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Nacho Duato is a dancer and choreographer of international stature. The ballets he has created have been internationally recognised as the work of an extremely talented choreographer. His career began when Jirí Kylián hired him for the Nederlands Dans Theater as a dancer and, later, choreographer in 1981.
Jardi Tancat was his first ballet. Produced for the junior group of the Nederlands Dans Theater, it caused a great stir when it took the first prize in the 1984 International Competition for Young Choreographers in Cologne and has since been performed with great success by the Nederlands Dans Theater.
Jardi Tancat, or The Closed Garden, is based on the lyrics of centuries-old Catalan folk songs, set to music and sung by the Spanish singer Maria del Mar Bonnet. The songs tell of the hardships endured by the Spanish farmers who work the arid land and who wait for rain which does not fall: “Water, we have asked for water, and You, oh Lord, You gave us wind and You turn Your back on us and do not hear us”.
Duato has created a ballet full of strength, poetry and beauty, danced by three couples who continue to sow, plant, reap and thresh in proud defiance of their barren surroundings, refusing to accept defeat. The work is full of dynamic movement and expression.
In an Introductory Film, Nacho Duato talks about his life and work and the inspiration he finds in the Spanish countryside and the culture of his homeland. He was filmed in Spain, staging Jardi Tancat during a Nederlands Dans Theater tour, and also in the NDT studio, during rehearsals for Jirí Kylián’s 'L’Histoire du soldat', in which he dances the central role. He is also seen working on his own ballet 'Dreams of Ether'.
Netherlands Dans Theater