Biography - Rocío Molina (2024)

The iconoclastic choreographer Rocío Molina has coined her own artistic language based on a reinvented traditional flamenco style which respects its essence, but embraces the avant-garde. Radically free, she combines in her works: technical virtuosity, contemporary research and conceptual risk. Unafraid to forge alliances with other disciplines and artists, her choreographies are unique scenic events based on ideas and cultural forms ranging from cinema to literature, including philosophy and painting.

Rocío Molina, a restless dancer, was born in Malaga in 1984. She started to dance at the early age of three years old. At seven, she was outlining her first choreographies. At 17, she graduated with honors at the Royal Dance Conservatory in Madrid and became part of the cast of professionals companies with international tours.

At 22, she premiered Entre paredes (Among the Walls), her first work, which was followed by many more self-creations, all of them with a thing in common, a curious and transgressor look at a flamenco style escaping from the well-trodden paths: El Eterno Retorno (The Eternal Return) (2006) Turquesa como el limón (Turquoise as a Lemon) (2006), Almario (2007), Por el decir de la gente (As People Say) (2007), Oro viejo (Old Gold) (2008), Cuando las piedras vuelen (When Stones Fly) (2009), Vinática (2010), Danzaora y vinática (2011), Afectos (Affections) (2012) and Bosque Ardora (Ardora’s Forest) (2014), Caída del Cielo (Fallen from heaven) (2016) and Grito Pelao (2018), ‘Inicio (Uno)’ A Fragment of Trilogía sobre la guitarra (2020), ‘Al fondo riela (Lo Otro del Uno)’ A Fragment of Trilogía sobre la guitarra (2020), ‘Vuelta a Uno’ A Fragment of Trilogía sobre la guitarra (2021), ‘Carnación’ (2022).

At 26, the Spanish Ministry of Culture awarded her the National Award for Dance for “her contribution to the renewal of flamenco and for her versatility and strength as a performer capable of handling the most diverse registers with freedom and courage.”

At 28, after her outstandingly successful performance of Oro Viejo (Old Gold), Mikhail Baryshnikov kneeled before her at the door of her dressing room at New York City Center.

She’s been associated with the Chaillot National Theater in Paris since 2014 where she premiered in November 2016, Caída del Cielo.

She premiere in the Festival d’Avignon in July 2018 Grito Pelao she create with the singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz and Carlos Marquerie.

Rocío Molina, a versatile dancer, is one of the Spanish artists with greater international repercussion. Her works have been performed not only in theaters and festivals such as: Festival d’Avignon, Barbican Center in London, City Center in New York, The Esplanade in Singapore, Tanz Im August in Berlin, Festival SPAF in Seoul, Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, National Theater of Taiwan, Dansens Hus in Oslo and Stockholm, Chaillot National Theatre in Paris, Festival Transamériques in Montreal, and Bunkamura in Tokyo. But also in Spanish renowned temples of theatre, dance, and flamenco such as Teatro Español and Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Seville’s Flamenco Biennale or Teatro Central, Festival Grec or Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona), Cervantes (Malaga) or Jerez Festival, just to mention some of them.

Throughout her career, not only has she worked with great national flamenco leading figures such as: María Pagés, Miguel Poveda, Antonio Canales or Israel Galván, but also with leading figures of contemporary arts, such as Carlos Marquerie, Mateo Feijóo or Jean Paul Goude. The collaboration with Jean Paul Goude was to design a project for the brand Hermes in Shanghai in 2017.

Her artistic research has been recognized with awards at a national and at an international level – Spanish National Award for Dance (2010), Dance National British Awards in 2016 for her “exceptional artistic ability” and in 2019 “Outstanding female modern performance”, Best Dancer Award in Seville Bienal, Gold Medal awarded by the Province of Malaga, Max Award in 2019 (Best dance show for “Grito Pelao”), in 2017 (Best dancer ; Best choreography for “Caída del Cielo” – Fallen from heaven), and in 2015 (Best choreography for “Bosque Ardora” – Ardora’s Forest) – and with the unanimous praise of the audience and the critics: “A gifted and intelligent dancer” (EL MUNDO), “She’s like the nuclear power within an atom” (STANDARD), “An innate talent for the most racial dance” (El PAÍS), “She is passion personified, urgent, almost red hot, taking over the body and moving it, spasm by spasm, filling it of rage and beauty.” (LA VANGUARDIA), “One of the best flamenco dancers I’ve ever seen” (THE NEW YORK TIMES).

Awards

• 2023 Talía award best dancer for Vuelta a Uno.
• 2022 Golden Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts of the Spanish Ministry of Sports and Culture.
• 2022 Silver Lion award for dance of La Biennale di Venezia.
• 2022 Positano Dance Award.
• 2019 Max Award for the best dance show for Grito Pelao.
• 2019 The UK National Dance Award “Outstanding female modern performance”.
• 2018 Nomination to the Olivier Awards for Caída del Cielo.
• 2017 Max Awards for the best dancer, best choreography, and best lighting design for Caida del Cielo.
• 2016 Giraldillo XIX Sevilla FlamencoBiennial for dance.
• 2016 The UK National Dance Award for her “exceptional artistic ability.”
• 2015 Max Award for the best choreography for Bosque Ardora.
• 2011 Gold Medal awarded by the Province of Malaga.
• 2010 Spanish National Award for Dance.
• 2009 Critics Choice Prize awarded by the Chair for Flamenco Studies in Jerez forOro viejo.
• 2008 Best Dancer Award in Seville Biennial.
• 2008 Giraldillo Award for Best Choreography.