The National Dance Company will be coming to the Teatro Real from 15 to 18 January to perform a show that includes three moments of dance from the past century. Serenade by George Balanchine, Echoes from the Restless Soul by Jacopo Godani and The Second Detail by William Forsythe. Serenade, danced to Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48, also poses a foundational value for the company as the first Balanchine was incorporated in its repertoire in 1983.
This is joined by Godani’s creation on the piano triptych, Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, a series of pas de deux, quartets and a choral movement of great virtuosity. The journey is rounded off with The Second Detail by Forsythe, whose playful and physical choreography plays with the tempo, group dynamics and an unconventional off-axis movement.
The title of this programme, NumEros, is a portmanteau, a combination of two terms, numen and eros, which are opposites but constitute two central elements in dance creation. Eros as embodied vital impulse, creative drive, desiring force that manifests in and through the body; and Numen as an intangible presence, poetic inspiration or immanent spirituality that transcends the artist's will. When they come together, NumEros is born, evoking Number as a principle of order, underlying pattern, logic that shapes movement.
In these pieces, the performers work from numerical systems—proportions, repetitions, permutations, sequences—not merely as compositional schemes, but also as territories experienced through the body. The body, in this context, is not limited to executing forms: it embodies them, perturbs them and transforms them. Therefore, dance becomes a process in which numerical precision meets the excess of desire, and formal abstraction meets the affective power of gesture.
Artistic File:
- National Dance Company (CND)
- Artistic Director - Muriel Romero
- Conductor - Manuel Coves
Programme:
SERENADE
- Music - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Serenade in C Major for a string orchestra, Op. 48
- Choreography - George Balanchine
- Costumes - Karinska
- Costume Maker - Tania Bakunova
- Orchestra Conductor - Manuel Coves
- Teatro Real Resident Orchestra
* Performances of Serenade, a ballet by Balanchine ®, are presented and coordinated by The George Balanchine Trust and have been produced in accordance with the standards of Balanchine Style ® and Balanchine Technique ®, stipulated and provided by the Foundation.
ECHOES FROM A RESTLESS SOUL
- Music - Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Gaspard de la Nuit
- Choreography, Lighting and Costumes - Jacopo Godani
- Costume Maker - Tania Bakunova
- Choreography Assistants - Vincenzo De Rosa, Zoe Lenzi
- Piano - Gustavo Díaz-Jerez
THE SECOND DETAIL
- Music - Thom Willems(1955)
- Choreography - William Forsythe
- Stage Design and Lighting - William Forsythe
- Staging - Stefanie Arndt, Amy Raymond
- Costumes - Yumiko Takeshima, Issey Miyake (White Dress)
- Costume Maker - Iñaki Cobos
