Nacho Duato - Famous Spanish Dancers

Nacho Duato is a Spanish dancer who was born in Valencia, Spain.  He started professional ballet dancing at the age of 18 in the Rambert School in London and later continued to study in Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels.  The dancer would later continue his dance education at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City.

By the year 1980, Nacho landed his first professional dance position with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm.  After a year, Nacho Duato moved to the Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland where he began to perform with the artistic director Jirí Kylián and would remain for 10 years.

In 1983 the Spanish dancer became a choreographer with the show Jardí tancat for which he received a first prize award for choreography in Köln.

In 1987 he received the VSCD Gouden Dansprijs (Golden Dance Award) and in 1988, Nacho Duato was appointed as the choreographer for Nederlands Dans Theater alongside Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián.

Nacho Duato’s critically acclaimed ballets have been included in some of the most prestigious companies such as Cullberg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Deutche Opera Ballet, Australian Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Introdans, Chicago Hubbard Street Dance Co., Ballet Grand Theatre du Genève, Musik Theater Essen, Finish Opera Ballet, Ballet de Zaragoza and American Ballet Theatre during the course of his long and successful career.

In June of 1990 he was selected by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Education to direct the National Spanish Dance Company and in January 2011 he became the artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.