Lúa Mayenco Cardenal (Madrid, 1998) is a freelance dancer, choreographer, educator, and graphic artist currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

After graduating with honors from the Carmen Amaya Dance Conservatory, Lúa moved to New York City to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Juilliard School. In the spring of 2020, she became the first Spanish dancer to graduate from this institution and was one of six recipients of the Juilliard Career Advancement Grants for the class of 2020.

 

During her time in the United States, Lúa focused on developing her skills as a performer, as well as a choreographer and educator. Her achievements include creating new works for Juilliard’s Choreographers and Composers evening, as well as for Juilliard Choreographic Honors. Additionally, Lúa became a Student Coach for the Juilliard K-12 choreographic program and participated as a coordinator and performer in the Gluck Fellowship, dedicated to bringing the performing arts to medical institutions in New York City.

 

In the summer of 2018, Lúa founded and co-directed the movement workshop Beyond Words, offered to young students without prior dance training in Madrid. A year later, she became a faculty member of the Verona Summer Dance Lab.

 

Lúa moved to Copenhagen in August 2020 to join Danish Dance Theatre, launching her career in Europe under the direction of Pontus Lidberg. As part of DDT, Lúa has performed nationally and internationally in the works of renowned choreographers such as Ina Christel Johannessen, Roy Assaf, Marie Topp, Fernando Melo, Dorotea Saykaly, and Justin Rapaport, among others. In the spring of 2023, Marina Mascarell took over the artistic leadership of the company, introducing some of her most successful repertoire and launching a new outreach program for children and youth.

 

Since moving to Denmark, Lúa has had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of Scandinavian artists and institutions. In 2022, she was invited to be a guest teacher at the Royal Theater Ballet School Odense. Shortly after, she collaborated with the Danish music band Celestial Son, performing and movement directing their music video Avian Heart. During the summers of 2023 and 2024, she joined the team of Equinox Chamber Music and Dance Festival as a dancer and choreographer. Her first work for the festival, Inca Dances, was invited to be part of Copenhagen’s K7 cultural program in 2023.

 

In the field of illustration, Lúa began sharing her drawings as part of the photobook Create your Vision, See your Vision, Be your Vision (Juilliard senior production 2020). In the summer of 2021, she self-published her first illustration and poetry book, Pasiones en pedacitos. Some of her later work includes album covers for the music band YETIS, which is already working on their third release.

 

After finishing her fourth season with Danish Dance Theatre, Lúa has begun her freelancing career from Copenhagen, exploring new ways of developing, connecting, and sharing through movement. With a focus on establishing cross-media collaborations and a particular interest in innovative practices, she looks forward to connecting with and exploring alongside artists across borders.