CONTEMPORARY DANCE WORKSHOP

Biografía

PRESENTATION / BIO

Iratxe Ansa graduated from the Higher Conservatory of Music of San Sebastián, continuing her studies and graduation at the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart. Since 1993, Iratxe has danced with Basel Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Compañía Nacional de Danza, Lyon Opera Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater. Throughout her career she has worked with choreographers such as Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Crystal Pite, Medhi Walerski, Johan Inger, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Nils Christe, Patrick de Bana, Wayne McGregor, Maurice Causey, Alexander Ekman, Rui Horta, Jacopo Godani and Mathilde Monnier, among others.

CV / PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Iratxe has taken part in many galas, such as that of the Teatro Real in Madrid, or Danse pour la Vie in Brussels (presenting her own choreography Bizitza). In Tel Aviv she has presented works by Nacho Duato and William Forsythe, among many others. In 2002 she took part in the Benois de la Danse awards together with Nacho Duato, where she received two prizes. In 2002 she won the Audience Choice Award and the Best Dancer Award at the Solo Tanz Internationales theatre festival in Germany. In 2007 she was honoured with the Career Achievement Award from the Spanish Dance Professionals Association.
As a choreographer, Iratxe Ansa has created pieces for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Lines Ballet Junior Company and other works created specifically for galas. Since leaving Nederlands Dans Theater in 2009, she has embarked on a new freelance career, giving choreographic workshops, dancing in specific projects and creating choreographies.

DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVES

Iratxe’s work is physical, creative and in constant challenge. The explorations of movement are stimulated through images of the environment, visualisations, actions, rhythms and sounds. From the very beginning a high energy level is required, activated through the contact of the skin with the floor and through continuous rhythm changes with various imaginary stimuli. These are carried out with very active involvement of the whole body, becoming emotional and awakening personal associations that serve as a driving force for dancing.
The work requires great concentration: it is about balancing, surprising, studying what you do and being able to pause in it. Iratxe offers individual feedback, proposing new approaches to students, recalling some previously explored guidelines, and recovering her intense physicality. Likewise, work will be done on movement sequences from Iratxe Ansa’s repertoire, each with a very clear intention and quality that will be explained step by step.