Photo credits: Altin Kaftira
Artist statement
Marina is a contemporary dance artist born in Madrid and currently residing in Portugal.
Her artistic work aims to wake up a common sense of humanity in the audience. She finds purpose in creating work that helps people connect with themselves, with each other and with nature. Driven by this purpose, her artistic work is strongly inspired by nature and its constant change. She sees nature as a mirror of our inner states of being and a pathway to access and express profound subtle emotions – so that the audience can also discover these within them.
Inspired by her experience leading dance workshops in underprivileged communities in Mexico, The Philippines, or South Africa – where she collaborated with local NGOs to use dance as a tool for social cohesion – she cares about making art that is accessible to everyone. She created her first full-length piece, “Viento”, at the Goa Dance Residency (India) and performed for the community in Goa, India. Her later works have taken place in Portugal, “Más allá del mundo que ven mis ojos” was her last piece, which was presented at Multiplicidades Festival (Santa Cruz, Portugal) last summer. She is currently working with an Indian artist, Surendra Tekale, on a participatory dance-theater duet that addresses the topic of cultural differences and equality in society.
Prior to developing her own artistic work, she was a dancer with Ion Beitia Ballet (Spain); toured the Broadway-style musical production The Journey, produced by Up with People, across the USA, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands; and danced with Body of People Jazz Theater Company in London. She has also performed at Yerba Buena Arts Center (San Francisco), Solaura Music Festival (Mendocino, California), and danced and choreographed several short dance films and music videos (“Why You’d Make Me Cry” by Odina, “I Fight Like a Girl”). She completed her professional education in Contemporary Dance at Performact (PT) and expanded her formal training with world-class dance courses in places such as Gibney Dance (New York City), The Place (London), Tanzfabrik (Berlin), P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), or Henry Jüriens Studio (Amsterdam).