Miquel Martínez, a dancer on the way to dance heaven

• XAVIER BORRÀS

  @borras_xavier

  Valencia

Updated Sunday, 29 November 2020 - 08:29

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Magnetism or energy are elusive qualities, but wonderful when projected into any expression of art or, more simply, of life.

Also for those who express themselves with movement.

And in

one of the most promising young people in Spanish dance, innate, essential are appreciated.

«Miquel has many things that cannot be taught, it is something that is his, his own, it comes from his nature.

It is his way of shining.

What makes Miquel interesting is that he is neither a classical dancer, nor is he contemporary.

"He's a dancer," in words borrowed from his top mentors.

Who expresses himself this way is

, new director and main choreographer of the

, one of the great dance and opera companies in Europe, with offices in Düsseldorf and Duisburg.

Since September Miquel has been at his command and installed in German life.

He is the youngest dancer in this professional company, recently renewed with Volpi at the helm.

The renowned choreographer, who visited the great dance temples in search of young talents to incorporate into his project, describes the behavior of the young Valencian in the tough entrance auditions:

«Miquel left us speechless.

He was very fast in learning and executing what was asked of him.

For the selection board, he admits, "it was shocking that someone so young spoke to us in that way about his career, also in English, which is not his mother tongue, and dancing at the same time." In Volpi's opinion, "it was moving ».

"It was very clear that he was the type of dancer we were looking for. A young man with great talent, with a very special personality and above all with great curiosity," he admits in a telephone conversation with EL MUNDO from Düseldorf.

Miquel competed with almost 40 dancers from around the world for that square.

And remember the auditions with nerves and excitement.

Especially what he calls the "danced interview".

"They asked me to express with movement, words or any other resource my feelings when dancing and to summarize my trajectory. And so I did, danced and spoke."

With such success that he achieved his desired goal.

BERNHARD WEIS

"When the men's class started, Miquel was standing in a corner of the room," says Volpi.

"And we were the teachers all watching."

And when he started exercising at the bar, "we all started to see Miquel right away."

"It was fascinating to see how such a young boy caught our attention. Later, when I spoke with him, I was impacted by his education, his know-how and that draws attention," explains the Argentine choreographer, who laments the lack of dance companies that exist in Spain.

"Why don't large theaters like the Liceo have a dance company? It's a crime. I feel that many Spanish dancers, like Miquel and others, are very well trained, that they are versatile and have an important energy," says Volpi.

New airs

Volpi wants to give the German company a very personal air: "There are no soloists here, each guest artist can choose his own cast. There are no hierarchies, we work on the individual and different languages".

His intention, he says, "is to create a work atmosphere that not only allows us to always be succeeding or doing well, but also to identify when something is not working."

At the professional levels, dance is often highly competitive.

But Volpi sees it differently.

"Being competitive I never felt like that. When a choreographer does a good job it benefits art and I think it's positive for everyone," he says.

"On the contrary, everyone who wants to create must have a place to express himself because the energy of each individual is his own, his own, exclusive."

Miquel has achieved the dream of being a professional, living (well paid) from dancing and walking along one of the paths that can lead you to the Olympus of great dancers.

He lives alone, in a small apartment in Dusseldorf, very close to the opera house.

Study German in the few free moments you have.

"The demand is great, but it is our dream, my dream," he says.

As a

artist, he

has had to deal with being born in Spain.

On the one hand, fortunate because it is not the Spain of the complexes that

had to overcome

, the great figure of Spanish dance, who denounced in the

program

that at the age of 13 he had to secretly put on the bad stuff.

But Miquel does suffer from prudish Spain that has never recognized and supported artistic talent in this type of discipline.

Champion in acrobatic

BERNHARD WEIS

Trained since childhood in taekwondo and acrobatic gymnastics - he became champion of Spain together with his friend Sento - Miquel is one of many dancers trained in Spanish schools and conservatories that he is forced to emigrate.

His mentor at the Valencia Superior Dance Conservatory,

, recalls the qualities of that boy who entered when he was 11 years old: «I would not say that he had a late start, he arrived in excellent physical shape, but what surprised me the most was the cognitive development, maturity, learning ability, concentration, motivation and goal setting he presented.

Miquel already stood out by winning the

in 2019

, which is convened by the Teatre Fortuny de Reus Foundation every two years to recognize the talent of dance in Spain.

The jury that formed it in that edition gives an account of the prestige of the contest:

, ballet teacher of the Royal Ballet of London;

, classical dance teacher and former deputy director of the Royal Danish Ballet;

, Ètoile of the Paris National Opera Ballet and

, dancer and choreographer.

Before joining the German company, Miquel auditioned and tried his luck in two of the most prestigious companies in the Netherlands.

First at the

the NDT based at the

in The Hague, one of the temples of contemporary dance.

The NDT is the company in which

exploded at the age of 24 at the hands of

and from which he became a resident choreographer at the age of 31.

Kylian, started as a choreographer at the

, is considered one of the fathers of the Dutch ballet school.

Donostiarra

has also been part of the NDT

I also tried my luck at the imposing Dutch National Ballet, based in Amsterdam.

"I didn't have my best day, I wasn't feeling well in that environment."

That was the moment when, at just 16 years old, his tutor and himself convinced that it was time to fly.

"Today the dancer trained in classical technique encompasses an immense variety of styles, ranging from the ballet of the repertoire, to techniques that border on the contemporary," explains Darder.

"And that makes today's dancers the most complete generation of professionals that has ever existed."

Proud of these new generations, Darder cites Miquel, but also talents such as

, who dances at the Thüringer Staatsballett or

, who does so at the Stuttgart Ballet and is a guest star in the best world companies;

, dancer from the Gärtnerplaz;

, from the Ballett Rossa Halle;

, who is part of the Ballet Hof;

, from the Münster Ballet or

, from the Magdeburg Ballet.

Darder appreciates the interest in talking about dance in the media.

And that is why he extends his recognition to other "emigrant" dancers, such as

, who dances on the Gärtnerplatz;

, from the Nüremberg Ballet.

Or

, who joined the Zurich Ballet;

, who has arrived at the Bejart Ballet Lausanne;

, dancer of the Prague Ballet;

, from the Brno Ballet;

, from the Ostrava Ballet ... or

, who dances at the Tanzcompanie Innsbruck;

, who does it at the Biarritz Ballet;

, in the Rijeka Ballet;

, at the

Breslavi

Ballet, or

, who does it at the Opera Pentu Copii.

This is because, according to Darder, the

is a reference center in the world of Dance in Spain.

Despite the fact that, as a complaint, "the facilities in which we work do not meet the minimum conditions for the practice of dance at a professional level, something inexplicable in a city like Valencia",

"Miquel stands out for being very intelligent, perfectly grasping what a teacher or choreographer asks of him, and immediately translating it into movement or technical correction in a brilliant way," says Darder in conversation with this newspaper.

Miquel is part of that new generation of dancers and he walks (rather dances) firmly on his way to the heaven of dance.

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