Repertoire

White Darkness

Nacho Duato

"I am deeply struck by how sad it is when young people allow drugs to tuin their lives and slip into a dark world, a world so dark, in fact, that there is no escape from it." Nacho Duato.

Created in mourning for this deceased sister and premiered in 2001 by the Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Duato's dance requiem tells an intense story of love, pain of loss and compassion, but also of the search ofor joie de vivre and hope. The music for"White Darkness" was created by Karl Jenkins, one of the most searched-for composers in the fiel of classical crossover, world music and new age.

  • World premiere by Compañía Nacional de Danza: at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid (Spain), November 16th 2001
white-darkness-portada-2

The choreographer researched choreographic formulae through the movement and starting from a deep musical knowledge. These choreographic formulae enlarge his vocabulary departing always from the dancers’ potential expressiveness.

Karl Jenkins born in 1944, of a Welsh mother and Swedish father. At the age of six he started his piano studies encouraged by his father, a chorus director and organist. Later, at the age of eleven, he started to play the oboe and to work at the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He also studied composition at University of Wales at Cardiff, finishing his training in the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he specialized in playing the saxophone. He received awards for his oboe interpretations for jazz and as a multi-instrumentalist. Jenkins worked, amongst others, with Ronnie Scott and created Nucleus, winning the first prize of Montreal Jazz Festival, in 1972. Later, he joined Soft Machine. This group of the seventies’ played a wide range of styles (jazz, classic, rock and even minimalism). In April 1995, Jenkins published Adiemus – Songs of Sanctuary, an extensive work composed for voice, percussion and string, which was an unprecedented success in Europe and Japan.

Información

  • Choreography:
    Nacho Duato
  • Music:
    Karl Jenkins (Adiemus Variations –Adiemus-Songs of Sanctuary-, String Quartet nº 2, Passacaglia)
  • Original editor:
    Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishing, London
  • Set Design:
    Jaffar Chalabi
  • Costume Design:
    Lourdes Frías
  • Lighting Design:
    Joop Caboort
  • Running time:
    24' 50''
  • Ballet Masters:
    Yoko Taira, Isaac Montllor
  • Premiere cast:
    Emmanuelle Broncin, Thomas Klein, Luisa María Arias, Luis Martín Oya, África Guzmán, Ivano Rossetti, Tamako Akiyama, Rafael Rivero, Ruth Maroto, Joel Toledo