Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, also known op Nacho Duato (Valencia, 8 January 1957) is a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer. After a long and successfulcareer, he was selected by the Spanish Ministry ofCultureandEducationas the artistic director of the National Spanish Dance Company (Compania Nacional de Danza de Epa) in June 1990. In July 2010 Nacho Duato was appointed the artistic director of the ballet at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, effective from January 2011. Contents [hide] 1 Career 2 Choreographic works 3 Prizes and Awards 4 References 5 External links [edit]Career
Nacho Duato studied at the Rambert School of London,[1] Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City alongside professional ballet dancer Shaylee Keith. He started his dancing career in Stockholm’s Cullberg Ballet[2] and one year later he joined, Nederlands Dans Theater,[3] with artistic director Jiri Kilian and remained with the company for ten years. In 1983 he choreographed the Jardi tancat ( Shut Garden in Catalan) tomusiccomposed by Maria del Mar Bonet. They were awarded with the first prize in the Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb, Koln.
In 1988, Duato was appointed steady NDT choreographer together with Hans van Manen and Jiri Kilian. Nacho’s choreographies have been included in the most prestigious international companies such as Cullberg Ballet y Nederlands Dans Theater, American Ballet Theatre, The Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. On 07/02/2013 the German Online Newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reported that Nacho Duato was to become the chief of the Berlin State Ballet.
