When Johan Inger was asked to create a new version of Carmen, being himself Swedish and Carmen a piece with a strong Spanish nature, he faced an enormous challenge. But it was also a great opportunity. The story witnessed through the eyes of a young watcher reveals the tale stripped to its mythic and universal elements of passion and violence.

"There is a certain mystery within this character, it could be any kid, it could be Don José when he was a boy, it could be a young Michaela or Carmen and José's unborn child. It could even be ourselves, with our very first goodness wounded due to a violent experience that, though brief, has had a negative impact in our lives and our ability to interact with others forever."
 

Source: National dance company of Spain

More information :

http://cndanza.mcu.es/es/

http://www.johaninger.com/

Johan Inger made his breakthrough as a choreographer in 1995 after a very successful dancing career at the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). Inger’s choreographies have won numerous prestigious awards. Between 2003 and 2008 he was the artistic director of the Cullberg Ballet, and between 2009 and 2015 he held the position as Associate Choreographer with NDT.

The Swede Johan Inger (Stockholm, 1967) had his dance training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the National Ballet School in Canada. From 1985 to 1990 he danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, the last year performing as a soloist. Fascinated by the works of Kylián, Inger was convinced that the next step in his dance career should take him to Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1990 the hour had come. He joined Nederlands Dans Theater I and was a high-profile dancer in this company until 2002.

When Inger tried his hand at Nederlands Dans Theater’s annual Choreography Workshops (now Switch), Jiří Kylián noticed his talent for choreography. After four workshop pieces Inger was asked in 1995 to make his first choreography for Nederlands Dans Theater II. The resulting « Mellantid » marked his official debut as a choreographer. It was part of the Holland Dance Festival and was immediately a resounding success. It brought him the Philip Morris Finest Selection Award 1996 in the Contemporary Dance category. In 2001 Mellantid was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award in the Best New Dance Production category.

Since his debut, Inger has made various works for Nederlands Dans Theater. For his ballets « Dream Play » and « Walking Mad » he received the Lucas Hoving Production Award in October 2001. « Walking Mad » as it was later performed by Cullberg Ballet was awarded the Danza & Danza’s Award 2005. Inger himself was nominated by the VSCD Dance Panel for the Golden Theatre Dance Prize 2000 and received the Merit Award 2002 of Stichting Dansersfonds ’79.

Inger left Nederlands Dans Theater for the artistic leadership of Cullberg Ballet in 2003. Over the next comming five years he made various choreographies for this company. In 2013 Inger received the prestigious Carina Ari medal in Stockholm for his worldwide promotion of Swedish art and dance.

Source: Johan Inger 's website

More information :

johaninger.com

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

Compañía Nacional de Danza was founded in 1979 under the name of Ballet Clásico Nacional (Ballet Nacional Clásico) with Víctor Ullate as its first Director. His successors in the post were María de Ávila and the extraordinary Russian ballerina Maya Plisétskaya. Then, in 1990, Nacho Duato was named Artistic Director of the company.

Duato’s appointment brought innovative change to the company. Up to his departure in 2010, he contributed forty-five choreographic works, praised by critics worldwide.

After one year under the artistic direction of Hervé Palito, the Compañía Nacional de Danza appointed its current Artistic Director, José Carlos Martínez. He took office on September 1st, 2011, after leaving his post as Principal Dancer from the Paris Opera Ballet.

José Carlos Martínez's project for the Compañía Nacional de Danza is to promote dance and to make this art form better known. His repertory is wide, ranging from classical and neoclassical ballet to modern choreographic language, within a setting of full artistic and creational freedom. It embraces both new Spanish and international creations, drawing in new audiences and boosting the company's national and international projection. 

Source : Compañia Nacional de Danza de España

More information : http://cndanza.mcu.es/es/