Compañia Nacional de Danza 2

November 28, 2001

Now that Nacho Duato is at the Mikhailovsky, his former junior troupe, Spain’s Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, is singing a swan song for his choreography: the young contemporary ballet dancers are currently dancing in one final tour of Duato’s works. This weekend, they’re performing at The Skirball Center in New York City.

 

Watching the show last night, I realized that Duato’s work feels kind of like looking at a river. The choreography is forever flowing, with bodies moving organically in series of spirals and arcs. The fluidity of his phrases can be beautifully mesmerizing, and sometimes almost puts you in a trance-like state. Although that quality can work against him on a program consisting solely of his pieces (I have to admit that my mind wandered off a couple of times), his lush movement vocabulary can also showcase contemporary ballet dancers at their best. I’ll be curious to see how Duato’s choreography evolves now that he’ll be creating only on purely classically-trained dancers.