Juanjo Arqués is a Spanish choreographer based in the Netherlands. He received his dance training in his hometown of Murcia, Spain.

 

Before moving to the Netherlands in 2004 to dance with Dutch National Ballet as a soloist, Juanjo Arqués spent five years as a soloist with Ballet Victor Ullate in Madrid, and four years as a soloist with English National Ballet. Dancing with these three companies enabled him to perform a variety of works by notable choreographers ranging from classical to neoclassical, including William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, David Dawson and Hans van Manen among others. 

 

After choreographing several pieces for choreographic workshops, he was asked in 2010 to create 'Minos', his first ballet for Dutch National Ballet. Following the success of 'Minos', Juanjo Arqués was asked to choreograph 'Consequence' for the 50th anniversary of the company in 2012.

 

In 2014, Juanjo Arqués was nominated for the Dutch Dance Festival Award in Maastricht and in 2016 he received two nominations for a Golden Mask in Moscow for best choreographic work and best choreographer. In recent years he has created among others the following works: 'Miniatures' for Slovenian National Ballet, 'Unsound' for Compañia Nacional de Danza, Madrid, 'Crossroads' for WimWhim, Seattle. His works 'Roulette' (2014), 'Rewind' (2014), 'Carolingians' (2014), 'Blink' (2015) and 'Bites' (2015) have been performed in Holland, Belgium and Switzerland by Dutch National Ballet. In 2015 Juanjo Arqués created 'April' for the New York Choreographic Institute - an initiative of New York City Ballet, as well as '#Boogie' (2015) for Continuum Contemporary Ballet in New York.

 

Juanjo Arqués has collaborated as a movement consultant for the Theater play 'VASLAV' based on Arthur Japin's novel and at the Performing Gender, a European dance project on the research themes for identity and sexual orientation in Bologna. In 2015 and 2016 he created work for the Origen Dance Festival in Switzerland. In 2016 the Junior Company of Dutch National Balletpremiered his work 'Fresas' to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Hieronymus Bosch's death.

 

As of January 2017 Juanjo Arqués is Young Creative Associate at Dutch National Ballet.

His creation for Dutch National Ballet 'Homo Ludens’, was premiered to great acclaim in February of 2017, as part of the program 'Made in Amsterdam'. 

 

Juanjo Arqués created a new full evening for Ballet Moscow titled 'Transcription of Color' in 2018. His first work for Birmingham Royal Ballet 'Ignite' a

co-production Dutch National Ballet. Dutch National Ballet presented this work as part of the Holland Festival Edition 2019.

 

Juanjo Arqués' work 'Portal' is the newest addition to the touring program of Acosta Danza, Cuban Dance Company directed by former Royal Ballet Star Carlos Acosta. In 2020 Juanjo Arques will create a new short work for Dutch National Ballet among others.