From the start, innovation has been at the heart of the Ballet Nacional de España. To have Antonio Gades (Elda, 1936, Madrid, 2004) as its first artistic director is undeniable proof of a will to open up and have a broad understanding of Spanish dance, flamenco and folklore -the stylistic foundations this company was built on- which met immediate success. In 1978, Gades was already a successful international figure and was already creating choreographies that were to take him to the top. A highly cultured man, his work foresaw the major transformations that would eventually -in the 21st century- include flamenco in the boundless vanguards that rule over the recent performing arts. In this regard, his contribution as forerunner of what we call today, Nuevo Flamenco is undeniable, a rising trend that attracts all the attention of the more radical sector of international contemporary dance.

As it usually happens with most popular and folklore dance, the message of flamenco was flamenco itself. Flamenco was the goal. The pleasure of dancing and watching others dance was the essence of the stage dynamics. Nonetheless, Gades had started to understand that flamenco could be the means to convey genuine ideas and emotions, put together a discourse and a dramaturgy. A great admirer of ballet, he made praiseworthy attempts to bring to his art some of the precepts of academic dance, especially those regarding narrative discourse. He did not hesitate to ally with Federico García Lorca to follow this path.

He had premiered Blood Wedding in Italy in 1974 but including it in the Ballet Nacional de España’s repertoire established it internationally and consolidated the newly created state company. Gades translated Lorca’s powerful tragedy into compressed time with overwhelming emotional force. The moon of death, the Bride’s tension and the Groom’s innocence, the lover’s boldness, the unrestrained passion of the lovers in addition to Lorca’s huge sense of poetry and tragedy make a smooth transition into the world of flamenco created by Gades, in which dance is the vehicle, language and support of a show where the real protagonist is this tragedy with a bloody outcome. The daring and innovative scene of the knife fight between Leonardo and The Groom, performed through an exciting slow-motion encounter is one of the most outstanding instances of his dance and of flamenco in general.

Blood Wedding was the starting point of Gades’s most relevant research, which years later he continued with El amor brujo and Carmen, that complete a legendary trilogy, especially after it was reconverted into films made with the director Carlos Saura. But from the start the Ballet Nacional de España has never been an auteur company and that is the way the master understood it. He firmly set out to rescue the Spanish choreographic memory of the 20th century, encouraging the recovery of major works like Fandango, by Padre Soler, some choreographies by Mariemma or, among many others, Pilar López’s impressive Concierto de Aranjuez. Of his own creation, he contributed La Suite Flamenca, made up of seven pieces of traditional dance re-fashioned with his own language. Gades was barely two years at the head of this public company but his was a brief, far-reaching period. It was with him that the foundations and the artistic lines that have defined, and still define, the Ballet Nacional de España were laid down.

In the world of flamenco he is simply known as Antonio el bailarín [Antonio, the dancer] and he is a legend. Antonio Ruiz Soler (Sevilla, 1921 - Madrid, 1996) was six years old when he amazed the audience at the Teatro Duque in his native city, where he was hailed as a child-prodigy. At the time he was already the partner of Rosario, who was his fundamental counterpart for a long time. Numerous performances in different cities, including Madrid, where they were known as the Chavalillos Sevillanos [Sevillian Kids], came before signing a contract that in 1937, took him and Rosario to perform across Latin America and North America for twelve years, where audiences fell for the seductive charm of their dance. It was 1946, in Mexico, where Sarasate’s Zapateado was first performed, which is perhaps one of the most emblematic creations of his immense repertoire. After more than a frantic decade, they felt the need to return to Europe. These were different times and the echoes of their success in America had little repercussion in Spain, so it was not easy for them. They were still connected to the Chavalillos Sevillanos, especially in Madrid, and did not get many contracts. Until they performed at the Sevillian Semana Santa in 1949, which was a huge success and fostered their conquest of Europe with performances in Paris, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, and Sweden, among many others. These performances were forerunners of their tours in the Middle East and the Arab world in general.

In the early 1950s the life of the choreographer and dancer was hectic. He split up with Rosario and started to give shape to the idea of having his own company in Seville, which he reinforced with the studios at calle Montera in Madrid. At the same time, he created the martinete, a style that is exclusively for cante (singing), with which he became a sophisticated dancer. On the other hand, Leonide Massine, former collaborator of Diaghilev in the Ballets Russes, called him to star in El sombrero de tres picos [The Three-Cornered Hat], at La Scala Milan. Later, in 1953, he established Antonio Ballet Español (later known as Antonio y su Ballet de Madrid), a 35-performer company with which he opened the Jardines del Generalife, a privileged place at the Festival de Música y Danza de Granada. Llanto por Manuel de Falla, El albaicín, El amor brujo and especially, his own version of El sombrero de tres picos, which moved away from Massine’s and is today a landmark of his vast production, were included in the repertoire. In 1978 he decided to retire and started a farewell tour with the show Antonio y su Teatro Flamenco, which finished on a stage of the Japanese city of Sapporo. However, there was still a very important chapter in his artistic life: taking over Antonio Gades to lead the Ballet Nacional de España, a position he held from 1980 to 1983. Although his most prominent creations were revived during this period, he followed in his predecessor’s footsteps, staging again numerous creations by masters and forerunners of Spanish dance.

A ghastly stroke confined him to a wheelchair. This is probably the toughest thing that can happen to a dancer, even if he is retired. He died in 1996 with the honour of being regarded as one Spain’s most prolific, virtuoso, and glorious bailaores of the 20^th century. “The soul of Spain dances in you”, Arturo Toscanini had said to him. The Ballet Nacional de España, in its 2016 season, paid a heart-felt tribute to him that included part of his legacy, from Sarasate’s Zapateado to Eritaña, and Taranto (La Taberna del Toro), Fantasía Galaica and obviously, El sombrero de tres picos, one of the most ambitious pieces of his legacy.

Spain had no other mistress like her. María de Ávila (Barcelona, 1920 – Zaragoza 2014) conveyed wisdom and intelligence to true stars, from Víctor Ullate to Carmen Roche and Ana Laguna, including Nazaret Panadero, Trinidad Sevillano and Arantxa Argüelles, among many others. She did teach them to move within the strict coordinates of academic ballet, but she also instilled a basic principle of contemporary dance: she made them understand that the brain is the muscle. In addition to this determining teaching work, from 1983 to 1986, she was artistic director to the two major public companies, temporarily merged in one single house: the Ballet Nacional de España, where she succeeded Antonio el bailarín, and the Ballet Nacional Clásico (the present Compañía Nacional de Danza), where she replaced her pupil Víctor Ullate. She embarked on notable transformations in both of them, visibly putting the stress on internationalization and projection in addition to a clear interest in renewing the repertoires.

For example, under her management and initiative the BNE premiered Medea, by maestro José Granero, who cleverly adapted the Greek classic to the world of Spanish dance, including Manolo Sanlúcar’s music and a script by Miguel Narros. It is a superb work, hugely emotional and dramatic which was recently revived by the Ballet Nacional de España. Mariemma’s Danza y Tronío is also from this period. A fundamental work that goes to the origin and is a real homage to the Escuela Bolera or Alberto Lorca’s Ritmos, and was directed by María de Ávila herself. These are fundamental, emblematic works of the repertoire and like Medea, have been performed again in BNE’s recent seasons.

María de Ávila moved smoothly in both worlds. Although it looks more like a statement of academic ballet, as she has often been labelled as one of the most relevant classical dancers in 20th century Spain, the truth is that she shared that passion with her love for Spanish dance through her attachment and high-regard of the Escuela Bolera. Her teacher Pamela Pamiés in Barcelona, encouraged her to train in Spanish ballet and dance from an early age, taking her to the stage of the Teatre El Liceu, where she often danced. That is where she started, playing the role of one of the child slaves in the opera Aida or the boy in Wagner’s Lohengrin to then, aged 14, join their Ballet until she made her debut playing the leading role in the premiere of Granados’s Goyescas, with her usual partner Juan Magriñá. She did not stop during the Civil War and she often travelled to Madrid to improve at the Escuela Bolera with mistress Julia Castelao. In 1948 she hung her ballet shoes forever but rather than the end it was the beginning of her true contribution, as she opened her first school in Zaragoza. A far-reaching teacher, she was bad-tempered both in and out of the classroom, but she knew how to breathe spirit and courage into all her young students, who ended up admiring her deeply. In 1982 she founded the short-lived Ballet Clásico de Zaragoza, which was the prelude to her appointment as sole director of the two State companies of the country, where she carried out a major work in widening the scope and reach of dance. María de Ávila died in Zaragoza in February 2014, but her legacy remains on the stage thanks to the many true stars she trained during her dancing career. 

The artistic life of José Antonio Ruiz (Madrid, 1951), simply known as José Antonio, is closely connected to the Ballet Nacional de España and goes back to its origins, as he was a founding member of the first cast when the company was led by Antonio Gades. At the BNE he danced, became a star, and stood out on his own as a performer and later as a choreographer. He is the longest-lasting artistic director of the house, dividing his reign in two long periods that span from 1986, following the resignation of María de Ávila, who had brought him back as star dancer a year earlier, to 1992. His second period came after Elvira Andrés, from 2011 to 2014, when Antonio Najarro took over.

José Antonio learnt from the greatest dancers and his masters include personalities of the stature of Victoria Eugenia, Alberto Lorca, Héctor Zaraspe or José Granero, among others. In his early career, he danced in María Rosa’s Ballet Español and in Antonio el bailarín’s company. He did have genius and gracefulness for dancing but he was also creative and as early as 1972 he set up his own company, Siluetas, with which he not only showed his dancing skills but also his choreographic ability with titles like Pepita Jiménez, Paso a cuatro and Cancela, in addition to the dance for a staging of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, directed by maestro Giorgio Strheler at La Scala de Milán, a theatre where he was often invited, receiving ovations most of the time. In 1982, he reconverted his company to the Ballet Español de Madrid, creating Variaciones flamencas and Desenlace, among others.

However, it was at the BNE where he fulfilled his career. His first term is remembered as a period of greatest impetus and international scope of the company. It was with him that the company made its debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, taking the award for best show of the year granted by the dance critics of the city. Thanks to his management, the company reached Havana, where in 1988 they performed his version of El sombrero de tres picos for the first time, which upon Alicia Alonso’s request, became part of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba repertoire. It was thanks to him that they danced at the legendary Russian Kirov in 1990, where he premiered his Romance de Luna and shortly after his Zarabanda joined the repertoire of this famous Soviet group. For the Expo 92 de Sevilla he created his own Medea and in the celebration of the first decade of the BNE, he fulfilled a dream: dancing with Antonio Gades Blood Wedding, his most emblematic and deepest work, where they were joined by a young Aída Gómez in the role of The Bride.

After this fruitful first period at the BNE came to an end, he relaunched his own company and became director of Seville’s Compañía Andaluza de Danza, after María Pagés and before Cristina Hoyos. In 1997 he was recognised with the Premio Nacional de Danza and in 2004 he returned home to the BNE, again as artistic director. Aires de Villa y Corte, La leyenda and the ground-breaking El corazón de piedra verde, his last work for the company, are relevant, mature creations of this second phase, in addition to major works like Laberinto, Con mi soledad, Don Juan or Carmen, which had been included in the company’s repertoire during his first period as artistic director.

José Antonio’s resignation as artistic director in 1992 was a major setback for the Ballet Nacional de España, which experienced one of its most splendid periods in its history under his directorship. For the first time, a triumvirate was to take charge of the company’s development. Aurora Pons would be the coordinator while at the same level, Victoria Eugenia and Nana Lorca would be assistants. The three of them were specially connected to the company as performers, creators and, particularly, as mistresses. Pons (Barcelona, 1936 – Madrid, 2016) started her career in Catalonia with Juan Magriñá at the Institut del Teatre and as dancer with Luisillo, Antonio el bailarín, and Pilar López. BNE collaborator nearly from its origins, her career was strongly linked to the house before she took on this six-hand directorship. Also a mistress -many consider her to be one of the best in Spanish dance- Victoria Eugenia (Madrid, 1933) known as Betty, was also a gifted performer and an inspired choreographer, thanks to the encouragement of her teacher Alberto Lorca, who always believed in her creative potential. She arrived at the BNE in María de Ávila’s period with a long, fruitful career behind her, which included training in Spanish dance with the prestigious family Pericet and in academic dance with Karen Taft. She had danced for Antonio and choreographed works like Benamor, El barberillo de Lavapiés or Pasión gitana for major artists including María Rosa, Lola Flores or Paquita Rico. Her contribution to BNE is huge. For her part, Nana Lorca (Murcia, 1937) had been principal in Pilar López’s company in the 1950s and at the BNE she had been José Antonio’s assistant since 1987, which guaranteed continuity of that artistic line in the new phase.

Their joint contribution brought great stylistic variety and diversity to the company’s repertoire, that mainly fed on Victoria Eugenia’s creations, including emblematic titles of BNE’s history such as A mi aire, a brief, virtuoso solo for female dancers with music by Granados, that includes puntas accompanied by castanets; Chacona, another virtuoso solo exclusively created for Maribel Gallardo, an outstanding dancer of the company; and La canción del torero that, with music by maestro Joaquín Turina, re-enacts the time of prayer of the matador before he goes into the bullring. The work, highly elegant and deeply emotional was created for the powerful dancer Antonio Márquez, who had joined in as guest performer during the Pons, Victoria Eugenia and Nana Lorca period, creative artists who carefully shaped the personality of the Ballet Nacional de España for five years.

The death of Aurora Pons at 79 in January 2016, was a hard blow for national dance. Versatile, her movements were equally sure and smooth both in Spanish and academic dance. Aged just 16, she gained the position of lead dancer at Barcelona’s Ballet del Teatre El Liceu. In the mid-1950s she moved to Madrid invited by Antonio el bailarín, and at the Teatro de la Zarzuela she grew as a performer and choreographer. She taught ballet at the BNE during the transition period between Antonio Gades and Antonio and continued to teach during María de Ávila’s years until she became artistic director of the company in triumvirate with Victoria Eugenia and Nana Lorca. She carried on teaching at the Conservatorio Fortea in Madrid until she definitely retired in 2006.

Aída Gómez is overwhelmingly powerful (Madrid, 1967). Director, choreographer and classical Spanish dancer, her body brings together elegance and courage, boldness and discipline. Her career is inseparable from the Ballet Nacional de España, where she has achieved landmarks in her long artistic career. She joined the company when she was very young, in 1982, under the guidance of Antonio el bailarín, artistic director at the time, who saw extraordinary qualities in her and did not hesitate to give her the most attractive and difficult roles in the repertoire, including Carmen and Don Juan. As a young girl, Aída Gómez specialised mainly in Spanish and classical dance. She had the best teachers: Juana Taft, Maestro Ontin, Merche Esmeralda, Juanjo Linares, Carmina Ocaña, Manolete and Victoria Eugenia were some of her main guides and advisors. She received ovations when she danced El fandango del candil, a key piece she first danced in the tribute the BNE paid to La Argentina, under the auspices of mistress Mariemma. Her pas de deux Puerta de Tierra, which she danced with José Antonio was also important as well as her role of La Molinera, in El sombrero de tres picos, which was put on for the reopening of Madrid’s Teatro Real in 1997. She has danced in major international venues with Joaquín Cortés including London’s Royal Albert Hall or the Radio City in New York. She reinforced her classical line by working with Maurice Béjart at his Rudra School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In 1998 she became the youngest-ever artistic director of the Ballet Nacional de España. Poeta, a tribute to Rafael Alberti with music by Vicente Amigo, is one of the relevant titles premiered at the beginning of her directorship. It took place during the celebration of the BNE 20th anniversary (in the tenth, Gómez herself had danced with Antonio Gades and José Antonio, the role of The Bride in Blood Wedding). Her choice was a declaration of principles with a double programme that sought a balance between tradition and vanguard. On the one hand, major revivals of emblematic pieces of the BNE repertoire such as Rango by Rafael Aguilar, and Fantasía galaica and Eritaña, two real classics in Antonio el bailarín’s extensive catalogue; on the other hand, this dazzling Poeta, which included a groundbreaking choreography by Javier Latorre, stage design by La Fura dels Baus plus Devota & Lomba’s costumes. An attempt to show the vast possibilities of Spanish dance and its ability to adapt to the times. In the meantime, her performing career advanced with new works. Antonio Canales turned her into a danced incarnation of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and José Antonio made her return to Carmen, a role that seems to have been custom-made for her stage ferocity. At the same time, the inspired Semblanzas, first performed in this period, vouched for her sensitivity for choreography. Other pieces included Silencio rasgado and Mensaje, which suited the sensitivity and aesthetics of the late 20^th century. In 2001, no longer being BNE director, she founded her own company and premiered Salomé, with filmmaker Carlos Saura as stage director. Suite española, Permíteme bailarte and Adalí are part of her group’s repertoire. In 2004 her work was recognised with the Premio Nacional de Danza in the Performance category. In late 2015, Aida Gómez was appointed director of the Festival Madrid en Danza, one of the major international and national dance events of the capital.

After Aída Gómez’s departure, prominent bailaora Cristina Hoyos was offered the position of artistic director to the Ballet Nacional de España but she turned down the offer. Elvira Andrés (Madrid, 1958) was appointed instead. A distinguished performer who was always closely connected to the figure of Antonio Gades and had belong to the first generation at the BNE. In 1980 she became a soloist with the maestro’s approval and that same year actively took part in the shooting of the film Blood Wedding, by Gades-Saura. She had originally trained with Mariemma and had danced for the Ballet de Rafael Aguilar, even as the protagonist of his creation Rango. When Gades left the BNE, she followed him to his company where she performed noteworthy roles and took part in many important tours. She also tackled creation and twice won the Certamen Coreográfico de Danza Española y Flamenco, in Madrid: in 1993, for her production Mujeres and in 94 for A la luz. That year she set up her own company with which she staged Blood Wedding by her master Gades in 2000.

During her directorship of the BNE, Elvira Andrés insisted on strengthening the idea of plurality in the company’s repertoire, which has been finally established now with Antonio Najarro. In her hands, the lines of the group, coinciding with the same transformation undergone by the great ballet houses worldwide, pointed to the retrieval of a classic repertoire and the creation of new works that would enable Spanish dance to meet the stylistic needs and concerns of our times and also stimulate young authors to create new pieces. A year after taking over the direction of the BNE, Andrés had recovered from oblivion pieces of such relevance as Concierto de Aranjuez, by mistress and forerunner Pilar López, who personally supervised the revival of a work that had not been performed for 25 years and that the company had never danced. She also took care of the revival of Antonio Gades’s Fuenteovejuna, a monumental work that is the quintessence of his particular language. Additionally, she dived into the past and from the late 19th century brought El zapateado, an unrivalled creation of Jerez author El Estampío, an innovative contribution at the time. Alongside this classical line, Elvira Andrés was also groundbreaking and bold as she invited artists whose research was related to the needs of contemporary dance, premiering María Pagés’s work Ilusiones FM or Teresa Nieto’s, a plural artist who is closer to contemporary dance but has a clear interest in Spanish dance. She created for them her piece Mareas together with Florencio Campos, of Arrieritos company. At the same time, Andrés premiered her piece Colores and a revival of her work Mujeres.

Teaching has been the other natural vocation of Elvira Andrés. She has taught at the iconic training centre in calle Amor de Dios in Madrid and since she finished her period as artistic director of the Ballet Nacional de España, in 2004, she has been one of the major mistresses at the Conservatorio Superior de Danza María de Ávila in Madrid.

The artistic life of José Antonio Ruiz (Madrid, 1951), simply known as José Antonio, is closely connected to the Ballet Nacional de España and goes back to its origins, as he was a founding member of the first cast when the company was led by Antonio Gades. At the BNE he danced, became a star, and stood out on his own as a performer and later as a choreographer. He is the longest-lasting artistic director of the house, dividing his reign in two long periods that span from 1986, following the resignation of María de Ávila, who had brought him back as star dancer a year earlier, to 1992. His second period came after Elvira Andrés, from 2011 to 2014, when Antonio Najarro took over.

José Antonio learnt from the greatest dancers and his masters include personalities of the stature of Victoria Eugenia, Alberto Lorca, Héctor Zaraspe or José Granero, among others. In his early career, he danced in María Rosa’s Ballet Español and in Antonio el bailarín’s company. He did have genius and gracefulness for dancing but he was also creative and as early as 1972 he set up his own company, Siluetas, with which he not only showed his dancing skills but also his choreographic ability with titles like Pepita Jiménez, Paso a cuatro and Cancela, in addition to the dance for a staging of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, directed by maestro Giorgio Strheler at La Scala de Milán, a theatre where he was often invited, receiving ovations most of the time. In 1982, he reconverted his company to the Ballet Español de Madrid, creating Variaciones flamencas and Desenlace, among others.

However, it was at the BNE where he fulfilled his career. His first term is remembered as a period of greatest impetus and international scope of the company. It was with him that the company made its debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, taking the award for best show of the year granted by the dance critics of the city. Thanks to his management, the company reached Havana, where in 1988 they performed his version of El sombrero de tres picos for the first time, which upon Alicia Alonso’s request, became part of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba repertoire. It was thanks to him that they danced at the legendary Russian Kirov in 1990, where he premiered his Romance de Luna and shortly after his Zarabanda joined the repertoire of this famous Soviet group. For the Expo 92 de Sevilla he created his own Medea and in the celebration of the first decade of the BNE, he fulfilled a dream: dancing with Antonio Gades Blood Wedding, his most emblematic and deepest work, where they were joined by a young Aída Gómez in the role of The Bride.

After this fruitful first period at the BNE came to an end, he relaunched his own company and became director of Seville’s Compañía Andaluza de Danza, after María Pagés and before Cristina Hoyos. In 1997 he was recognised with the Premio Nacional de Danza and in 2004 he returned home to the BNE, again as artistic director. Aires de Villa y Corte, La leyenda and the ground-breaking El corazón de piedra verde, his last work for the company, are relevant, mature creations of this second phase, in addition to major works like Laberinto, Con mi soledad, Don Juan or Carmen, which had been included in the company’s repertoire during his first period as artistic director.

From the moment he became artistic director of the Ballet Nacional de España in 2011, Antonio Najarro (Madrid, 1975), had a clear vision of the complexity of this company. From his point of view, he had to keep alive the huge repertoire it already had, open a path for new creations, and support and widen the complex range of national folklore. The revival of iconic works by the company, such as Mairemma’s Danza y tronío, Bolero by Rafael Aguilar, Ritmos by Alberto Lorca, maestro Granero’s Medea, and Viva Navarra by Victoria Eugenia and, among others, the new programme that put together historic creations by Antonio el bailarín, made up a rigorous selection of the past that was brought back to the stage with their original force.

At the same time, Najarro gradually extended the repertoire with large productions for which he called a select group of today’s choreographers to work around a proposed theme. Ángeles caídos, roughly inspired by Wim Wenders’s film Wings of Desire, brought together the talent of top creators like Rafaela Carrasco, Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Javier Latorre, Manuel Liñán and Rubén Olmo, with Hansel Cereza as stage director, while Zaguán brought to light creations by Mercedes Ruiz, La Lupi and Marco Flores that had not been performed before.

As for creations of his own, Antonio Najarro contributed works in which he developed and looked into aesthetics and formal concerns that were the stylistic mainstay of his own company, which he set up in 2002. He also premiered visually dazzling works like Tango flamenco or Jazzing Flamenco, personal creations that are the product of his long career. This young creator has been busy at work since he was 15 years old. He danced in Ballet de Rafael Aguilar. He was a soloist for Mariemma and Antonio Gades; he shone in the companies of José Antonio Ruiz, Antonio Márquez, Aída Gómez or the Ballet Antología. As a performer, he joined the BNE in 1997, becoming Lead Principal three years later. He also competed at the Certamen Coreográfico de Danza Española, where he succeeded with his piece Nereidas, which was quickly added to the company’s repertoire. The splendid Suite Sevilla, Ícaro, Eterna Iberia and Alento, that forms a diptych with Zaguán, are some of the works he premiered with the company while being its artistic director.

The necessary section for folklore was the most complex as there is a wide range of popular and traditional dances from the different regions in the country and they each have their own rules. After taking three years to prepare his team, Najarro premiered the ambitious project Sorolla, a major work that starting from an ingenious dramaturgy displays unique and coherent dances from Castille, Aragón, Navarra, Gipuzkoa, Seville, Galicia, Catalonia, Valencia, Extremadura, Elche and Ayamonte. The Visión de España collection, a monumental set of fourteen paintings depicting scenes of everyday life in these regions created by painter Joaquín Sorolla upon the request of the New York Hispanic Society, provided the perfect starting point for this collective choreography penned by Arantxa Carmona, Miguel Fuente, Manuel Liñán and Najarro, who bring these images to life through the dance styles of each of the places.

In addition, Najarro was determined to present an innovating image of the BNE that would please its usual audience while at the same time attract new, probably younger audiences who identified with the renewed offer of the company, in line with the sensitivity of the time. Plurality was the major feature of the Ballet Nacional de España under his directorship and he had the collaboration and priceless contribution of choreographers Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Rubén Olmo, Mar López, Arantxa Carmona, Manuel Fuente, Francisco Guerrero and Carmen Cubillo, as well as prominent creators who apart from premiering their pieces, gave classes to the team, like Rafaela Carrasco, Javier Latorre, Manuel Liñán Blanca del Rey, Mercedes Ruíz, La Lupi, Pilar Azorín, Marco Flores, Franco Dragone and, as a teacher only, Carlos Vilán.

Antonio Najarro, true to his goals of showing Spanish dance in its broadest facets, premiered his fourth major production for the National Ballet of Spain on June 12, 2015, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, consisting of two works: Alento and Zaguan.

Premiere of Electra at the Teatro de la Zarzuela on December 9, 2017.

Complete plot work choreographed by Antonio Ruz and with the collaboration of the dancer and choreographer Olga Pericet in which he brings to life, delving into different dance languages, classical tragedy with an original and contemporary vision inspired by our popular imagination.

Since September 2019 Rubén Olmo is the director of the National Ballet of Spain.

Rubén Olmo's first tour as director of the National Ballet of Spain was in the city of Murcia at the Teatro Circo, on November 16, 2019. The program performed was Electra.

On March 7, 2020, Invocation, the first program created by Rubén Olmo for the Spanish National Ballet, premieres at the Festival de Jerez. It offers a global vision of Spanish Dance, covering most of its styles, from the Escuela Bolera to stylized dance and stylized flamenco.

It also includes a special tribute to the dancer and choreographer Mario Maya (1937-2008), one of the great masters of Spanish Dance, who, despite being one of the creators of the Andalusian Flamenco Theater with his own unique style, was not until now included in the repertoire of the National Ballet of Spain.

The selected choreographies of Antonio el Bailarín (Sonatas, Fantasía Galaica and Zapateado of Sarasate) represent the peak of his talent within three different styles: the Escuela Bolera, stylized folklore and the stylization of flamenco. In addition, the program includes the flamenco styles that Antonio frequently performed with his company through the vision of Rubén Olmo and Miguel Ángel Corbacho. The review of his artistic career is completed by the solo Leyenda, a choreography created by Carlos Vilán for the composition Asturias, by Isaac Albéniz, another of the essential pieces in Antonio Ruiz Soler's shows. There is also a nod to Antonio's career in the cinema with Vito de Gracia's recreation of one of the choreographies he danced with Rosario in Hollywood.