Jury

• Joaquín de Luz
• Henning Albrechtsen
• Laetitia Pujol
• Jone San Martín

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  Joaquín de Luz
  President of the jury 2024

  Director of the Compañía Nacional de Danza

  He began his ballet studies at Víctor Ullate’s school. In 1992 he joined the Ullate company where he stayed for three years and in 1995 he was invited by Fernando Bujones to dance with the Mediterranean Ballet.

  In September 1996, the Pennsylvania Ballet offered him to join the company as a soloist. With this company he played leading roles in the classics Diana et Actaeon, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, as well as pieces by Lynne Taylor-Corbette, Hans van Manen, Matthew Neenan and George Balanchine.

  In December 1997, he joined the corps de ballet of the American Ballet Theater in New York, being named soloist a year later. In his seven years at the ABT he played important leading roles such as The Bronze Idol and Solor in La Bayadère (Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa), First Sailor in Fancy Free (Jerome Robbins), Birbanto in Le Corsaire (A. M. Holmes), Turning boy in Études (H. Lander), Benno in Swan Lake (Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov), Clear (Stanton Welch), Black Tuesday (Paul Taylor), Symphonieta, Stepping Stones (J. Kylián) Known by heart (Twayla Tharp), or Symphony in C, Theme and Variations (George Balanchine).

  In 2003 he joined the New York City Ballet as a solo dancer and was appointed principal dancer two years later in 2005. With the NYCB he danced at the Lincoln Center in New York and in the most important theaters in the world. He also performed great roles from the classical and neoclassical repertoire, and especially works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins. In addition, Luz has also performed works by current choreographers such as Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky and Justin Peck.

  Joaquín De Luz has participated as an invited artist in several international companies such as the National Dance Company, American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Stanivslaski Theater in Moscow, Ballet del Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires and the National Ballet of Cuba, among others.

  Fotografía: Sergio de Luz

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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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  Laetitia Pujol
  Member of the jury

  Paris Opera Ballet Étoile

  Born in Tolouse, Laetitia Pujol studied dance in her hometown at the Conservatoire régional de Toulouse. After winning the first prize at the Le Grand Prix de Lausanne, she completed her studies at the Paris Opera Ballet School. At the age of 18, she joined the Corps de ballet. In 1994, Pujol won the Silver Medal at the Varna International Competition (junior category). In 1999 she became a “Sujet” ‘and danced the Second Shade from La Bayadère among other works choreographed by Nureyev and Béjart. A year later, she became a “Première danseuse”, dancing more roles and works from the classical and neoclassical repertoire such as Polyhymnia in Apollo, Emeralds/Jewels ( (George Balanchine), The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (William Forsythe), Bella Figura (Jiří Kylián), Clara in The Nutcracker, Gamzatti in La Bayadère and Cupid in Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev) or Other Dances, The Cage (Jerome Robbins).

  On 2nd May 2002, she was made an Étoile following a performance of Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev), in which she danced the role of Kitri for the first time. Since then, she added to the repertoire works such as Symphony in C (George Balanchine), the title role in Giselle (Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot), Woundwork 1 (William Forsythe), the title role of Paquita (Pierre Lacotte after Joseph Mazilier and Marius Petipa), Études (Harald Lander), Nathalie in Les Enfants du paradis (José Martinez), The Anatomy of Sensation (Wayne McGregor),The Accused in Fall River Legend (Agnes de Mille), Chloé in Daphnis et Chloé (Benjamin Millepied), Aurore in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), the title role of Psyché (Alexei Ratmansky), the title role of Manon (Kenneth MacMillan).

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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