WORKSHOP: Understanding the Dance of Our Time. William Forsythe, Marcos Morau, and Alain Platel

NDCWales. Tundra. © Rhys Cozens

October 27, 28, and 29, 2026
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
With Elna Matamoros

Exploring today’s unconventional and daring dance is a fascinating challenge. This series invites you on a journey through time to explore the groundbreaking movements of the past century and discover how conventional dance conventions have been broken, from the 17th century to the present day. 

Through talks, screenings, and movement exercises, Elna Matamoros (Ph.D. in Aesthetics and Art Theory, ballet teacher at the Spanish National Ballet, professor at the Zurich University of the Arts, and contributor to El Cultural) will guide us in understanding the need—on the part of both the artist and the audience—to engage with new forms of movement throughout history. 

Tuesday, the 27th

Session 1: William Forsythe and the Geometry of Ballet

Spatial approaches to technique and aesthetics have evolved in parallel over the centuries, from Bournonville's romantic ballet to Balanchine's neoclassicism, culminating in Forsythe's contemporary work.

Wednesday, the 28th

Session 2: The Amazing Creatures of Marcos Morau

From the ballet blanc to Diaghilev’s Les Ballets Russes, much of choreographic creation has relied on scenic elements to construct a stage production that incorporates amazing spaces and creatures. 

Thursday, the 29th

Session 3: From Ausdruckstanz to the Hyperrealism of Dance-Theater with Alain Platel

Mary Wigman's aesthetic and interpretive rebellion—in which the emotion of movement governs the stage and shapes the dramaturgy—evolved years later through artists such as Pina Bausch and remains relevant to this day. 

ELNA MATAMOROS

In her career, her extensive training, cultivated with great names in dance, and the practice as a ballet teacher and guest teacher for years, stand out. She first studied classical ballet with her mother, Carmina Ocaña, and later in New York with David Howard, Diana Cartier, Gelsey Kirkland, Simon Dow and Wilhelm Burmann, as well as at the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School.

She holds a PhD in Aesthetics and Theory of the Arts from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, a Master of Arts in Dance Education from New York University as a Fulbright scholar and a degree in Classical Ballet from the Real Conservatorio de Arte Dramático y Danza de Madrid.

She was part of the National Ballet of Spain as Company Mistress between 2002 and 2012, year in which, at the request of José Carlos Martínez, she joined the National Dance Company as Repeating Mistress, to return in 2019 to the BNE as Ballet Mistress under the direction of Rubén Olmo.

At CND she was responsible for ballets of very different periods and styles signed by José Carlos Martínez, George Balanchine, Tony Fabre, Itzik Galili, William Forsythe or Léonide Massine, among others. She has also been the author and coordinator of the CND's collection of Educational Notebooks on authors, styles, ballets and subjects directly related to stage dance.

She has served as an advisor to the Juan March Foundation, the Fulbright Commission (The Fulbright Program), the FWF Austrian Science Fund, and the Loewe Foundation. For the latter, with which she has been collaborating since 2006, she has programmed and coordinated the “Encuentros Loewe con la Danza” series as well as the discussion event “La Escuela Bolera hoy” (Teatro Real, 2009).

She is a frequent lecturer and expert instructor in the anthropology and history of dance, and regularly publishes articles in specialized publications; since 2012, she has been a contributor to *El Cultural*.