CND2 Performs at Jacob's Pillow, Last Performance Tonight

Madrid-based contemporary dance company CND2 (Compañía Nacional de Danza 2) performs at Jacob's Pillow July 28-August 1, in their final engagement under departing founder and Artistic Director Nacho Duato. Nacho Duato announced in April of 2010 that by the end of July he would step down as Artistic Director of both CND2 and the parent company CND after founding both companies and twenty years at the helm. For this very special engagement, CND2 will perform the U.S. premiere of Insected by co-Artistic Director Tony Fabre, and acclaimed dancemaker Duato's movingly spiritual works Kol Nidre and Gnawa.

Ella Baff, Jacob's Pillow Executive Director, comments, "This is an important event in the dance world, and in dance history, as these are the final performances under Nacho Duato's direction and we do not know if the company will exist after he leaves. Anyone who has not seen CND2 must see this choreographer's works and the exceptional dancers who perform them. I am also so pleased that Tony Fabre has held the U.S. premiere of his new work, Insected, for the Pillow. These performances are also a bittersweet occasion for us, as the Pillow presented the U.S. debut of CND2 in 2003 as well as in 2004 and 2006. Nacho is one of the world's most important choreographers and we feel proud to have introduced his work to U.S. audiences."

Sid Smith of the Chicago Tribune notes, "Duato's gifts include a seemingly unlimited ability to blend tradition and novelty, the familiar and the unpredictable, in works that glide along on their smooth, almost inevitable course, just as they startle and mystify."

CND2 is an audience favorite at Jacob's Pillow, having made its U.S. debut at the festival in 2003. Known for their "non-stop, eye-popping, full-on dancing" (Albany Times Union) and "dramatic, visually stunning works" (The Boston Globe), the dancers of CND2 will perform three contemporary ballet works at Jacob's Pillow.

Insected is set to an eclectic score that creates a full and intriguing atmosphere, with music by Hans Werner Henze, the tribes of northern Ghana, André Klenes & Sébastien Walnier, Spontus, Siegrid Palm, Lydia Torea, and Ruben Romero. Choreographed by Toby Fabre, co-Artistic Director of CND2, the dance explores maturation and learning through experience, self and community, with a wide movement vocabulary from intimate gestures to demanding technical feats. Insected also employs a structural set which the dancers climb on and around at certain points to further the ideas and imagery of the work. Insected won the Premio de Coreografía de Danza Villa de Madrid 2009, an annual prize awarded by the city of Madrid with the aim of stimulating creation, research, and cultural production.

Nacho Duato named his work Kol Nidre for the phrase that is recited in the synagogue at the beginning of the evening service for Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Kol Nidre is set to music by John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, and John Zorn and the movement is sweeping, luscious, and generous, but also introspective and spiritual.

In Gnawa, Duato uses strong, interconnected sequences to suggest the vibrancy and spirituality of the Moroccan landscape and people. Gnawa is the name of members of mystic Muslim brotherhoods of sub-Saharan origin, known for the use of song and dance as a means to reach ecstasy. With an evocative musical score of Spanish and North African rhythms, Gnawa includes "passages of fast-paced unity for six couples, with sensuous duets" (Los Angeles Times). Gnawa was created on and premiered by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which performed the work at Jacob's Pillow in 2007.

CND2 was originally created in 1999 to act as a link between younger dancers and veteran professional companies, such as its parent company, Compañía Nacional de Danza. Since then, CND2 has come into its own as a seasoned company with distinctive repertory from Duato, Fabre, and up-and-coming choreographers.

Born in Valencia, Spain, Nacho Duato began his professional ballet training at eighteen at the Rambert School in London. He furthered his dance studies at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels and completed his dance education at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City.

Duato signed his first professional contract with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm in 1980 and a year later joined Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland. In recognition of his achievement as a dancer, Duato received the Golden Dance Award in Schouwburgen, Netherlands in 1987. In 1988 Nacho Duato was named Resident Choreographer for Nederlands Dans Theater alongside Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián. In 1990 he became Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid.

In 1995 he received the title of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, presented annually by the French Embassy in Spain. The Spanish Government awarded him the Golden Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts in 1998. He won the Benois de la Danse at the Stuttgart Opera, one of the most prestigious international awards for choreography, presented by the International Dance Association for Multiplicity. In 2003, Duato was the winner of Spain's National Dance Award, in the Creative category.

Duato's ballets are now found in the repertoires of companies including the Cullberg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Deutsche Oper Ballet, Australian Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Finnish Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Performance and Ticket Information

Wednesday, July 28 through Saturday, July 31 at 8pm

Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1 at 2pm

* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob's Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered in Blake's Barn 30 minutes before every performance. Artistic personnel from CND2 will participate in a Post-Show Talk following the performance on July 29.
* Tickets range from $58-63.
* Tickets on sale now online jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in person at Jacob's Pillow.

Pillow Members receive exclusive benefits. To become a Member call 413.243.9919 x125

Jacob's Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, MA, 01223 (10 minutes east on Route 20 from Mass Pike Exit 2). The Jacob's Pillow campus and theaters are handicapped-accessible.

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