MARINA MASCARELL

Marina belongs to the generation of upcoming choreographers that combine their passion of dancing at a renowned dance company (NDT) while nurturing their choreographic journey. From August 2011 Marina will dedicate herself full time to choreography.

Marina was born in Oliva, Valencia Province, a small coastal town on the Mediterranean. She started dancing as a child in different schools from Valencia until the age of eighteen when she moved to Madrid where she studied Pedagogy applied to Dance at the Rey Juan Carlos University. Later she would acquire her Master’s Degree in Performing Arts in the same institution. She combined her studies with her performing career at a junior company and posed for a lot of painters in Madrid. By this time her passion for theatre started and the long hours still in front of artists made her discover the power of observation and also served as the self-therapy of acceptance.

She won the award for an Outstanding Dancer in the XIX Choreographic Competition of Madrid and with it a scholarship to the American Dance Festival in North Carolina and Movement Research in New York. During her time in The United States she created her first piece Discovering Secrets, which received the third prize, Audience Award and Scholarship for DanceWeb Europe in the XX Choreographic Competition of Madrid.

She joined Nederlands Dans Theater II, The Hague, under the direction of Gerald Tibbs, where she stayed for two seasons. During this period she created her second piece The Eyes’ History inspired by the novel Los Premios of Julio Cortázar, which later was shown in CaDance Festival in The Hague. Following this Edd Wubbe, the director of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, asked her to create a short piece for his company, Almost a new day. Her third creation happened while she was living in New York and working for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. The time spent in The City was of great intensity and depth in her personal and professional life. She also studied acting and returned to posing for painters in NYC.

She returned to The Hague to be part of Nederlands Dans Theater I. During this time she created I had a blue bicycle, They have my blue bicycle; Lament for those who envied Betty Jones for Upcoming Choreographers program of NDTI and Like an Olive Tree for Dance Forum Taipei in Taiwan which was chosen as one of the best performances 2010. She also started a creative writing course, another of her passions. At this time Marina suffered an injury that made her rethink her career. She overcame the injury and decided to leave the company in July 2011 to focus on her career as a choreographer.

During these years in different companies she had the pleasure of working in pieces of Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Stijn Celis, Didy Veldman, Gustavo Ramírez, Medhi Walerski, Jo Stromgen, Iván Pérez, Luka Veggetti, Jill Johnson, Hans Van Manen, Alexander Ekman, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, among others.

Currently she is involved in several projects in The Netherlands

For short excerpts of her recent work please follow this link:
www.marinamascarell.com