Olé for the Royal Ballet

Covent Garden audiences may detect an exceptional degree of authenticity in the latest Spanish addition to the Royal Ballet repertoire when it premieres tonight.

Five out of the six ballerinas in our flagship company who appear in visiting choreographer Nacho Duato's Por Bos Muero (For Thee I Die) are either full-blooded Spanish or Spanish-speaking. "I picked them by pure chance," insists Duato. "I knew there were one or two Spanish dancers here but I'd no idea there were so many."

Duato, who trained at the Rambert School in London and has worked with companies all over Europe and America, dismisses the notion that Spanish dancers are more passionate.

"There are Spanish dancers who have no passion at all and English dancers who are very passionate," he says.