Duato’s celebration of youth

IF, as they say, 50 is the new 30, there may be few better examples of that than Nacho Duato, who reached the half-century mark in January. This aristocratically handsome, internationally in-demand dancer-choreographer has the drive, energy and stamina of a racehorse along with a schedule rivaling Barack Obama’s.

To begin with, Duato is artistic director of the Madrid-based Compania Nacional de Danza, one of Spain’s two national dance ensembles. In the most recent work he has choreographed for the company, based on Wim Wenders’ 1987 film “Wings of Desire,” he is onstage for the entire 70 minutes, both dancing and reciting a series of monologues.

Duato also choreographs for dance companies around the world, including such prestigious institutions as American Ballet Theatre, Stuttgart Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. And, not least, he is a mentor to up-and-coming dancers as co-director of Compania Nacional de Danza 2. Founded eight years ago, it was designed to season fledgling performers and allow them to appear in works no longer in the main troupe’s repertory. Now, as part of an extensive U.S. tour (that also includes UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday), it’s scheduled to make its Los Angeles Music Center debut beginning Friday with three performances at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Though the 14 dancers, ranging in age from 17 to 21, may be much younger than most of those in the 32-member CND, Duato, speaking by telephone from the Spanish capital, says they have attributes their older colleagues don’t. “What these dancers lack about maturity or in being more professional, they gain in spontaneity and freshness,” he says. “They’re open, like sponges, and they work very, very hard.

“While the first company could be my sons,” he adds with a laugh, “the second could be my grandsons. They are brilliant, and I love how they come out of the oven, like puppies, and in a few months their whole behavior and appearance changes.”

Duato, whose work as a choreographer is noted for its extreme technical demands, also attributes some of his vitality to CND2, saying its work keeps him in touch with his own youth. “It’s wonderful to see, and makes me remember why I started dancing.”

The group’s co-director, 43-year-old Tony Fabre, echoes those sentiments. Fabre, who danced with CND from 1991 to 1997 -- at which point he began working as Duato’s assistant before becoming the hands-on guy at the junior company -- defines his role as being a coach to nascent artists, who stay with the troupe for two or three years before joining the older company or moving on.

“I help them get the best of themselves every day,” explains Fabre, who has also choreographed a handful of pieces for CND2. “The applause for me is when I see them understanding more about what they’re doing and controlling their bodies. They want to dance so much that they really project this love. They are a big glass of energy for the audience.”

Critics too have praised these tyros, who hail from Australia, Japan, France and Spain. After their third appearance at the Jacob’s Pillow dance festival in Massachusetts, the New York Times wrote last June that they had “kicked off the season with a burst of youth, impeccable training and frank love for dance. This is wonderful stuff.”

The Valencia-born Duato studied at Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York, then joined Netherlands Dance Theater in 1981. There, after working beside dance makers Hans van Manen and Jiri Kylian, he was appointed resident choreographer in 1988. But his career had taken off earlier, in 1983, after his first ballet, “Jardi Tancat,” took top honors at the International Choreographic Workshop in Cologne, Germany.

Following in the neoclassical footsteps of Kylian, Duato deconstructs the academic ballet vocabulary yet makes sensual, accessible work. To date, he’s created more than three dozen pieces for CND alone, and he routinely premieres as many as eight dances a year for his two troupes, in addition to touring heavily with the older one (slated to appear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in October).

When asked about the sources of his inspiration, he cites his dancers and music. Not one to shy away from the dramatic, he declares of the latter, “I hate to go shopping for music like I would shoes. It is the music that chooses me.”

Such was the case with “Gnawa,” which takes its name from a North African tribe and is one of the three Duato works CND2 will be performing at the Ahmanson. Duato choreographed it for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago two years ago, and it was given its premiere in Madrid in April by the junior company.

“It’s a reflection about their religious music and dances,” Duato says in reference to the tribe, whose worship utilizes a complex choral liturgy. “It’s like a doctrine to them, to get into contact with God.

“I’m from the Mediterranean,” he continues, “and in Spain you have a lot of Arab, Jewish and Greek culture. I love to make movement to this earthy direct percussion music, and together with the voices it’s very tribal, very beautiful.”

According to Fabre, the touring pieces were chosen because they are all different in flavor. “Remansos,” created in 1997 for three American Ballet Theatre men and later expanded to include a trio of women, is set to waltzes by Granados. And for “Rassemblement,” a meditation on Haiti’s struggles choreographed in 1990 for the Cullberg (Sweden) Ballet, Duato used voodoo-inspired work songs by the late Haitian actress and singer Marie Clotilde “Toto” Bissainthe.

“These are images that people are talking about -- human rights and peace and war,” Duato says of the latter. “They still connect to people very strongly, although it was made many years ago.”

He’ll stick with it

AS to why his other work continues to captivate and how his choreography has evolved, he says, “It’s very direct. It’s not dogmatic. It always speaks about human relations and what’s going on in the world.

“In the beginning,” he recalls, “my work was like an open window. My ballets were full of joy. Lately, this window is open more toward myself, so it’s deeper, more introspective. My own view about the world and myself is more mature, but more introverted.”

That said, Duato acknowledges that his downtime, however slight, has been taken up lately with horses and acting. He has appeared in films, TV shows and champagne commercials and been featured alongside such celebrities as Andie MacDowell and Penelope Cruz. CND2 even appeared in director Pedro Almodovar’s Oscar-winning film “Talk to Her.” Duato says he loves his fellow Spaniard’s work, but he recently came to a realization.

“I made two auditions for Pedro, but I didn’t get the role,” he says. “In a way, it’s good, because it’s confirming more that my world is dance and I should concentrate on what I’m doing. For that, I’m very happy.”

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Compania Nacional de Danza 2

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. next Sunday

Price: $35 to $85

Contact: (213) 365-3500

Also

Where: UCSB Campbell Hall, 574 Mesa Road, Isla Vista

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Price: $20 to $40

Contact: (805) 893-3535