Meet the members of the Ballet Nacional de España

Behind every performance of the Ballet Nacional de España there is the talent and work of some 60 artists, including dancers, masters, and musicians. They all do their best every day to convey in every performance, both premieres and repertoire, the emotion their choreographers and composers poured into their creations.

Esther Jurado and Francisco Velasco are the BNE guest principal dancers. In their long career they have performed such outstanding solos as Soleá del mantón, by Blanca del Rey, and Zapateado de Sarasate, respectively. Our principal dancers are Aloña Alonso, Inmaculada Salomón, Sergio García and Eduardo Martínez. They have all been dancing with the BNE for over 10 years and they usually perform the leading roles. Although solo dancers María Fernández, Débora Martínez, Miriam Mendoza, José Manuel Benítez, Carlos Sánchez and Albert Hernández are also quite prominent on the stage.

The corps de ballet is made up by both young and experienced dancers, who give perfect performances of the group compositions present in every staging. They are Ana Agraz, Cristina Aguilera, Pilar Arteseros, Estela Alonso, Sara Arévalo, Mercedes Burgos, Irene Correa, Patricia Fernández, María Martín, Sara Nieto, Laura Vargas, Aitana Rousseau, Noelia Ruiz, Irene Tena, Vanesa Vento, Sou Jung Youn, Juan Berlanga, Antonio Correderas, Manuel del Río, Axel Galán, Cristian García, Álvaro Gordillo, Antonio Jiménez, Matías López, Adrián Maqueda, Álvaro Marbán, Alfredo Mérida, Javier Moreno, Pedro Ramírez and Javier Polonio.

They all have wide theoretical training which they have improved throughout the years in universities and conservatoires across the country, in addition to attending specialised master classes with masters of all the styles. They share a command of both classical dance and the different varieties of Spanish dance, from escuela bolera to stylised dance, including folklore and flamenco.

In their daily rehearsals, the dancers benefit from the advice of BNE former dancers of the stature of Maribel Gallardo, Miguel Ángel Corbacho, and Cristina Visús, who combine their teaching activity with the stage. Also, in 2019 classical dance instructors Diana Noriega and Elna Matamoros joined the BNE. They come from the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía and the Compañía Nacional de Danza, respectively. To round off their training Tino Morán and Raúl Tino provide their wide experience as classical dancers to the interdisciplinary training of the Ballet Nacional de España members.

While masterful pianists Juan Álvarez and Juan Antonio Mata are essential to classical dance daily classes, the BNE cuadro flamenco [small flamenco troupe] is equally important, as they play the style of music that is present in many of the programmes the Ballet performs worldwide. The voices of Saray Muñoz and Gabriel de la Tomasa, who are both from families of renowned artistic tradition, are complemented with virtuoso guitarists Diego Losada, Víctor Márquez, Pau Vallet, and percussionist Roberto Vozmediano.

Together, they shape the soul of the Ballet Nacional de España, without their talent it would not be possible to do justice to the unique world heritage of Spanish dance.