The long-awaited return of Nacho Duato

Expectation for the return of Nacho Duato in the debut of his new company at the Tívoli Theatre. Already considered a living legend of dance, the choreographer has returned to Spain fifteen years after his self-imposed exile and has confirmed once again that his aura, and that of his works, remains intact. The Nation of the Prisoner, for its youth, brings it closer to the new generations, and on Wednesday, a large part of the audience was one of them. A song of joy and freedom, and of bodies and souls that want, glide, and project themselves, driven by the music. Encouraged by their youth and admirable technique, this fifteen dancers give themselves over to the dance body and soul, with an excellent result. Gnawa opened the evening with its ode to Mediterranean interculturality, with six couples letting themselves be carried away by traditional Greek, North African, and Flemish sounds in a game of organic movements reminiscent of Greek art; the pas de deux Freedom overcomes the ancestral Haitian slavery to the rhythm of voodoo drums and bells; and Elf, a fresh choral work that preserves an exquisite elegance coming from the music of Debussy, transforms bodies into shapes and sculptures in movement (whoever wants to recover Enclosed garden You can still do so in Terrassa and Sant Cugat on May 10 and 11, respectively).

Finally, Cantus, the premiere of the evening and Duato's last choreography made expressly for his company, follows the darker style of recent years at the head of the National Dance Company in works such as White darkness either Rust. To the sound of the frenzy Requiem by Karl Jenkins, Cantus It shows the horrors that children suffer in wars, and once again, Duato chooses to give us small hints of what he intends to explain without making it obvious. The work is full of references to many wars and many injustices that remain entrenched in different cultures: African, Israeli, Muslim... We see children playing who become soldiers, women who lose their freedoms with veils covering their hair and faces, efficient armies and axes. An emotional Nacho Duato came on stage and thanked the audience for the warmth of the reunion.