaissance Man’. For Duato, interpreting the Spanish Renaissance was a matter of drawing upon the wide cultural influences of the time – as opposed to just understanding the European Renaissance that was so dominated by the Catholic Church. He says, “You have the Arab influence, and the influence of the Sefarditas [Sephardi Jews], before the Jews were expelled from Spain. Our culture has Greek and Roman roots, and Moorish, and Egyptian – it’s what I love about it.”
Por vos muero makes a much-anticipated return to The Australian Ballet’s stages as part of the Concord programme in Melbourne and Sydney
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