Jury

• José Carlos Martínez
• Henning Albrechtsen
• Agnès Letestu
• Jone San Martín

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  José Carlos Martínez
  President of the jury 2017

  Commandeur de l’Orde des Arts et des Lettres (France)

  National Dance Prize 1999 (Spain)

  Artistic Director of Spain’s National Company from 2011 and 2019, Martínez was an ètoile of the Paris Opera Ballet. Currently, he is working as a freelance choreographer and teaching intensive courses. One of his latest projects is the creation of the choreography for Vienna’s New Year’s Concert in 2020 and 2021, which have received great critical reviews. 

  Since September 2011, José Carlos Martínez has been the Artistic Director of Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza of Spain. He began his ballet studies in Cartagena, under Pilar Molina, continuing in 1984 at the Centre de Danse International Rosella Hightower in Cannes. In 1987, he won the Lausanne Prize and joined the Paris Opera Ballet School. In 1988, he was personally selected by Rudolf Nureyev to join the Ballet Company of the Paris Opera as a corps de ballet dancer. In 1992, he was promoted to Principal Dancer and won the Gold Medal in the International Competition of Varna. On 27th May 1997, he was appointed “Étoile” of Paris Opera Ballet, the highest rank a dancer can achieve.

  During his career José Carlos Martínez was awarded numerous prizes, including: the Prix de l ‘AROP, the Prix Carpeaux, the Premio Danza & Danza, the Prix Léonide Massine-Positano, the Spanish National Dance Prize, the Gold Medal of the City of Cartagena, the Prize Elegance et Talent France/Chine; Scenic Arts Prize for the best dancer (Valencia), Benois de la Danse for his choreography Les Enfants du Paradis and the Premio Dansa Valencia. He is Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France).

  José Carlos Martínez’s repertoire as a dancer is characterized by his famous choreographies of classical and neo-classical ballet. Apart from that he has worked with most of the important choreographers of the 20th Century such as Maurice Bejart, Pina Bausch, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, some of whom created pieces specially for him.

  On invitation, he has also featured as guest performer with many of the world’s most prestigious ballet companies. As a choreographer, José Carlos Martínez has created pieces for several companies. For students of the Paris Opera Ballet School he composed Mi Favorita (2002), Delibes-Suite (2003) and Scaramouche (2005). For the Paris Opera Ballet he created Paréntesis 1 (2005), Soli-Ter (2006), El Olor de la Ausencia (2007) and Les Enfants du Paradis. For the Shanghai Ballet he created Ouverture en Deux mouvements and Scarlatti pas de deux (2009), Marco Polo and the Last Mission (2010). For Compañía Nacional de Danza de España he has created Sonatas (2012), Raymonda Variations, Giselle pas de deux (2013) and Don Quixote Suite (2015).  He also created Resonance (2014) for the Boston Ballet. He also choreograpged CND’s first full-length classical ballet for 20 years: his own version of Don Quixote, which premiered at Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, on December 16th 2015.  In March 2020 he premiered his version of Le Corsaire with Rome’s Opera Ballet and in February 2022 he is premiering Giselle with Zagreb’s Opera Ballet.

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  Henning Albrechtsen
  Member of the jury

  Henning Albrechtsen joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1985, where he danced a variety of soloist and principal parts of classical and neo-classical repertoire – from Bournonville to Balanchine. In 1997 he started teaching at Royal Danish Ballet School. In 2000, he was appointed Deputy artistic director of RDB, a position he held until 2007. That same year he enrolled at the Teachers Training Programme for former professional dancers at National Ballet School of Canada and completed the one year educational programme and was invited back to the Royal Danish Ballet school as a full time teacher in 2008. 

  Henning Albrechtsen is considered one of his generation’s leading authorities on Bournonville style and as such, is in demand around the world as a teacher and stager of Bournonville. According to Albrechtsen, the XIX Century choreographer August Bournonville still appeals to dance professionals and audiences around the world due to its infectious expression of joyful abandon. He has taught at various schools around the world among others at the National Ballet School of Cuba, National Ballet School of Canada. Furthermore, he has taught the Bournonville style in Australia, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Norway and Spain.

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  Agnès Letestu
  Member of the jury

  Born in Paris, Agnes Letestu entered the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1983, in 1987, she joined the Paris Opera Ballet directed by Rudolph Nureyev as Quadrille, and in 1988 was promoted to Coryphée. In 1989 she was promoted to Soloist, then won the gold medal at the Eurovision Competition for young dancers. In 1990 she won the gold medal at the International Varna Competition. While still a member of the corps de ballet, she was singled out by notable choreographers to interpret leading roles: Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Rudolph Nureyev, John Neumeir and Jíri Kylián, among others. In 1997 she was named Danseuse Étoile (principal dancer). She has lent her talents of interpretation to the Nureyev versions of the great classics, and her physique and style are also ideally adapted to works by George Balanchine. Letestu has also performed many important contemporary choreographies. She has been filmed for the official Paris Opera Ballet versions of Lady of the Camellias, Paquita, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Prodigal Son, and Diamonds from Jewels.

  Lestestu has been working as costume designer for years; Scaramouche and Les Enfants du Paradis by José Martinez for the Paris Opera, Windspiel and Marie-Antoinette by Patrick de Bana for the Wiener Staadtsoper, Célébration by Pierre Lacotte for Paris Opera, Goldberg variations by Hans Spoerli for the Ballet du Rhin, as well as Echos of Eternity by Patrick De Bana for the Shanghai Ballet are among her most important creations. Throughout her career has a ballerina, Agnès Letestu has received many awards such as Benois Prize for Les Mirages by Serge Lifar (2007), Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, and Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

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  Jone San Martín
  Member of the jury

  Jone San Martín studied with Menxu Medel in San Sebastian (Spain), at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona and at Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels. Despite having started her professional career in Spain —she danced in the National Ballet of Spain in 1987-88— she has mainly worked in Belgium and Germany, where she has danced in companies such Archipel Sud, José Besprosvany, Jacopo Godani’s company, The Ballet of Charleroi, and Ulmer Theater with Phillippe Talard. In 1992, William Forsythe invited San Martín to join the former Frankfurt Ballet and since then his career as a performer and soloist dancer has been closely linked to the American choreographer. Since its creation in 2005, Jone San Martín is part of The Forsythe Company.

  Her artistic restlessness has driven her to collaborate within the fine arts’ field, the cinema and video: invited to open the Francis Bacon exhibition along with Forsythe in the Museum Haus der Kunst Munich, creating for the painter Angelica Gilbert, the sculptor Bruno Fegero or Tamara Cirz, among others. In the cinema and video field she has collaborated in works such as The mind machine of Dr. Forsythe, Jonemanak or Meat me. As a choreographer she has presented dance works such as Ser, estar o parecer, Juana la otra, Legítimo Rezo, Jugo, Any Body Sounds, among others. In 2006, Jone San Martín, received the Artistic Career Award from the Dance Professionals Association of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country, and in 2016 she received a Carte Blanche from her hometown, the city of San Sebastian.

Teaching staff

• Arantxa Argüelles
• Jone San Martín
• Lluís Carmona

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  Arantxa Argüelles
  Ballet Teacher

  Arantxa Argüelles made her debut at the age of 11 with her hometown’s company, Ballet Clásico of Zaragoza, and two years later she joined the Ballet Clásico Nacional de España. Throughout her carreer as a dancer, she has been a principal dancer at the Ballet Nacional of Spain, Berlin Opera’s Ballet and at the Royal Danish Ballet —in these two last companies under the direction of Peter Schaufuss—. In 1996, Argüelles toured with Moscow’s Stanislavsky Ballet with the La Sylphide production, performing as dancer for the last time in Madrid. Argüelles was a regular invited artist at the Festival de Ballet de La Habana (Cuba) and she has worked with renown ballet masters such as Maya Plisetskaya and danced with outstanding dancers like Julio Bocca, Charles Jude or Laurent Hilaire in international galas. In 1997, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Ballet de Zaragoza, a position she hold for two years. Currently, Arantxa Argüelles has her own studio in Zaragoza, where she teaches ballet and pilates. Currently, she is teaching classical dance at the Fortea Conservatoire in Madrid.

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  Jone San Martín
  Coreographer and performer

  Jone San Martín studied with Menxu Medel in San Sebastian (Spain), at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona and at Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels. Despite having started her professional career in Spain —she danced in the National Ballet of Spain in 1987-88— she has mainly worked in Belgium and Germany, where she has danced in companies such Archipel Sud, José Besprosvany, Jacopo Godani’s company, The Ballet of Charleroi, and Ulmer Theater with Phillippe Talard. In 1992, William Forsythe invited San Martín to join the former Frankfurt Ballet and since then his career as a performer and soloist dancer has been closely linked to the American choreographer. Since its creation in 2005, Jone San Martín is part of The Forsythe Company.

  Her artistic restlessness has driven her to collaborate within the fine arts’ field, the cinema and video: invited to open the Francis Bacon exhibition along with Forsythe in the Museum Haus der Kunst Munich, creating for the painter Angelica Gilbert, the sculptor Bruno Fegero or Tamara Cirz, among others. In the cinema and video field she has collaborated in works such as The mind machine of Dr. Forsythe, Jonemanak or Meat me. As a choreographer she has presented dance works such as Ser, estar o parecer, Juana la otra, Legítimo Rezo, Jugo, Any Body Sounds, among others. In 2006, Jone San Martín, received the Artistic Career Award from the Dance Professionals Association of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country, and in 2016 she received a Carte Blanche from her hometown, the city of San Sebastian.

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  Lluís Carmona
  Pianista

  As a pianist he has specialised in dance accompaniament and composition, working and collaborating with companies in such as Jeu Ballet du France, Última Vez (Belgium), Rosas (Belgium), and in companies based in New York like José Limón’s or Merce Cuningham Studio. He has accompanied renown ballet and dance masters and choreographers such as Maria de Ávila, Carmen Roche, Víctor Ullate, Carmina Ocaña, Anne Therese de Keersmaker, Susanne Linke, Dominique Mercy, Elizabeth Corbett, Guillermina Coll, Marta Munsó, among others.

General information