Compañía Nacional de Danza 2
The Spanish National Dance Company (Compañía Nacional de Danza - CND), like the Netherlands Dance Theatre, has set up its own youth company. CND 2 was formed in the autumn of 1999 at the initiative of Nacho Duato, the famous Spanish choreographer, who is also the artistic director of both CND and CND 2. CND 2 has set itself the aim of providing training for the young generation of dancers, acting as a bridge between ballet schools and conservatoires, and professional companies like CND. The director of the youth company – Duato and his assistant Tony Fabre, a former CND dancer – have built up a high standard repertoire, most of it Duato’s own creations but also including a number of works by promising young choreographers. This colourful variety combined with insistence on his standards gives the young artists an opportunity to become more closely acquainted with the latest trends in dance. CND 2, characterised by freshness and elegance, is an artistic undertaking which places great emphasis on the potential young dance audience of the future by offering novelties.

Nacho Duato
The artistic director of CND 2 was born in Valencia and began dance studies at the age of eighteen with the famous Rambert Dance Company in London. Later he refined his skills in Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels, then with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York. His first company was the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm which he joined in 1980. Two years later he joined the Netherlands Dance Theatre (NDT) at the invitation of Jirí Kylián. In the early eighties he shifted his attention from dance to choreography: his first big recognition came in 1983 when his creation, Jardí Tancat won first prize at the Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb (International Choreography Workshop). In 1988 Duato was appointed permanent choreographer of the NDT– together with Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián. His creations have been added to the repertoires of the world’s leading dance companies and performed by such ensembles as the Cullberg Ballet, the Netherlands Dance Theatre, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Deutsche Oper Ballet of Berlin, Ballet Gulbenkian, San Francisco Ballet, the English Royal Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. His works have won many prestigious prizes. Since 1990 Nacho Duato has been the artistic director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza, the leading dance ensemble in Spain.

The Bordeaux National Opera’s Ballet Ensemble has been directed since 1996 by Charles Jude, the outstanding ballet artist, proud owner of the title “Danseur étoile de l'Opéra de Paris”, a student of Serge Lifar and Rudolf Nureyev. He left the front ranks of the ballet world to go to Bordeaux where he transformed a small, provincial ballet ensemble into a world class company. Within a few years his efforts were crowned with success. Jude is still an active dancer and many people will still remember his brilliant roles in the gala evening during the 2003 Budapest Spring Festival: Three Centuries of French Choreography – Stars of French Ballet. In this representative selection Jude danced Georges Piletta’s Pierrot solo and, together with his partner, Stéphanie Roublot, the duet from Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc.
As the artistic director of the Bordeaux company and this year’s performance, Jude strives to reconstruct and preserve the repertoire of this company with a long past and at the same time to continuously expand it. The ensemble now has in its repertoire works of leading American, Dutch, English and French choreographers as well as Marius Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda and Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppélia, Don Quijote and other great classical ballets.
As a choreographer Jude, who grew up in Vietnam and was exposed to exciting cultural influences, has attracted attention with his creations that reinterpret a number of classical stories: his Coppélia, for example, with its special visual world, is set in New York in the 1950s, transporting the viewer into the world of film musicals hallmarked by the figures of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. For the past seven years an important goal of Nureyev’s former favourite student and dancer and the company he directs has been to cultivate living dance traditions that are still valid today, and to present the best contemporary choreographies. In recognition of the French company’s activity for the cultivation of traditions and preservation of values, in 2001 it was awarded the Prix Serge Lifar, an award that the company’s director, Charles Jude, has had since 1988.
They have chosen five productions for their first gala evening in Budapest. The first is Paul Taylor’s Aureole, created in 1962, a piece that has been enormously successful and was one of the highlights in the career of the American choreographer. Ivan Favrier created his Febrile for the Ballet du Rhine; here the duet will be performed. Thierry Manaldain’s Sextet was created in 1996, Jacques Garnier’s Aunis was first performed in 1979 and a year later he reworked it from a solo into a trio. The final item is The Moor’s Pavane by José Limón, a highly influential choreography created in 1949 that is known and performed throughout the world. The Hungarian public had the opportunity to admire it in the “original” a few years ago in a performance in Budapest by the Limón Dance Company. This work by one of the most influential figures of modern dance is a fitting choice to end the programme selected by Charles Jude from half a century of dance.

Although the Bordeaux company has used Picasso’s name for the title of their programme, it can be regarded at least as much as a tribute to the famous Russian ballet impresario, Sergey Diaghilev. It was he who invited Massine, Lifar and Balanchine, whose works can be seen in this performance in the Erkel Theatre, to create dances for the Ballets Russes, the company he established in 1911. Through the determined support of Diaghilev, the choreographers were able to co-operate with the outstanding painters and composers of the time, under the aegis of the Ballets Russes. Thanks to the enterprising spirit of the impresario who introduced Russia’s best dancers to Paris and then to the whole of Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century ballet came into contact with the most progressive trends of the contemporary avant-garde. The works created were at once experimental, bold, entertaining and profound. In these compositions the dancers became the instruments of artists, the performances in which they appeared shocked and enchanted audiences and often aroused heated emotions.
Parade, created in 1917, was Picasso’s first work for the stage: his charming models for the stage design were inspired by the world of circus acrobats. The idea for the performance came from Jean Cocteau who later also wrote the libretto. The choreography was by the dancer Léonide Massine who, despite his youth was already staging his third dance. Diaghilev asked Eric Satie to compose the music for the work of the two creative artists. The performance presents the life of a touring variety company in a series of loosely linked scenes. There are acrobats, jugglers, magicians and impresarios on the stage. Because of Picasso’s scenery and costume designs, the original performance is regarded as a theatre manifestation of cubism.
Léonide Massine created the choreography of The Three-cornered Hat in 1919, based on Alarcón’s short story of the same title. Massine fell in love with Spanish folk music and dance and used the music of Manuel de Falla for his ballet. Once again, the visual design was by Pablo Picasso. The story is simple: the miller’s beautiful wife is jealously guarded by her husband; old Corregidor pays court to the woman until the couple are tired of it and teach the old gentleman a harsh lesson. It is interesting to note that the Diaghilev company brought the performance to the Budapest Opera House eight years after its first performance. The rehearsals for the performance by the Opera House ballet company in 1928 were directed by Massine’s assistant, Albert Gaubier who also danced one of the leading roles.
Picasso’s last stage work was the visual design for Serge Lifar’s choreography, Icarus. Lifar, Diaghilev’s last favourite, was not only the choreographer of the one-act ballet, he also wrote the libretto and orchestrated the rhythmic accompaniment for the performance. Icarus was first performed in 1935 with the choreographer in the title role; Picasso participated in the work of production when it was revived in 1962. The performance is actually a solo accompanied by a dance chorus, telling the tragic story of Icarus, son of Daidalos who wished to rise to the heavens on wings he made for himself.
George Balanchine created The Prodigal Son in 1929 to music by Prokofiev. With this work the choreographer bade farewell to the Ballets Russes which was disbanded in the same year with the death of Diaghilev: the stage design was created not by Picasso but by another great painter, Georges Rouault. The premiere of The Prodigal Son was held in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, with Lifar and Dubrovska in the leading roles. The performance presents the classical biblical story and the choreography throws an exciting light on the pictorial force of Rouault’s stage design.

Nederlands Dans Theater II
The young and dynamic dance ensemble
A Netherlands Dance Theatre II was formed in 1978. In the 25 years since then it has become a high standard, internationally recognised company and appeared in many theatres around the world: among others, in Spain, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Turkey, the United States, France, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands Antilles.
16 dancers (aged between 17 and 22 years) work in the NDT II, with the declared aim of providing a continuous supply of new dancers for the biggest company. All the members accepted have already completed classical training. Members are selected from among dancers graduating from the world’s renowned dance schools and conservatoires. At present seventy percent of the dancers in the NDT I came to the company from the NDT II.
The repertoire of NDT II includes works of a number of influential choreographers, such as. Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Ohad Naharin, Paul Lightfoot/Sol León and Johan Inger, but it is an important goal of the company to work with young, talented choreographers.
Over the past years the NDT II has become the most up-to-date company. By working with young choreographers and getting to know different choreographic styles and techniques, the young dancers have the opportunity to respond directly to contemporary trends in music and the arts. These talented young dancers are able to reflect the realities of our time and incorporate these elements in the new productions.