In a time of international discussion about the role of national companies and theatres The National Ballet of Portugal (CNB) is expected to undertake a dinamic position in the portuguese artistic landscape. This is a critical factor to the company's projection which has been successfully conquered due to a strong touring strategy that must be further and further developed in order to increase international recognition.
The National Ballet of Portugal was created by the Portuguese Government in 1977 under a legal dispatch signed by David Mourão Ferreira (at that time, The Secretary of State of Culture), similarly to the process of creation of other national dance companies of other european countries. When Portugal was aiming for modern and democratic artistic projects, marked by different aesthetic options (opposed to the aesthetics of the dictatorial regime of "Estado Novo"), the company may be considered one of the cultural conquests of the "Carnation Revolution" when the Portuguese regime effectively changed from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy. Similarly to what happened in other areas (like economy, foreign affairs policy and national policy issues) CNB would also reveal the instability of a period pursuing its own sense. Which institutional status is the most appropriate for CNB? How to attain the complex mission of combining the international repertory with the edification of a national repertoire? How to identify the aesthetic and technical quality of the programmes and waht should be done to qualify interpreters and creators? What should be done in order to reach new audiences?
Between 1978 and 1993, the artistic direction of CNB was held by Armando Jorge and afterwards Isabel Santa Rosa assumed the artistic direction for two years. This period was generically marked by the staging of great ballets of the international repertoire. At that time the National Ballet of Portugal presented to the portuguese public for the first time the full versions of ballets like La Sylphide, Raymonda, Swan Lake, Coppélia, Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet; recovered classics like Pas de Quatre, Giselle, Les Sylphides, Petruchka, La Bayadère, Firebird, The Nutcracker, The Rite of Spring, Les Noces and La Fille Mal Gardeé among others. CNB also presented choreographies signed by renowned choreographers like Balanchine, Lifar, Lichine, Joos, Limón, van Dantzig, Nebrada and Lubovitch and portuguese choreographers Armando Jorge, Fernando Lima, Carlos Trincheiras and Olga Roriz.
In June of 1996 Jorge Salavisa was invited to reestucture The National Ballet of Portugal and was endorsed the position of President of The Portuguese Institute of Ballet and Dance, the cultural association responsible for the company's management. The Contemporary Repertoire option conquered space and The National Ballet of Portugal followed a strategy based on the invitation of internationally renowned choreographers and the organization of choreographic studios. Since 1996 the successive artistic direction of Jorge Salavisa (1996-1999), Luísa Taveira (1999-2000) and Marc Jonkers (2001-2002) and Mehmet Balkan (2002-2007) the National Ballet of Portugal presented ballets from choreographers like Michael Corder, William Forsythe, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (world prèmiere), Hans van Manen, Robert North, Heinz Spöerli, Nacho Duato, Renato Zanella, Pierre Wyss, Behyan Murphy, Marco Cantalupo, David Fielding, and the portuguese choreographers Rui Lopes Graça, Olga Roriz and Vasco Wellenkamp.
In May of 2001 Ana Pereira Caldas was nominated Director of The National Ballet of Portugal and in September of 2002 Mehmet Balkan assumed the artistic direction of the company. One year later Teatro Camões was associated to a concept that called upon its nomination as "The House of Dance" and The National Ballet of Portugal benefited from an highly qualified exhibition. During this period the main challenge consisted in combining great classical productions with national creations (including experimental creations programmed by Mark Deputter).
Simultaneously, The National Ballet of Portugal developed relevant relations with other creation structures working with The Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra, The Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon and The National Orchestra of Oporto, Amsterdam Piano Quartet and different portuguese musicians and maestros.
In October of 2007 Vasco Wellenkamp was nominated Artistic Director and assumed the nuclear challenge of this structure: the combination of classical repertoire with contemporary creation, including national creation.
text: Daniel Tércio
