“Spain’s leading dance company [is a superb force.]… Dancers possess exquisite musical reflexes, their bodies display that mix of extravagant talent and hardworking modesty.” The Guardian (U.K.)

“Among the top contemporary ballet companies in the world.” Santa Barbara Independent

Founded in 1979, Madrid’s Compañía Nacional de Danza returns to Santa Barbara with a work that is a statement of its compelling artistic direction. Johan Inger’s Carmen is a visionary retelling of mythic and universal elements of passion and violence. Debuting in 2015, and winning the coveted Benois de la Danse prize for choreography in 2016, this contemporary Carmen tells the tale through the eyes of a child, with its heroine a courageous and modern woman, the mountains of Ronda reimagined as poor suburbs, the military now senior executives and the bullfighter recast as a movie star.