Music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Wagner Tisso Choreographer, Costume Designer: Nacho Duato Stage Designer: Walter Nobbe Lighting Designer: Nicolas Fischtel Costume Technology: Alla Marusina Choreographer’s Assistants: Tony Fabre, Gentian Doda
World première: The Hague, NDT-2, 15 February 1990 Russian première: Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko State Academic Music Theatre, 24 July 2009 Première at the Mikhailovsky Theatre: 23 May 2013
One-act ballet Na Floresta / In the woods is set to music of Villa-Lobos, arranged by Tisso. The woods in the title are meant to be in Latin America — on the banks of the Amazon; however, there’s no ethnography in Duato’s choreography — at least, no Brazilian samba in the ballet. It’s just a cascade of intricate ensembles, duets, solos and trios showing the freedom of wild life and the elemental power of human emotions. Tatiana Kuznetsova, Kommersant
Prelude
CREDITS
Music by George Frideric Handel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Britten Choreographer, Stage Designer, Costume Designer: Nacho Duato Lighting Designer: Brad Fields Costume Production Engineer: Alla Marusina Musical Director of the production: Valery Ovsyanikov Choreographer’s Assistants: Zhanna Ayupova, Kirill Myasnikov In performance elements of scenery and the curtains executed by artist Vyacheslav Okunev are used
Benjamin Britten’s music is performed by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd
World première: Mikhailovsky Theatre, 14 June 2011
Prelude is an interpretation of the emotions and impressions which he experienced at the start of a new period of his life — in Russia, in St. Petersburg and with the Mikhailovsky Theatre. The new ballet is not based on one particular subject. The meeting of classical ballet and contemporary dance — two very different worlds, striving for mutual awareness and understanding — form its conceptual core. For all its apparent simplicity, the name of the ballet can be interpreted in a number of different ways. Indeed, its meaning is not just limited to the musical term. It can be assumed that in his new performance, Duato shall attempt to convey every emotional nuance accompanying the convergence of two opposing sources, and their subsequent merging, giving rise to a new life.
White Darkness
CREDITS
Music by Karl Jenkins Choreography: Nacho Duato Stage Designer: Jaffar Chalabi Costume Designer: Lourdes Frías Lighting Designer: Joop Caboort Costume Technology: Alla Marusina Choreographer’s Assistant: Thomas Klein Music Director, Conductor: Marius Stravinsky Assistant to Musical Director: Igor Tomashevsky
Karl Jenkins’ music is performed by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd
World première: 2001, Madrid Premiere of the production at the Mikhailovsky Theatre: 2 May 2014
“...It’s a loose reflection on drug-taking and its influence on our social behaviour, on our possibility to communicate with people around, and on our life in general. The choreographer doesn’t insist on anything, he is a witness, not a judge. His aim is to invite us to meditate on this painful and controversial subject.”