Arantxa Argüelles

Ballet master

DSC09669-min

Born in 1970 in Zaragoza, she began her dance studies there at the age of three with María de Ávila and Cristina Miñana.
At the age of 11, she debuted as a soloist with the recently formed Ballet Clásico de Zaragoza, performing at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and the Joyce Theatre in New York.
At the age of 13, she joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza (then Ballet Nacional de España Clásico) as a soloist, under the direction of María de Ávila.

In 1985, she won first prize in the Eurovision competition for young dancers (Reggio Emilia, Italy), awarded by the prestigious Italian dancer Carla Fracci. That same year she was named prima ballerina, the youngest in the company.

In 1986, she won the Gold Medal – Grand Prix, Fradkof Prize and Evian Prize at the II International Dance Competition Villa de Paris, together with the dancer Antonio Castilla.

That same year she was personally invited by Alicia Alonso to participate in the X International Ballet Festival of Havana, where she was invited again in successive Festivals.

During her years in the company she worked with different directors: Maya Plissetskaya, Ray Barra and Nacho Duato. With Duato she has the opportunity to form a couple dancing his paso a dos, Cor Perdut. And with Maya Plisetskaya, their relationship will be so close that years later he invites her to dance in his 50th Anniversary Gala at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, sharing the leading role of Carmen as the finale of the gala.

She regularly participates in national and international galas with exceptional partners such as Julio Bocca, Charles Jude, Damián Woetzel, Laurent Hilaire, Maximiliano Guerra, Peter Schaufuss or José Manuel Carreño, among others.

In 1991, she was hired by Peter Schaufuss as prima ballerina at the Berlin Opera.

In 1994, she joined the legendary Royal Danish Ballet, where she expanded her knowledge of the Danish school of A. Bournonvile.

In 1996, she worked in Moscow with the Stanislavsky Ballet in their production of La Sylphide, which she also danced with the company on tour in Madrid and which was to be her last performance as a dancer.

She has danced the main roles in a large part of the classical repertoire such as Swan Lake, Giselle, La Sylphide, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Paquita grand pas, Chopiniana, Raymonda (act 3), and the two pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet, The Corsair, Diana and Actaeon or Bakhti, among others. She has also danced a wide repertoire by George Balanchine (Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Concerto Barocco, Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Agon, Who Cares? and Tchaikovsky pas de deux, among others), as well as works by different choreographers such as Nacho Duato, David Parsons, Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit, Alberto Méndez, Christopher Bruce and Michael Clark.

In 1997, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Zaragoza Ballet, a position she held for two years. Here, in addition to expanding the company’s repertoire with works by N. Duato and G. Balanchine, she will perform her own productions of Paquita, Napoli and Giselle.

Professional dance degree from the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma de Madrid with Honours and Equivalence for teaching purposes to the Higher Studies of Dance in the speciality of Choreography and Dance Performance Techniques.

Guest teacher in different European companies, competitions and events, at the same time she supervises the team of her own Dance Centre in Zaragoza. She has staged productions and worked as a teacher at the Mariemma, Fortea and Carmen Amaya Professional Dance Conservatories in Madrid.

In the 23-24 season she joins the Compañía Nacional de Danza as a teacher-repetiteur at the invitation of its director, Joaquín de Luz.