Juanjo Arqués
“I believe my work can be witnessed as a dynamic painting of movement that allows for a number of individual interpretations, all different but heading in the same direction”
Juanjo Arqués is a Spanish choreographer based in Amsterdam. Before moving to the Netherlands, he danced with Ballet Victor Ullate and with English National Ballet. Arqués joined Dutch National Ballet in 2004 under the direction of Ted Brandsen, and three years later he was promoted to Soloist. He performed works by notable choreographers including William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, David Dawson and Hans van Manen. In 2012 he decided to stop his dancing career to focus exclusively on choreography. Four years later he was appointed as Young Creative Associate by Het National Ballet.
Arqués has created the majority of his works for Dutch National Ballet and its Junior ensemble but also has produce creations for international ballet companies and festivals such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Theatre Ballet Moscow, Compañia Nacional de Danza, NRW Junior Ballet Dortmund, Acosta Danza, New York Choreographic Institute, Origen Cultural Festival, Whim W’him, and Continuum Contemporary Ballet.
He has been named ‘Promising Talent Of Year 2017’ by Tanz Magazine for his work ‘Homo Ludens’. In 2014 he was nominated for the Dutch Dans Awards Prize, in 2016 for the prestigious Golden Mask Awards in Moscow for best choreographer and best classical production for ‘Minos’ and this season he was nominated for the Benois de la Danse 2019 as best choreographer for his latest creation ‘Ignite’.
Mr. Arqués is a versatile choreographer who works within the dance field but also in theatre, films, fashion and performing arts.In 2014 he collaborated staging the theatre production ‘Vaslav’ based on Arthur Japin's novel of Vaslav Nijinsky’s and ‘Performing Gender’, a European dance project on the research themes for identity and sexual orientation at the Mambo Museum in Bologna. In 2016 film directors Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway commissioned Mr. Arqués to choreograph a poetic multi-screen-video installation inspired by Matisse’s paintings ‘La Danse’ and ‘La Musique’ at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. He was invited to the New York University as a guest artist to research on his choreographic vision in dance.
His new dance projects for the current season includes National Moravian-Silesian Theater, Junior Ballet Antwerp, Deutsche Ballet & Oper am Rhein and Dutch National Ballet.
Inspiration
I would describe myself as a choreographer who mixes neo-classical traditions with the influences that I have accumulated during my life and career. These influences includes dance, art, new media, historical periods and their ideals, mythology, literature, architecture as well as sculptural form. This creates a ‘cloud’ of creation that enables me to develop a very personal form of dance within the classical form, continually pushing the boundaries of recognised dance/theaters conventions.
Music fascinates and inspires me, it is integral to all my work. I always search for music that has a strong identity and distinctive themes. As such, I collaborate closely with composers when they write music for my ballets.
I like to work with creative people who give me feedback and challenge my work - people who want to explore and don’t just want to be told what to do. Similarly, I would like audiences to approach my work with open- and liberal- minded spirit. I believe the end product can be witnessed as a dynamic painting of movement that allows for a number of individuals interpretations, all different but heading in the same ground breaking direction.
Contact
Juanjo Arqués
Amsterdam +31615130085
Mangement
Patrick Marín - Stepping Grounds
The Hague +31 624 86 87 77