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.

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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.

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In August 2024, after completing her fourth season with Danish Dance Theatre, Lúa began her freelancing career from Denmark. Throughout this last year she had the opportunity to connect and collaborate with a wide variety of international artists. Lúa was invited to create and perform for  the Equinox Chamber Music and Dance Festival and the Danish String Quartet Festival. Furthermore, she joined the European Union cultural program Moving Identities as part of the collective ANART. Currently, Lúa is part of toaspern|moeller’s latest creation, __Plex, and begins her journey as an independent creator with her production Sounds of Perpetual Discontent. In these past months, Lúa has also been invited as a guest teacher at the Carmen Amaya Dance Conservatory and the Latin Vibes Festival.

Committed to thoughtful creation, she continues to seek opportunities that challenge her practice and expand her understanding of movement and collaboration.